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Unable to uninstall - Thunderbird Helper crashes on Windows 10 even in Safe Mode

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by kirkb

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Thunderbird started crashing when trying to open emails. During troubleshooting I decided to remove the profile, which now results in TB crashing on start. As a next step I have tried uninstalling it. The first step window opens and when I click Next, a notice shows up saying Thunderbird Helper has crashed.

I restarted Windows 10 in Safe Mode and tried uninstalling there. Same results.

Just for kicks, I tried uninstalling Firefox too (in Safe Mode), and found Firefox Helper crashing instead.

At this point my next step is OS reinstall - is there anything else I can try? I'm not sure I want to try to manually remove TB but am willing to try if there's no other option.

Thunderbird started crashing when trying to open emails. During troubleshooting I decided to remove the profile, which now results in TB crashing on start. As a next step I have tried uninstalling it. The first step window opens and when I click Next, a notice shows up saying Thunderbird Helper has crashed. I restarted Windows 10 in Safe Mode and tried uninstalling there. Same results. Just for kicks, I tried uninstalling Firefox too (in Safe Mode), and found Firefox Helper crashing instead. At this point my next step is OS reinstall - is there anything else I can try? I'm not sure I want to try to manually remove TB but am willing to try if there's no other option.

Chosen solution

After not using TB for some days I tried to recreate the crash. I'm able to open it and have it work normally. There seems to be a crash every time I go to close it, however that seems unrelated to this crash. TB Helper was the window title of the dialogue that popped up on crash, it wasn't the Mozilla Crash Reporter.

So I'm going to mark this as closed unless I can recreate it over the next couple of weeks as I continue to use TB. Thanks for the input! I'll include the crash report next time.

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All Replies (4)

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just download from getthunderbird.com and install without the removal. That might help if it is a corrupt file causing the problem.

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I tried both the most recent release as well as v40 beta. Trying to install causes Thunderbird Helper to crash, just like when uninstalling.

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Your wording is confusing. What is "Thunderbird Helper"? Do you mean the installer dialog? That looks something like this?

Please also post your crash IDs. See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/mozilla-crash-reporter#w_viewing-crash-reports

Lastly, please post a screen shot of your uninstall problem per https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem

Thanks

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Chosen Solution

After not using TB for some days I tried to recreate the crash. I'm able to open it and have it work normally. There seems to be a crash every time I go to close it, however that seems unrelated to this crash. TB Helper was the window title of the dialogue that popped up on crash, it wasn't the Mozilla Crash Reporter.

So I'm going to mark this as closed unless I can recreate it over the next couple of weeks as I continue to use TB. Thanks for the input! I'll include the crash report next time.