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

Èròjà atẹ̀lélànà yii ni a ti fi pamọ́ fọ́jọ́ pípẹ́. Jọ̀wọ́ béèrè ìbéèrè titun bí o bá nílò ìrànwọ́.

Following a thunderbird crash, my profile is not being read

  • 23 àwọn èsì
  • 1 ní ìṣòro yìí
  • 1 view
  • Èsì tí ó kẹ́hìn lọ́wọ́ Wayne Mery

more options

Yesterday a network drive that contained my profile went offline (no drive issues, a network one.) Thunderbird crashed. Upon restarting thunderbird, I got a new email session dialogue, and none of my old info was present.

I checked the server, the files are all still there, along with a 15+ GB mail folder.

I've tried the various approaches that people have posted involving creating a new profile, and migrating my imap and mail folders, etc. I've tried the profileswitcher add on, etc. None of those have seemed to work. No matter what I try, I keep getting that request to start at 0.

I've copied all the mail and profile and such to my desktop machine to avoid this particular problem in future, but pointing the profile at either directory (network drive or desktop copy) is not seeming to work.

Seems likely that one or more of the files was mucked up when the drive went offline. Ultimately, though, I just want to get in and get access to all my old emails (and use thunderbird to access the incoming ones.) I'm open as to what to try next? Thanks in advance for any helpful advice!

Yesterday a network drive that contained my profile went offline (no drive issues, a network one.) Thunderbird crashed. Upon restarting thunderbird, I got a new email session dialogue, and none of my old info was present. I checked the server, the files are all still there, along with a 15+ GB mail folder. I've tried the various approaches that people have posted involving creating a new profile, and migrating my imap and mail folders, etc. I've tried the profileswitcher add on, etc. None of those have seemed to work. No matter what I try, I keep getting that request to start at 0. I've copied all the mail and profile and such to my desktop machine to avoid this particular problem in future, but pointing the profile at either directory (network drive or desktop copy) is not seeming to work. Seems likely that one or more of the files was mucked up when the drive went offline. Ultimately, though, I just want to get in and get access to all my old emails (and use thunderbird to access the incoming ones.) I'm open as to what to try next? Thanks in advance for any helpful advice!

Ti ṣàtúnṣe nípa Matt

All Replies (20)

more options

Thanks for the pointer , but I already tried all the steps outlined in "Recovering a missing profile" While I can view profiles.ini and it points to my profile correctly, Thunderbird acts as if it is finding nothing there. It shows me no emails, it has no login or server info, etc. My Mail folder is there with 17+GB of emails, but thunderbird for whatever reason is not seeming to be able to access it.

I have also created a new profile, and copies the Mail and IMAP folders to the new profile. There, also, the mail is not accessible.

Ti ṣàtúnṣe nípa Matt

more options

Please post your Troubleshooting Information. At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button , then select Help > Troubleshooting Information. Press the Copy text to clipboard button and paste the information into your reply.

Please indicate whether this is the old or the new profile.

Also, please post the contents of your profiles.ini.

more options

Troubleshooting Information This page contains technical information that might be useful when you're trying to solve a problem. If you are looking for answers to common questions about Thunderbird, check out our support website. Include account names (possibly identifying information) Application Basics Name Thunderbird Version 45.4.0 User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.4.0 Profile Folder (Local drive) Application Build ID 20160928132736 Enabled Plugins about:plugins Build Configuration about:buildconfig Memory Use about:memory Mail and News Accounts ID Incoming server Outgoing servers Name Connection security Authentication method Name Connection security Authentication method Default? Crash Reports Report ID Submitted bp-6be7305f-c1c4-4b24-a051-4e8e92161103 11/2/2016 bp-46257f2d-e026-4046-b69a-3efcb2161101 11/1/2016 bp-8342f00f-1226-4dd4-b28e-91b052161028 10/28/2016 bp-5a27307c-286a-4d7d-8098-6701f2161009 10/9/2016 bp-b775df51-9f94-4fdf-addd-f5a932161003 10/3/2016

