This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Moving profile from a very old version of Thunderbird to another computer with a current version of Thunderbird

  • 5 பதிலளிப்புகள்
  • 0 இந்த பிரச்னைகள் உள்ளது
  • 23 views
  • Last reply by christ1

I have an old Toshiba Satellite A205 laptop, running Vista and Thunderbird 3.1.14. I want to move all the emails to another computer, currently without Thunderbird installed. I have copied the Users/owner/appdata/roaming/Thunderbird/profiles directory to a thumbdrive.

Question: Can I install the current version of Thunderbird on the second laptop and then copy the profiles directory from the thumbdrive to the same named directory on the new laptop/current version of Thunderbird? Will it work?

I run Firefox as my default browser on all my computers.

I have an old Toshiba Satellite A205 laptop, running Vista and Thunderbird 3.1.14. I want to move all the emails to another computer, currently without Thunderbird installed. I have copied the Users/owner/appdata/roaming/Thunderbird/profiles directory to a thumbdrive. Question: Can I install the current version of Thunderbird on the second laptop and then copy the profiles directory from the thumbdrive to the same named directory on the new laptop/current version of Thunderbird? Will it work? I run Firefox as my default browser on all my computers.

தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது

When your problem is fixed, can you mark the thread as 'Solved' please? Thank you.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (5)

basically if you Thunderbird folder from the old device is located in the appdata\roaming folder on the new device when Thunderbird is installed it should "just use it" as the profiles.ini file in the Thunderbird folder will be present.

I installed the current version of Thunderbird on my Windows 7 laptop. After copying the Profile directory from my thumbdrive, I restarted the laptop and tried to open Thunderbird. An error message appeared stating that the profile couldn't be read. Any suggestions?

Did you also copy profiles.ini?

Went back and reread the instructions on how to move your profile, on the Mozilla Support page. Incorrectly assumed that everything I needed to move/copy was located in the Profiles directory. After receiving this hint, I went back and found the piece, on another page that referenced the actual profiles.ini file. Would have been a lot easier if the instructions on moving the Profile directory contained the instruction to move the profiles.ini file at the same time.

Moved the profiles.ini file from the old laptop to the new install and all is well!

Thank you for the hint......

தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது

When your problem is fixed, can you mark the thread as 'Solved' please? Thank you.