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I copied my profile files to my new computer but TB doesn't seem to recognize them.

  • 6 replies
  • 2 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Matt

DD46
DD46
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I read the page on "Moving TB data to a new computer". I copied the files from my backed-up profile into the profile folder on my new computer, where I had downloaded TB but not set up a new e-mail address, etc. It said you should just be able to start TB and all will be fine. But my folders and the rest are not showing up. I can see the folders in the Windows, but not in TB itself. What can I do?

I read the page on "Moving TB data to a new computer". I copied the files from my backed-up profile into the profile folder on my new computer, where I had downloaded TB but not set up a new e-mail address, etc. It said you should just be able to start TB and all will be fine. But my folders and the rest are not showing up. I can see the folders in the Windows, but not in TB itself. What can I do?

All Replies (6)

christ1
christ1
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Follow these instructions. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird#Create_a_new_profile_and_copy_the_old_one_over_it

DD46
DD46 Question owner
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I tried to run the Profile Manager, but I got this error message: "Windows cannot find '-profilemanager'. Make sure you typed the name correctly and then try again." Any ideas why it can't find it? Thanks

DD46
DD46 Question owner
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I looked at someone else's question about moving mail folders from Windows XP to Windows 7 (which is what I'm doing), but the suggestion is to read this article:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Combining_two_profiles,

which talks about SeaMonkey (I have no idea what that is). That article refers to this:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Importing_folders 

but it talks about Windows 2000, so I wonder how old it is. The articles don't have a date on them, so how can you know if the instructions work for Windows 7?
christ1
christ1
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Windows cannot find '-profilemanager'.

What is the exact command you're trying?

DD46
DD46 Question owner
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I tried: -profilemanager

and it didn't work. I also tried the path + that, and it didn't work, but today I was able to get it to open (I was missing a "(x86)" in the path).

I'm trying to backup my profile with MozBackup, since I hadn't tried that yet. I'll see if that process works.

Thanks!

Matt
Matt
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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in your new Thunderbird. Select troubleshooting information on the help menu. Select the show folder button in the profile section.

Windows Explorer opens in the folder Thunderbird is now using as your default profile.

If you copy the contents of your old profile into the new one with Thunderbird not running then is will just be there when you open.

Conversely, you can to copy the %appdata%\Thunderbird folder (which has your profile as a sub folder) from the old to the %appdata%\Roaming\Thunderbird folder on the new computer.

Access the location by typing %appdata% in the start menu and pressing enter. Windows will locate the correct physical location it is using for application data and open windows explorer at that location.