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Thunderbird doesn't work after installing on Win 10 and moving profile from Win 7

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  • Last reply by JohnB12

JohnB12
JohnB12
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I installed Tbird 38.3.0 on a new Dell computer with Windows 10 on it (8 GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive). I then followed these steps to bring my old profile over from the old Windows 7 computer: 1. Copied my profile from the Windows 7 computer to an external drive. 2. Installed Tbird 38.3.0 on the new Windows 10 computer, but did nothing with it. 3. Following the instructions on the Thunderbird site about moving a profile: 

  a) Use the Profile Manager to create a new profile on the Win 10 computer.
  b) Copy the profile from the external drive to the new profile folder
  c) Use Profile Manger to tell Tbird to open the new profile

4. Start Tbird.

I see my folders with email in them, but there are problems: 1. None of the Tbird dialog boxes will open when I choose a command from the menu bar (including New Message). 2. I can't get Tbird to show the contents of any of the folders in the Home tab. There is only the Accounts and Advanced Features for the Inbox showing in the right-side pane next to the folder tree pane. The only way to see the contents of a folder is to right-click it and choose Open in New Tab. 3. When I click or double-click on a folder, the contents of the folder don't replace the previous folder. In Tbird on the Win 7 computer, clicking a folder displayed the contents of the new folder. 4. Sometimes when I Alt+Tab away from Tbird, then Alt+Tab back, moving the mouse cursor over messages in the Inbox tab causes the message Subject, From, Date, ... to disappear, leaving blank lines.

I tried uninstalling Tbird and reinstalling it, but that didn't solve the problem. I tried restarting Windows 10 but that didn't solve the problem. I do seem to be able to download email, and can preview it in the message pane, but I can't open it in a separate window.

Lots of people seem to be able to run Tbird on Win10, so this should work. Any ideas on why it isn't working and what I can do about it?

Thanks very much in advance!

I installed Tbird 38.3.0 on a new Dell computer with Windows 10 on it (8 GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive). I then followed these steps to bring my old profile over from the old Windows 7 computer: 1. Copied my profile from the Windows 7 computer to an external drive. 2. Installed Tbird 38.3.0 on the new Windows 10 computer, but did nothing with it. 3. Following the instructions on the Thunderbird site about moving a profile: a) Use the Profile Manager to create a new profile on the Win 10 computer. b) Copy the profile from the external drive to the new profile folder c) Use Profile Manger to tell Tbird to open the new profile 4. Start Tbird. I see my folders with email in them, but there are problems: 1. None of the Tbird dialog boxes will open when I choose a command from the menu bar (including New Message). 2. I can't get Tbird to show the contents of any of the folders in the Home tab. There is only the Accounts and Advanced Features for the Inbox showing in the right-side pane next to the folder tree pane. The only way to see the contents of a folder is to right-click it and choose Open in New Tab. 3. When I click or double-click on a folder, the contents of the folder don't replace the previous folder. In Tbird on the Win 7 computer, clicking a folder displayed the contents of the new folder. 4. Sometimes when I Alt+Tab away from Tbird, then Alt+Tab back, moving the mouse cursor over messages in the Inbox tab causes the message Subject, From, Date, ... to disappear, leaving blank lines. I tried uninstalling Tbird and reinstalling it, but that didn't solve the problem. I tried restarting Windows 10 but that didn't solve the problem. I do seem to be able to download email, and can preview it in the message pane, but I can't open it in a separate window. Lots of people seem to be able to run Tbird on Win10, so this should work. Any ideas on why it isn't working and what I can do about it? Thanks very much in advance!

Chosen solution

go to Add-ons. remove Lightning addon. restart - everything should be good. If you still need the Lightning addon, install it again - it should give you a new version.

Please tell us that all is well

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Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

go to Add-ons. remove Lightning addon. restart - everything should be good. If you still need the Lightning addon, install it again - it should give you a new version.

Please tell us that all is well

JohnB12
JohnB12 Question owner
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Nailed it Wayne! That was exactly the problem. Tbird seems to work just fine now when I copied the old profile over. Maybe someone could add this to the topics on moving a profile if it's an ongoing problem?

Thanks, John B.