This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Cannot get past error "Thunderbird is already running, but not responding..."

  • 4 cavab
  • 1 has this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by Idadho

more options

Cannot get past error "Thunderbird is already running, but not responding..." Reinstalled Tbird, no change. Win 7 laptop. Restart Win 7 and Task Manager. Tbird not running. Start Tbird and it shows up in Task Manager, sometimes twice. Get the same "Thunderbird is already running, but not responding..."

Installed Mailbird and it copies all the data from Tbird files....so Mailbird will access the mail.

Recently ran Glary Utilities to clean system, cache, etc. prior to this error "Thunderbird is already running, but not responding..."

Could GU have messed up Tbird?

Cannot get past error "Thunderbird is already running, but not responding..." Reinstalled Tbird, no change. Win 7 laptop. Restart Win 7 and Task Manager. Tbird not running. Start Tbird and it shows up in Task Manager, sometimes twice. Get the same "Thunderbird is already running, but not responding..." Installed Mailbird and it copies all the data from Tbird files....so Mailbird will access the mail. Recently ran Glary Utilities to clean system, cache, etc. prior to this error "Thunderbird is already running, but not responding..." Could GU have messed up Tbird?

All Replies (4)

more options
more options

Thanks, I'll look for this tip to try next time. I needed to get Thunderbird working after searching past Support questions with no solutions that worked. I uninstalled Tbird, saved the profile default folder (should have saved the Profiles folder, oops). Had to manually delete all of the Tbird files left after uninstall. Reinstalled clean Tbird with no accounts. Copy Pasted MAB files to profile and got it working.

This is the second time Tbird has failed in just a few months. Both times were after a Glary Utilities clean-up.

Now, I have to figure out how to make that pile of crap called Firefox 89 accessible. FF screwed the fox with this upgrade. Totally inaccessible by ADA standards. Old eyes with early stage cataracts cannot see the idiotic thin lines and shades and tabs in the haze with no lines delineating each tab.

more options

Utilities like Glary and CCleaner should be avoided as they can (as you see) damage a working TB, without offering any significant benefit or space saving. Also, reinstalling the program seldom fixes problems, especially since most errors are in the separate profile folder. Creating a new profile from Help/Troubleshooting, about:profiles, is often more effective, depending on the problem.

more options

I've used Glary for more than 10 years. It does a great job freeing memory and clutter. Firefox leaves piles of memory trash, even after I empty the cache. I've only had problems in the past 6 months. I keep older computers working by keeping memory free.

TB needs some utilities that check profiles and saves them in a predetermined folder when there is a need for a clean install so the profile can be imported. A true uninstall program with an option to save the profile would be great. Win 7 uninstall did not delete the TB folder so reinstalls failed until I manually deleted the TB folder.

TB could offer better tips like deleting parent-lock. Better would be a troubleshooting app that looks for parent-lock and corrupted files.

Both TB and FF often fail to close properly. Now I know to look for parent-lock.