Windows 7 machine can't open Thunderbird

[LRBinMT]

I have my profile on a different computer which is my NAS running OpenMediaVault. The files are SMB/CIFS. The main files are POP from GMAIL. Which is what I want. I have assigned Y: drive to that profile.

On the windows machine it is running Thunderbird 68.2.2 (32 bit). The Linux Mint machine is running 68.2.2 (64 bit). I upgraded from the depository (60.9.0 6(64 bit)) when I ran into the lightning problems and other problems)

I am accessing the profile with both the Windows 7 machine as well as a Linux Mint machine.

This ran OK (some problems with lightning behaving between the two) until recently when all of a sudden the Windows 7 machine when trying to open that profile comes up with another instance of Thunderbird is running. The exact message is "Thunderbird is already running but is not responding. The old Thunderbird process must be closed to open a new window". There is no Thunderbird running on either the Windows 7 machine or the Linux Mint machine. I can access the profile with the Linux Mint machine.

I tried all the suggestions about finding the parent.lock etc. Still the same problem. It is a problem with that profile since I can open with the Windows 7 machine a profile on the local E: drive which is what the profile on the Y: drive was started with.

Any ideas as to what file in the Y: profile I need to look for? Nothing in there is parent.lock, I have removed .lock from the Linux machine. No change. I want to repeat that I could access the profile with both machines. And then the Windows 7 machine came up with this error.

[tanstaafl]

Just to be clear, you are using the same profile for both the windows and linux PCs? One reason I ask is the Lightning add-on might be operating system specific. I think historically only the lightning and enigmail add-ons and some complete themes (which aren't supported in version 68.* anyways) would be an issue.

Try deleting both the session.json and sessionCheckpoints.json files in the profile and trying again. Thunderbird can re-create those files when it starts, though you might have to customize your windows layout again. If that doesn't help try using a -no-remote command line argument to launch a second instance. Supposedly each instance requires its own profile nowadays but its worth trying.

One last possibility is that your profiles.ini file on the windows PC is corrupt. Try specifying the location of the profile using a -profile "path" command line argument instead. The path argument needs to be the complete path and would need double quotes if you have embedded spaces in the path. If that works then you can take a look at the profiles.ini file afterwards and see if it has any invalid paths in its contents.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird (where profiles are stored)
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Files_and_fol ... hunderbird (what files are in a profile)
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Run_multiple_ ... _same_time (how to run multiple copies)
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Running_from_ ... hunderbird (using command line argument to specify profile location)

[LRBinMT]

The same profile is used for both the Windows and Linux machine. It is named w7e71ycb.default.
I tried deleting both session.json and sessionCheckpoints.json ; no difference on The Windows machine - still comes up with the same error.
I removed lightning from the Linux machine. ; no difference
I removed lightning from the Windows machine profile that still works ; no difference when trying to access the Y: profile.

using the Windows run command
I tried thunderbird -no-remote on the Windows machine ; no difference
I tried thunderbird -path "Y:\profiles\w7e71ycb.default" on the Windows machine ; no difference
I tried thunderbird -path "Y:\profiles\w7e71ycb.default" -safe-mode -no-remote on the Windows machine ; no difference

After all that the Linux machine Thunderbird still worked.

I tried thunderbird -addressbook on the Windows machine ; No difference

I tried deleting the profile and then adding the profile on the Windows machine ; no difference - I have Thunderbird on both Linux and Windows machine opening the Choose User Profile selection

[tanstaafl]

"I tried deleting the profile and then adding the profile on the Windows machine ; no difference"

That rules out my next thought which was to test it using a USB drive to rule out whether there is a interoperability bug with
a OpenMediaVault file server. Does Firefox work okay on your Windows PC?

Did you recently do a windows update to version 1909? I did that and the only bug it causes that I'm aware of is the search field in the file explorer window for attachments is not selectable, but I don't use a redirected drive..

[LRBinMT]

I am using windows 7 right at the moment. Probably will "upgrade" to Windows 10 sometime in December or so.
Firefox does work on the Windows 7 pc as far as I can tell. That is the browser I am using at this moment. It is 70.0.1 (64 bit)
I wonder if I can save the subfolders I need and make a different profile to see if i can get around this and/or just wait till I have Windows 10 installed.
I guess I could just save this profile and make a new profile and start anew but who knows if this bug will appear again. I wish Thunderbird would tell me what makes it think another instance is open.

Thank you for your help.

[tanstaafl]

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Importing_folders explains how to import mail folders from another profile. If you are using 68.* or later you need to use the ImportExportToolsNG add-on instead of the ImportExportTools add-on.

[LRBinMT]

I kind of feel like an idiot.
It was permissions on the email file.

It appears that the file permissions must have changed on OpenMediaVault which is why the Windows 7 machine would not start. Why the Linux machine had no problems I don't know other than how I auto mounted the files.

I went to OpenMediaVault and enabled ACL permissions in addition to the other permissions to the file. Then the Windows 7 machine Thunderbird started right up.

Figured this out when I added a new profile via the Linux machine and tried to start the Windows 7 machine which came back with Thunderbird is already running. I vaguely remember something about if Thunderbird can't find the profile one can get this message also. Then looked at OpenMediaVault and its permissions for the files and saw I had not enabled ACL. Did the necessary and tried the Windows machine and Thunderbird came up.

Thank you again tanstaafl - hopefully others can benefit from this since you gave good suggestions on what to look for.