Remove master password causes loss of profile, and resets account Information.
Using Thunderbird 45.2.0, I was continually asked "Enter Master Password" when sending an e-mail message for the first time, during a session, (I had set it for security suggestions), however got frustrated that it was not needed since this is a single user computer.
Reading the article on "Setting Master Password" in the Mozilla Support website, leads one to believe that removing the password, keeps the data intact, and just removes the requirement for a master password.
Not quite.
AFTER Removing the password (known), and restarting Thunderbird after a cold shutdown caused the ENTIRE PROFILE to be obliterated and a new Profile created at the next time running Thunderbird 45.2.0/
NOW I have to re-build profile, and have to manually change profile.ini to point to the correct path for the file folders.
How do I get my Thunderbird (45.2.0) to recognize my old data and profile.
I attempted to find and copy using MozBackup to copy the profile to a different folder (Temporary), and restore, but it failed to detect my 12 e-mail accounts.
Anyone ever tried to remove the master password, and get a corruption or similar, with the 'default' profile?
All Replies (15)
> Reading the article on "Setting Master Password" in the Mozilla Support website, leads one to believe that removing the password, keeps the data intact, and just removes the requirement for a master password.
Indeed, it is only supposed to removed the master password.
Which of these article did you use for reference?
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/reset-your-master-password-if-you-forgot-it
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/master-password
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-master-password-protect-stored-logins
You apparently are knowledgable and viewed the thunderbird profile using Windows. What exactly do you see in %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles ? And what are the contents of profiles.ini ?
Wayne Mery said
Which of these article did you use for reference?
What exactly do you see in %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles ?
>Two Folders and no files [keyfilename].default
%APPDATA% = C:\Users\[MachineName-Username]\AppData\Roaming\
And what are the contents of profiles.ini ?
Modified by Richard_416282
Apaprently formatting is obliterated in these replies : --- What exactly do you see in %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles ?
>Two Folders and no files
[UserCode].default
%APPDATA% = C:\Users\[MachineName-Username]\AppData\Roaming\
And what are the contents of profiles.ini ?
The reference used for the "Master Password" function was
Lets start again. I really can not follow this
On your keyboard
Press 
+ R
In the run box type
%appdata%\Thunderbird\profiles.ini
Please copy the content of that file to a reply message here on the forum.
In Notepad press Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C
In the reply on the forum Press Ctrl+V it paste in the text.
again
+ R
In the run box type
%appdata%\Thunderbird\profiles
Please take a screen shot of what shows in Windows explorer. and upload the resultant image so we can see what folders actually exist.
Modified by Matt
OK, for Matt:
Before the corruption the profiles.ini file was in its usual place.
After the corruption, the profiles.ini was eviscerated/deleted/regenerated.
The Files are still there, but I need to rebuild profiles.ini.
After the corruption, a new profiles.ini was generated after a restart.
I do not post system internal stuff on the internet. Thank you. But this is a representation of the file as it stands now.
[General] StartWithLastProfile=0
[Profile0] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/[redacted-1].default
[Profile1] Name=newprofile IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/[redacted-2].newprofile
[Profile2] Name=Recovery IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/20160729 Default=1
[Profile3] Name=2016-AugustRecovery IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/[redacted-3].2016-AugustRecovery
--- Attached is the screen shot requested, of AppData/thunderbird/profiles.
and the root of that directory has the "profiles.ini" file in it,
however, that file got corrupted, and the rest of the "profile" components needs to be re-built from a back-up from about 3 weeks ago.(latest i have).
see the date of creation for the folder ...[redacted-1]default.
This is the date that I installed Thunderbird on this PC. [see screen shot #2] two folders and profile.ini
The original folder size of the default profile was 5 GB. and had 12 different e-mail accounts. The largest was the default folder.
Modified by Richard_416282
Well as you have redacted the information you will have to sort out for yourself which entry should have the default associated with it.
So assuming you know which actually contains the profile you want. Start the profile manger and make it the default
the profile manager is started using the command line option -ProfileManager
See here for examples https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Command_Line_Options
When the default profile, is selected, None of the Original Default Accounts show up, and Thunderbird asks to set up an e-mail account or use an existing e-mail account like an isp e-mail.
Right now am in the process of re-building the profile using the name "2016 August Recovery" to use in the interim, untill all of the components can be identified and recovered.
Is there a specific format the 'profiles.ini need to be in other than the same match as shown in the text above?
Modified by Richard_416282
Obviously redacted-1 or redacted-2 are your correct default. Give you have four profile and you have excluded the other two as wrong.
Why you trying to rebuild anything is beyond me.
Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird points to a fatal flaw in the thunderbird code, that re-builds the profile.ini file when it cannot read the existing file.
from the paragraph on profiles.ini:
[blockquote] Thunderbird uses the profiles.ini file to find the location of your profiles, and to determine which profile is the default profile. If you're using Windows the file is located in the parent of the "Profiles" folder. It can be edited to move your profile. If it's deleted, a new profiles.ini file will be created and a new default profile folder created when Thunderbird starts.
This file is the reason why you can't just copy a profile into the "profiles" folder and have Thunderbird discover it. /blockquote
this is the reason it has to be re-built .
IF i do not re-build the profiles.ini, and other files that Thunderbird needs to operate , I will not be able to restore my data to just before the corruption that occurred when I removed the master password from the profile(s).
-R
the process that is described in this link from MozillaZine is similar:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_a_profile_that_suddenly_disappeared
and is a path to restore a corrupted profile.
Using the profile manger to create a new profile pointing the location to that folder containing the "lost" profile data fixes the issue without any messing about.
I see nothing here that would indicate the original profile is damaged in any way, not have you said anything to indicate that. Thunderbird just needs to be told where to find it.
And How does one stop the system from asking to re-build the default E-mail account, and overlay the existing account data? See Image1 and Image2
After copying the data from the former profile over to the "newProfile" area, and restarting Thunderbird and pointing to the 'newProfile' resulted in TB asking to re-build the account.
After picking a 'generic' . "data@google.com", TB looks up the domain name "google.com", and tries to re-configure the account for use with that particular Internet Service Provider (I.S.P.). The end result: Image3 shows the window that appears after.
Now you have done it your way.... how about having a look at the prefs.js file in your backup compared to what is in the default. My guess is it may be a lot smaller or missing entirely.