Prefs.js showed up (magically) about the 10th time I tried to open Thunderbird. I edited it and found that there were a bunch of relative addresses to the wrong disk and directory and a couple to old email addresses that I no longer have. I edited those to the correct (absolute) addresses and removed the references to old email addresses. Now Local Folders gives me a list of all my mail.

I don't know why prefs.js finally showed up, but this seems to have solved my problem of no folder list. However, I can't get to any of the messages in those folders and there are a whole bunch of other (non-mail) folders showing up in the list. Obviously, some of the changes I made to prefs.js were not the right thing to do. Now I have to figure out what's wrong with those changes and fix them. It will probably be a trial and error process because I have no idea which changes fouled things up.

You should not need to edit anything in the pref.js file. So if you created a copy of the Profile prefs.js as a backup before you edited it, maybe you should replace it.

When you moved the Profile, thunderbird needed to know this. All info at the link:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird

I didn't make a backup before I edited, mainly because that file wasn't working -- I still didn't even have a list of email folders. I did find an old, old backup of prefs.js. However, it is so out of date that Thunderbird can't really use it because much of the stuff referenced no longer exists and all the pointers are relative to a profiles sub-directory that no longer exists (the disk does not even exist.)

I read through the article referenced and I have not used the program suggested because I do not have it. However, all the things mentioned, I have done. I did HAVE to edit prefs.js because so much of it was pointing to the old sub-directory that no longer exists. I changed those references to the current sub-directory and that is when my list of email folders showed up. I am still trying to figure out how to get it to let me access my emails in those folders.

I have been reading through a printed out copy of prefs.js to see if I could find some hint to what's wrong. I don't understand quite a bit of it (particularly why there is so much repetition), but nothing I have seen gives any hint as to why my emails are not accessible. I have found a couple more relative pointers that point to non-existent sub-directories that I will change to the correct sub-directories.

Thunderbird has a config editor for editing the prefs.js file for a reason. I hope your using it. The aerticle refers to the profile manager. That is starting Thunderbird with a -p after it's name in the shortcut that starts it, so you do have that program.

Now I can be concerned how you told Thunderbird your profile was on this other drive. Manual editing of the thunderbird.ini file? Given you have not used the profile manager that is the only way to move the location of your profile.

If you have not edited the Thunderbird.ini file or used the profile manager your profile is now spread across two volumes and part of your issues are that you have deleted the part that has not been moved.

You could try this..make the profile.ini file point to the new location of profile.

see section called Modify profiles.ini to point to the new location - Advanced   at this link:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder

Thanks for the suggestions and information. I'm really pressed for time to do much work on this problem, but I will investigate these as soon as possible