Abort update after it downloaded but not installed yet
A computer is still running Thunderbird 102 happily. That is the plan -- the user is NOT prepared to deal with 115 and later, and the changes therein. Somehow, even though it was supposedly set to only install updates when you told it to, it downloaded and began the process of installing 115. So it's up and running now at 102, but says that when you restart, it will go to 115. Please don't tell me how wonderful 115 is; been there, done that, it's not my machine but it's someone near and dear to me who detests computers in the first place but has to use them so gratuitous changes are utterly unwelcome....
So is there a way to delete something and tell Thunderbird to just keep running 102 and not do the upgrade? If I have to reinstall 102 on top of the old profile, which contains many gigabytes of IMPORTANT mail, I can deal with that. I assume that the profile hasn't been munged yet by the update so I'm asking now. Thanks!
Chosen solution
Update: What I didn't ask became the big question. When does the update (profile munging) occur, exiting from the old version or starting up the new one? So to play it safe, I backed up the entire profile (55 GB!) onto a USB stick, then installed 102 over 102 while 102 was still running. Maybe not a great idea? When I restarted, 115 came up anyway and the profile was munged.
So I installed 102 (I found an image of 102.13 on hand) again and copied the old profile back onto the system, renaming the 115-munged profile for safety. Turns out, I think, that the update-causing compatibility file was already in the old profile when I backed it up, so this time I got rid of that before starting 102 again. And indeed it came up in 102.13 and asked to update to 102.15.1, which went okay. So crisis averted!
Alas, it doesn't have a visible option to "not ever check for updates", one mistaken click could cause the same issue again, but maybe there's a hidden option -- there are a lot of app.update values in the advanced preferences, just not openly documented.
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My experience is that you can download 102 and install over the top. Look for a file named compatibilities.ini and delete it prior to starting thunderbird. And be sure to check settings for updates to your preferences.
Thanks, I will try that!
Some security suites, like Norton, have a software updater component that works independently of TB or other apps, as far as update options are concerned. So if the user doesn't adjust the suite's options, it will keep attempting to update TB no matter what is set in TB.
Chosen Solution
Update: What I didn't ask became the big question. When does the update (profile munging) occur, exiting from the old version or starting up the new one? So to play it safe, I backed up the entire profile (55 GB!) onto a USB stick, then installed 102 over 102 while 102 was still running. Maybe not a great idea? When I restarted, 115 came up anyway and the profile was munged.
So I installed 102 (I found an image of 102.13 on hand) again and copied the old profile back onto the system, renaming the 115-munged profile for safety. Turns out, I think, that the update-causing compatibility file was already in the old profile when I backed it up, so this time I got rid of that before starting 102 again. And indeed it came up in 102.13 and asked to update to 102.15.1, which went okay. So crisis averted!
Alas, it doesn't have a visible option to "not ever check for updates", one mistaken click could cause the same issue again, but maybe there's a hidden option -- there are a lot of app.update values in the advanced preferences, just not openly documented.