All Crash Reports Extensions Name Version Enabled ID ProfileSwitcher 1.7.6.1 true {fa8476cf-a98c-4e08-99b4-65a69cb4b7d4} Google Search for Thunderbird 1.0 false gsearch@standard8.plus.com Lightning 4.7.4 false {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103} Important Modified Preferences Name Value accessibility.lastLoadDate 1478273261 browser.cache.disk.capacity 358400 browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported 1 browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run false browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max false dom.apps.reset-permissions true extensions.lastAppVersion 45.4.0 font.name.monospace.el Consolas font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic Consolas font.name.monospace.x-unicode Consolas font.name.monospace.x-western Consolas font.name.sans-serif.el Calibri font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic Calibri font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode Calibri font.name.sans-serif.x-western Calibri font.name.serif.el Cambria font.name.serif.x-cyrillic Cambria font.name.serif.x-unicode Cambria font.name.serif.x-western Cambria font.size.fixed.el 14 font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic 14 font.size.fixed.x-unicode 14 font.size.fixed.x-western 14 font.size.variable.el 17 font.size.variable.x-cyrillic 17 font.size.variable.x-unicode 17 font.size.variable.x-western 17 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.appVersion 45.4.0 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.deviceID 0x6611 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.driverVersion 21.19.137.1 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.direct3d11-angle true gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle true gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-d3d11 false gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-warp false gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-try-d3d11 true gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext 2 mail.openMessageBehavior.version 1 mail.winsearch.firstRunDone true mailnews.database.global.datastore.id 50fc1abe-24e6-49a7-826b-da97f468411 network.cookie.prefsMigrated true places.database.lastMaintenance 1478271486 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages 104858 plugin.importedState true Graphics Adapter Description AMD Radeon R7 200 Series Vendor ID 0x1002 Device ID 0x6611 Adapter RAM 2048 Adapter Drivers aticfx64 aticfx64 aticfx64 amdxc64 aticfx32 aticfx32 aticfx32 amdxc32 atiumd64 atidxx64 atidxx64 atiumdag atidxx32 atidxx32 atiumdva atiumd6a atitmm64 Driver Version 21.19.137.1 Driver Date 9-16-2016 Direct2D Enabled false DirectWrite Enabled false (10.0.14393.351) ClearType Parameters ClearType parameters not found WebGL Renderer Google Inc. -- ANGLE (AMD Radeon R7 200 Series Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0) -- OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 2.1.0.316930d51ea9) GPU Accelerated Windows 0 AzureCanvasBackend skia AzureSkiaAccelerated 0 AzureFallbackCanvasBackend cairo AzureContentBackend cairo JavaScript Incremental GC 1 Accessibility Activated 0 Prevent Accessibility 0 Library Versions Expected minimum version Version in use NSPR 4.12 4.12 NSS 3.21.1 Basic ECC 3.21.1 Basic ECC NSS Util 3.21.1 3.21.1 NSS SSL 3.21.1 Basic ECC 3.21.1 Basic ECC NSS S/MIME 3.21.1 Basic ECC 3.21.1 Basic ECC

more options

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0] Name=VIvs IsRelative=0 Path=D:\VivsEmail\VivsEmail\Profiles\6ghbnm9p.default Default=1


This is a copy of the profile from the drive with the network issues. I copied the entire directory structure to a local drive, and pointed the Path, above, to it.

more options
Thunderbird acts as if it is finding nothing there.

From the Troubleshooting Information there are no accounts set up in that profile at all.

There have been a number of reports in this forum that Windows did not copy all files and directories of a profile.

How exactly did you pull the profile off the network drive?

Can you check that all files and directories have been copied?

It may be more safe to put everything into an archive (e.g. zip) and then transferring that, instead of plain copying to a local drive.

more options

Hi

 Actually I did exactly that, I zipped them over on a device physically connected to the networked drive, then copied it to my desktop and unzipped.
 I get the same response from the program (ie no mail or anything) no matter if I point it at 

1) The original networked drive copy 2) The copy I moved to my desktop machine 3) A new profile I set up, and then copied the Mail and Imap folders to.

Seems that _something_ is messed up , some file within my profile got corrupted when the network failed and thunderbird crashed. But I am unsure just what to do to try and fix it. I now have several days of emails piled up on my ISP, but don't know how I should proceed, so that I can access both my old and my current emails. (ie I could presumably create a whole other profile, and download my new emails to it, but then I'd not have access to my old ones.)

more options

Just to confirm this.

