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Newer version of Thunderbird not recognizing older profile (experienced user)

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  • Last reply by gbell12

gbell12
gbell12
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I installed Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on top of 12.04 LTS, which had an up-to-date Thunderbird running on it.

However, when I launch Thunderbird (45.3.0), it presents me with the "Welcome to Thunderbird" dialog and doesn't see any of my accounts (or folders).

I've confirmed that profiles.ini is pointing to the right folder. I've tried creating a new profile and copying the old profile's files and folders over to it. Same result.

No other symptoms. No error on stdout/stderr, no other messages. Just an apparently empty profile (which isn't empty at all on disk).

Do I need to resort to ImportExportTools?

Thanks much for the replies.

I installed Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on top of 12.04 LTS, which had an up-to-date Thunderbird running on it. However, when I launch Thunderbird (45.3.0), it presents me with the "Welcome to Thunderbird" dialog and doesn't see any of my accounts (or folders). I've confirmed that profiles.ini is pointing to the right folder. I've tried creating a new profile and copying the old profile's files and folders over to it. Same result. No other symptoms. No error on stdout/stderr, no other messages. Just an apparently empty profile (which isn't empty at all on disk). Do I need to resort to ImportExportTools? Thanks much for the replies.

Chosen solution

SOLVED: prefs.js was corrupted... so it had no knowledge of the accounts, etc.

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gbell12
gbell12 Question owner
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Chosen Solution

SOLVED: prefs.js was corrupted... so it had no knowledge of the accounts, etc.