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Migrating to new computer

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 19 views
  • Last reply by sfhowes

Milton's Firefox
Milton's Firefox
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I have followed the instructions located here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer

but still cannot get my new computer to access my email accounts.

Apparently I have missed something with the profile or the proper path for it but I cannot figure out what it is.

Is there another step to take to complete the migration?

I have followed the instructions located here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer but still cannot get my new computer to access my email accounts. Apparently I have missed something with the profile or the proper path for it but I cannot figure out what it is. Is there another step to take to complete the migration?

All Replies (4)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Migration works best if the TB version is the same on the two computers, and the contents of the profile folder are copied:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1323100

JonStu
JonStu
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Hi. The support document for migrating no longer works, for latest versions of Thunderbird. To resolve, go to "%APPDATA%\roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\[profileID].default\, and open prefs.js in a text editor. Then search for all references to a profile path like this, and update any that are not the correct path.

The reason for this issue is that every new install of TB now creates a new profileID, so when you copy from the old profile, the references are to the old ID, not the new. This causes pref.js to fail to load and hangs the program.

pds1
pds1
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Hi jstuart2,

Please could you explain what you mean by "search for all references to a profile path like this, and update any that are not the correct path" I am confused, sorry.

Regards

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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pds1 said
Hi jstuart2, Please could you explain what you mean by "search for all references to a profile path like this, and update any that are not the correct path" I am confused, sorry. Regards

The above advice is incorrect. If you were to try to fix profile paths, that information is in profiles.ini in the ../AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird folder, not prefs.js.