Does the path to your profile in profiles.ini match the real location?

profiles.ini: Path=D:\VivsEmail\VivsEmail\Profiles\6ghbnm9p.default

The two nested 'VivsEmail' folders look a bit odd to me.

more options

Yes, it does, I created the new VivsEmail directory and then unzipped the zip into it, and it already included that directory. So , rather than muck around more and potentially create more issues, I just left it.

more options

Anyone? I'd really like to get my mail back. It is entirely possible I am doing something incorrectly, or that a file was corrupted.... What can/should I do to to access my old email?

more options

This is more or less speculation.

The account(s) are defined in a file prefs.js in your profile. If this file is damaged then you may see the effect that Thunderbird does not recognize an existing account.

Check your prefs.js for any prefs like: user_pref("mail.account.account10.server", "server10");

and

user_pref("mail.identity.id10.xxx

Do you have anything like that?

more options

Here is my prefs file from %appdata%/Thunderbird

  1. Mozilla User Preferences

/* Do not edit this file.

*
* If you make changes to this file while the application is running,
* the changes will be overwritten when the application exits.
*
* To make a manual change to preferences, you can visit the URL about:config
*/

user_pref("accessibility.lastLoadDate", 1470776815); user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.xpi-signature-verification", 0); user_pref("browser.cache.disk.capacity", 358400); user_pref("browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported", 1); user_pref("browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run", false); user_pref("browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max", false); user_pref("browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value", 358400); user_pref("browser.search.countryCode", "US"); user_pref("browser.search.region", "US"); user_pref("calendar.list.sortOrder", "3e894fc5-a6fd-4278-8fc3-b26736f3a7e6"); user_pref("calendar.registry.3e894fc5-a6fd-4278-8fc3-b26736f3a7e6.calendar-main-default", true); user_pref("calendar.registry.3e894fc5-a6fd-4278-8fc3-b26736f3a7e6.calendar-main-in-composite", true); user_pref("calendar.registry.3e894fc5-a6fd-4278-8fc3-b26736f3a7e6.name", "Home"); user_pref("calendar.registry.3e894fc5-a6fd-4278-8fc3-b26736f3a7e6.type", "storage"); user_pref("calendar.registry.3e894fc5-a6fd-4278-8fc3-b26736f3a7e6.uri", "moz-storage-calendar://"); user_pref("calendar.timezone.local", "America/Los_Angeles"); user_pref("calendar.ui.version", 1); user_pref("datareporting.sessions.current.activeTicks", 12); user_pref("datareporting.sessions.current.clean", true); user_pref("datareporting.sessions.current.firstPaint", 9995); user_pref("datareporting.sessions.current.main", 1758); user_pref("datareporting.sessions.current.startTime", "1470776747028"); user_pref("datareporting.sessions.current.totalTime", 71); user_pref("dom.apps.reset-permissions", true); user_pref("extensions.blocklist.pingCountVersion", 0); user_pref("extensions.bootstrappedAddons", "{}"); user_pref("extensions.databaseSchema", 17); user_pref("extensions.e10sBlockedByAddons", true); user_pref("extensions.enabledAddons", "%7Be2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103%7D:4.7.2,%7B972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd%7D:45.2.0"); user_pref("extensions.getAddons.databaseSchema", 5); user_pref("extensions.installedDistroAddon.{e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}", true); user_pref("extensions.lastAppVersion", "45.2.0"); user_pref("extensions.lastPlatformVersion", "45.2.0"); user_pref("extensions.pendingOperations", false); user_pref("extensions.shownSelectionUI", true); user_pref("extensions.systemAddonSet", "{\"schema\":1,\"addons\":{}}"); user_pref("extensions.xpiState", "{\"app-profile\":{\"{e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}\":{\"d\":\"C:\\\\Users\\\\info_000\\\\AppData\\\\Roaming\\\\Thunderbird\\\\extensions\\\\{e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}\",\"e\":true,\"v\":\"4.7.2\",\"st\":1470776749992,\"mt\":1470776749718}},\"app-global\":{\"{972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}\":{\"d\":\"C:\\\\Program Files (x86)\\\\Mozilla Thunderbird\\\\extensions\\\\{972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}.xpi\",\"e\":true,\"v\":\"45.2.0\",\"st\":1467301133000}}}"); user_pref("font.name.monospace.el", "Consolas"); user_pref("font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic", "Consolas"); user_pref("font.name.monospace.x-unicode", "Consolas"); user_pref("font.name.monospace.x-western", "Consolas"); user_pref("font.name.sans-serif.el", "Calibri"); user_pref("font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic", "Calibri"); user_pref("font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode", "Calibri"); user_pref("font.name.sans-serif.x-western", "Calibri"); user_pref("font.name.serif.el", "Cambria"); user_pref("font.name.serif.x-cyrillic", "Cambria"); user_pref("font.name.serif.x-unicode", "Cambria"); user_pref("font.name.serif.x-western", "Cambria"); user_pref("font.size.fixed.el", 14); user_pref("font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic", 14); user_pref("font.size.fixed.x-unicode", 14); user_pref("font.size.fixed.x-western", 14); user_pref("font.size.variable.el", 17); user_pref("font.size.variable.x-cyrillic", 17); user_pref("font.size.variable.x-unicode", 17); user_pref("font.size.variable.x-western", 17); user_pref("gecko.buildID", "20160630070546"); user_pref("gecko.mstone", "45.2.0"); user_pref("gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.appVersion", "45.2.0"); user_pref("gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.deviceID", "0x6611"); user_pref("gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.driverVersion", "15.300.1025.1001"); user_pref("gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.direct3d11-angle", true); user_pref("gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle", true); user_pref("gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-d3d11", false); user_pref("gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-warp", false); user_pref("gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-try-d3d11", true); user_pref("gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext", 2); user_pref("mail.ab_remote_content.migrated", 1); user_pref("mail.attachment.store.version", 1); user_pref("mail.default_charsets.migrated", 1); user_pref("mail.folder.views.version", 1); user_pref("mail.font.windows.version", 2); user_pref("mail.openMessageBehavior.version", 1); user_pref("mail.rights.version", 1); user_pref("mail.spam.version", 1); user_pref("mail.taskbar.lastgroupid", "8216C80C92C4E828"); user_pref("mail.ui-rdf.version", 11); user_pref("mail.winsearch.firstRunDone", true); user_pref("mailnews.database.global.datastore.id", "3baba5ef-6d2d-479c-909b-c191ab54167"); user_pref("mailnews.quotingPrefs.version", 1); user_pref("mailnews.start_page_override.mstone", "45.2.0"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label1.color", "#FF0000"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label1.tag", "Important"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label2.color", "#FF9900"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label2.tag", "Work"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label3.color", "#009900"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label3.tag", "Personal"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label4.color", "#3333FF"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label4.tag", "To Do"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label5.color", "#993399"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.$label5.tag", "Later"); user_pref("mailnews.tags.version", 2); user_pref("network.cookie.prefsMigrated", true); user_pref("signon.importedFromSqlite", true); user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.cachedClientID", "09d4e813-912a-4422-90d1-a187a5c4876f"); user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.previousBuildID", "20160630070546");

