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

Hierdie gesprek is in die argief. Vra asseblief 'n nuwe vraag as jy hulp nodig het.

Thunderbird migration

more options

I am trying to migrate Thunderbird from a back-up (bootable) external drive to a new laptop. The OS is Mac Catalina 10.15.5.

I have tried to follow the instructions in troubleshooting; I copied everything under Thunderbird in my library on the backup disk, installed Thunderbird on the new MacBook Air, then, with Thunderbird shut down, I copied all the info to the new machine. This included the profil.ini file, and the profile itself.

But, when I restart Th., it assumes that I do not have an email account (I had originally set one up after installation), makes me set one up, and then apparently adds a new default profile, and modifies the profile.ini file. It is very complicated, with about seven entries. I see my old profile in there, but do not see how to modify profil.ini to make it the default. With all the Locked=1's, paths, etc.

Thanks for all help!

I am trying to migrate Thunderbird from a back-up (bootable) external drive to a new laptop. The OS is Mac Catalina 10.15.5. I have tried to follow the instructions in troubleshooting; I copied everything under Thunderbird in my library on the backup disk, installed Thunderbird on the new MacBook Air, then, with Thunderbird shut down, I copied all the info to the new machine. This included the profil.ini file, and the profile itself. But, when I restart Th., it assumes that I do not have an email account (I had originally set one up after installation), makes me set one up, and then apparently adds a new default profile, and modifies the profile.ini file. It is very complicated, with about seven entries. I see my old profile in there, but do not see how to modify profil.ini to make it the default. With all the Locked=1's, paths, etc. Thanks for all help!

All Replies (2)

more options

OK, I figured it out. Just copied the whole /Library/Thunderbird folder to the MacBook, then restarted the machine before starting Thunderbird. Duh!

more options

Actually, I am getting the same problem.

I have a macOS laptop and have upgraded from TB 68 to 78.

When lanched, TB started with a fresh profile and guided me through the 'use old profile' screen - which I set as the 'default' profile and restarted TB.

Alas, it does not start with my existing profile automatically - and everything I have tried (like editing the profiles.ini file and removing all the '-release' profiles in the Terminal have failed.

I have 'fudged' it by creating a desktop launcher in macOS to launch TB with -P cmncjduegeg.default

Can anyone guide me how to make the standard macOS button in the dock launch my profile please?