Thunderbird has lost all of my accounts and settings
I have been using T-bird for years with only the default profile. I have my personal account setup separately from 2 business accounts which are combined into the Local Folders.
Yesterday, when I rebooted and started T-bird it was as if I had never setup any accounts. There were no folders or messages and all of my accounts were gone.
I have checked C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default and the files are still there. It's just that my default profile doesn't use them, even though the correct folder is shown when I go to Help/Troubleshooting and click on "Show Folder".
I suspect a master index file (prefs.js) has become corrupted or has been deleted, which should link T-bird to all of the other files in my profile. How do I get T-bird to reconnect with my data files from that profile?
Modified by tek_consultant
Chosen solution
Found my own answer, although none of the searches or pages from support.mozilla.org were of any use whatsoever.
Google found Disappearing mail - MozillaZine Knowledge Base which led me to Recovering a profile that suddenly disappeared - MozillaZine Knowledge Base
In the latter article, I found this text
- A quick way to tell which problem you're suffering from is to look at your personal address book within Thunderbird. If it looks okay, go to the Corrupt or empty prefs.js section. Otherwise, follow the instructions in the Lost profile section.
After going to the Corrupt or empty prefs.js section, I found this to be my answer:
- Otherwise you will need to rebuild prefs.js. You can do this by creating the same accounts again in the existing profile and setting Thunderbird to use the local directories that still contain the missing mail, per this article Recovering deleted mail accounts - MozillaZine Knowledge Base. Another option is to create a new profile using the Profile Manager , create the accounts again, and then migrate your mail , address books, filters and other mail related files from the old profile per this article.
All Replies (2)
Chosen Solution
Found my own answer, although none of the searches or pages from support.mozilla.org were of any use whatsoever.
Google found Disappearing mail - MozillaZine Knowledge Base which led me to Recovering a profile that suddenly disappeared - MozillaZine Knowledge Base
In the latter article, I found this text
- A quick way to tell which problem you're suffering from is to look at your personal address book within Thunderbird. If it looks okay, go to the Corrupt or empty prefs.js section. Otherwise, follow the instructions in the Lost profile section.
After going to the Corrupt or empty prefs.js section, I found this to be my answer:
- Otherwise you will need to rebuild prefs.js. You can do this by creating the same accounts again in the existing profile and setting Thunderbird to use the local directories that still contain the missing mail, per this article Recovering deleted mail accounts - MozillaZine Knowledge Base. Another option is to create a new profile using the Profile Manager , create the accounts again, and then migrate your mail , address books, filters and other mail related files from the old profile per this article.
I have a similar but worse situation. Most (all?) of my thunderbird files on C: got moved to another HD and are intertwined it appears with other folders and maybe files. I am now trying to sort them out and return them to functioning locations on C: or elsewhere. How do I identify the profiles? The e-mails? etc. Thanks a bunch. I have WIN 7 64