Follow the instructions in this section of the article. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird#Create_a_new_profile_and_copy_the_old_one_over_it

If there already is a new profile you can skip steps 1 through 3.

I tried your solution to move the profile to my freshly loaded Thunderbird program, but must have done something wrong. There are about nine Emails accounts on my Thunderbird program Three accounts are individual accounts set aside by themselves, and the other six are under the "Local Folder". When I check the Email for the three individual Emails, they download OK. If I check the Email for the ones listed under Local Folders, I get an error telling me:

"There was a problem downloading the following message: From: (The from Email address) Subject: (Subject of Email) This message may contain a virus or there is not enough space. Skip this message?" YES NO

I hit "NO" and it goes to the next Email and I get a similar message if there is any Email to download...but if it doesn't have any Email to download, it just goes to the next Email account. If I turn off Thunderbird and turn it back on, any changes I made such as creating a new draft, or downloading Emails on the individual Email accounts will disappear and it will be like no changes were ever made. I also tried moving folders and they were all back to the original position after I restarted Thunderbird. I then reinstalled my old drive on my old computer. No changes of any kind will save. Once I downloaded over 100 Emails and once restarted, the Emails were like they had never been downloaded. I was going to reload Thunderbird in hopes of fixing it...Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Make sure the profile (i.e. all files and directories) you copied over from the old drive to the new drive are not write-protected.

My old Thunderbird program had over 20,000 Emails spread over the 9 Email accounts. I had regularly compressed the Emails in Thunderbird on the old drive. I am not sure if that makes them write-protected. How can I tell if the file is write-protected, and if it is, how do I convert it to a file that is NOT write-protected? Thanks in advance for your help. God bless.

You can check file system permissions using Windows Explorer. Right-click the profile folder - Properties - Security tab. Select your user account underneath 'Group or user names'. Make sure 'Write' is checked underneath 'Permissions'.

This is purely Windows related, and not specific for Thunderbird by any means. You may ask in a Windows forum for any more information. Beyond that, Google is your friend. E.g. http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/set-file-folder-permissions-windows/

christ1: Now I have even a bigger problem. I originally attempted to move a Thunderbird profile from a failing Windows 7 hard drive (D:) which I had installed in my computer as a slave drive, to a new hard drive (C:) with a freshly installed Windows 7 and Thunderbird. After several failed attempts, I gave up because every time I would start up Thunderbird on the new drive (C:), it would start only with the basic Thunderbird program without finding the profile information. Thinking I might have corrupted the newly installed Thunderbird, I then uninstalled Thunderbird completely from the new drive (C:) using the uninstall option in the "programs and features" of my control panel. I then attempted to reinstall Thunderbird on the new drive. I downloaded the installation file from the Mozilla Thunderbird site. It seemed to "nearly" install with the green progress bar moving almost all the way across. At this point the installation program had already installed the Thunderbird icon showing on the quick launch bar and the installation window said it was "Cleaning up the birdcage.", but the progress bar never went all the way to the end, no matter how long I waited. I then tried to start Thunderbird by clicking on the new icon on the quick launch bar, but Thunderbird did not start and I received only a pop up window with the message, "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." In a separate location I still have the original profile saved from the drive D: Since Drive D: still had the Windows 7 operating system on it, I disconnected my new drive (C:) and connected up the slave drive as the main drive again. The reason I was changing out drives was because whenever the old drive starts, I received a boot screen warning telling me it is failing and to push F1 to continue. The old drive takes 15 minutes or more just to start Windows 7, but once loaded, all the files are still accessible with Windows Explorer. It also takes a very long time for any program to start. (I am guessing that the motor on the drive is failing and it is running at a very slow RPM.) Since I attempted to move the profile from Thunderbird on drive D:, I can no longer start Thunderbird on drive D: either. I thought I might have corrupted the Windows 7 OS on the new drive, so I ran the command "cmd/scannow" from the command prompt screen, but it showed no corrupted files on the new drive. I also tried doing system restore on both drives, but both failed. I operated a printing company for 30 years, but closed it and have been working from home to care for my ill wife for the last 3 years. I managed to make a very a minimal income outsourcing printing work for people online, but all of my contacts for past and current work were in that Thunderbird profile. If someone could instruct me how to load Thunderbird again and get the profiles installed, it would be greatly appreciated. Since none of my Email now work, I can only be contacted by responded to through this forum, or calling me 24/7 at 281-463-1302. Thank you, James Galyon

In a separate location I still have the original profile saved from the drive D:

Keep that original profile at a safe place as your backup, it has (hopefully) all your data.

Locate the current profile folder. For Win7 that should be at some place like C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\

Use Windows Explorer and navigate to that path. What profile folder(s) are there (the folder names)?

Go up one level. There should be a file profiles.ini. It's a text file and you can open it with e text editor (e.g. notepad). Please post the contents of profiles.ini.

Why did you start a new thread at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1115834 instead of continuing here?

I didn't realize I had started a new set of questions. Knowing how to use forums is totally new to me...and I still have not figured out the problem with Thunderbird. I believe I would normally get an Email notifications with answers to my questions, but I can't access that right now so I keep logging in. I must have started a new set of questions. I sure hope to get this Email working soon because it is a link to my only income. I am usually at home 24/7 caring for my ill wife, but last Saturday my mother died and Monday I am going to her funeral so my mind is also not at it's best right now. I have had better days...but keeping to my faith. James

Sorry to hear of your sad loss James.

The other thread has more information in it and you seem to be making progress with that one by following Matt's instruction here on how to reinstall Thunderbird and migrate your email data.

It is probably easier to follow these forum threads on the forum than it is to try to follow the flow of answers that you see as emails.

It is probably best to close this thread, I will do that, and continue with the other one now.

Note this link will list provide a list of all your question threads. At the time of writing there are only two questions:

1. (This one, you are reading now.)
   Need to transfer all Thunderbird data settings and Email from old drive C:(now drive D:) to new drive C: /questions/1110572
2. (New one)
   Thunderbird fails to reinstall. /questions/1115834
   Matt's reply https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1115834#answer-860451

If you re trying to follow your posts about Thunderbird (& or Firefox) the best place to do it (whilst signed in - use) is from here
^{https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/all?owner=mine&show=all}

Maybe it helps if you bookmark those places. In Firefox you will get an option to bookmark the links if you right click them. For more tips also see

• Bookmarks in Firefox