Mozilla VPN is currently experiencing an outage. Our team is actively working to resolve the issue. Please check the status page for real-time updates. Thank you for your patience.

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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Why in Windows 8.1 do I have 2 different Profiles with identical default folders but each with totally different contents?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 12 views
  • Last reply by lenclark1

lenclark1
lenclark1
more options

I want to backup my email messages and archives. I intend to them put into my 'Documents' folder for 'Cloud' backup and also into an external hard drive which I have always used in the past and, as a 76 year old with a new computer, 8.1 in place of XP and TB instead of Outlook Express, I just feel more confident about my external hard drive! I have TB 31 and Windows 8.1. I have set my computer to show 'hidden files and folders'. In username/AppData/Local there is a TB folder with 'Profiles' and it has my XXXX.default folder - but it only has a limited number of files and folders (Cache/cache2....). In username/AppData/Roaming there is also a TB folder with 'Profiles' and it has my same XXXX.default folder - but this contains a completely different and far more extensive collection of files and folders (4 different folders plus several MAB and SQLITE files and others). Why do I have two identical default folders with different contents? Do I have to save both of them? Can someone please explain/help, preferably in words that this 76 year old might understand.

I want to backup my email messages and archives. I intend to them put into my 'Documents' folder for 'Cloud' backup and also into an external hard drive which I have always used in the past and, as a 76 year old with a new computer, 8.1 in place of XP and TB instead of Outlook Express, I just feel more confident about my external hard drive! I have TB 31 and Windows 8.1. I have set my computer to show 'hidden files and folders'. In username/AppData/Local there is a TB folder with 'Profiles' and it has my XXXX.default folder - but it only has a limited number of files and folders (Cache/cache2....). In username/AppData/Roaming there is also a TB folder with 'Profiles' and it has my same XXXX.default folder - but this contains a completely different and far more extensive collection of files and folders (4 different folders plus several MAB and SQLITE files and others). Why do I have two identical default folders with different contents? Do I have to save both of them? Can someone please explain/help, preferably in words that this 76 year old might understand.

Chosen solution

user accounts on Windows 8 can be local or remote. It assumes everyone has a roaming profile. Thunderbird uses the roaming folders as you can see, but there is that rump in local that I really do not understand the existence of.

Thunderbird does not use it, I assume windows creates it.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (2)

Matt
Matt
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

user accounts on Windows 8 can be local or remote. It assumes everyone has a roaming profile. Thunderbird uses the roaming folders as you can see, but there is that rump in local that I really do not understand the existence of.

Thunderbird does not use it, I assume windows creates it.

lenclark1
lenclark1 Question owner
more options

Thanks Matt. Reassuring to this elderly user! I'll make sure I back up my Profiles xxxx.default folder from the Windows Roaming directory - but should I back up the (different!) TB contents from the TB Profiles directory in Windows Local as well?