more options

Is that all?

more options

That is the whole file in that location, yes. I have not checked to see if there is another version in any of the profile copies?

more options

There are no accounts defined in your prefs.js. That is the reason why you won't see any messages, even if the mail files are all in your profile.

Do you have a good prefs.js in an older backup?

more options

Looks like the prefs was not included in the backups (yay IT guy, not!) just the profile

There must be some way to reconstruct?

more options

prefs.js is part of the profile. If you do have an older backup of the profile with a good prefs.js file (i.e. including your accounts) simply copy it back.

If you don't have an older backup with a good prefs.js file please say so, and we'll try something else.

more options

Thanks, the profile has a prefs.js, but it had next to nothing in it, and was last modified in 2007.

 I created another new profile so I can at least access my new mail and that seems to be working OK.  Ill just have to keep trying to figure out how to access the old stuff too.  Thanks for the help
more options

Please try to avoid starting a line in your postings here with white space, since this forum's software takes that as instruction to display the line verbatim, without any wrapping. It's intended for code snippets and the like.

Please try to avoid starting a line in your postings here with white space, since this forum's software takes that as instruction to display the line verbatim, without any wrapping. It's intended for code snippets and the like.
more options

VivsEZ said

Thanks, the profile has a prefs.js, but it had next to nothing in it, and was last modified in 2007. I created another new profile so I can at least access my new mail and that seems to be working OK. Ill just have to keep trying to figure out how to access the old stuff too. Thanks for the help
  1. 1
  2. 2