First thing first

Get that copy of pref.js back where is was, before you completely mess up everything in your mail profile and loose the lot.

Until you have done that and can reliably get the error message again do nothing else.

Post here when that is the case.

Yes, I copied back the original prefs.js and we are back to the original problem state. Thanks Larry

On the toolbar > options > advanced > general and Click on the config editor button.

Type in mail.server.server

You will see a list of mail account settings, including settings ending in Name

that is mail.server.server[Number].name.

Whee the numbers identify separate accounts. You will have two accounts with the same name. Change one of them.

You should then be able to modify and delete the extra one. Just be careful after you change the name, that you actually delete to correct one. Deleting the incorrect one will see the mail folder in the folder pane under that account disappear.

Performed the steps exactly as described. What I encountered was not what you expected. I will attempt to explain as clearly as possible. Backed up first, found incomplete identity for server1, then edited server1 to a temp name (after edit, then restart) and on the accounts page the opposite entry was modified (the one with the complete account identity(all the entries). Undid the first edit and changed the name of server2 (the complete identity) and it changed the opposite identity. In these 2 experiments I was only allowed to remove server2 what appears to me to be the good one. remove was grayed out for server1 at all times. Undid all edits. From the accounts page I can not even view the details of either identity due to the duplicate name error msg. This thunderbird installation is several years old and has only been upgraded to the latest version as time goes by. No new accounts have ever been created. I would be glad to provide you with any files you so desired by any method. clearly something very strange is going on. No file corruption (chkdsk c:/f on win7 sp1+++), no virus or malware. run kaspersky internet security and malwarebytes. In one of the temp changes made to server1 I was able to view server2 directory names had been changed to my user@mailserver.xxx. This is not correct. looks like the server identity's are somehow cross linked in error. I too have a computer background, but of course not in thunderbird. awaiting your next instructions. thanks larry

Wjhen you going to account settings, do you see the following for the account you can not delete?

'We are seeing lots of folks who have changed the local folders account name to reflect their email address. Guaranteed disater

Sir, the account settings for user1 are not visible and when selected you get the error msg: "An account with that name already exists, Please enter a different account name" The account settings for user2 displays the correct account name. As previously stated no changes to the user accounts has been made manually. This condition has existed for months and now I want to correct it so that I may update port info for my mail server. Thanks larry

I'm curious what does your troubleshooting information look like? Can you post it here

To find the Troubleshooting information:

• Open Help (or click on three-line-icon and select Help)
• Choose Troubleshooting Information
• Use the button Copy to clipboard to select all. Do not check box "Include account names"!
• Paste this in your post.

Application Basics

   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 38.3.0
   User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.3.0
   Profile Folder: Show Folder

             (Local drive)
   Application Build ID: 20150928051427
   Enabled Plugins: about:plugins
   Build Configuration: about:buildconfig
   Memory Use: about:memory

 Mail and News Accounts
   account1:
     INCOMING: account1, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext

   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (pop3) pop.secureserver.net:110, trySTARTTLS, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtpout.secureserver.net:3535, trySTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true

 Crash Reports

 Extensions
   ImportExportTools, 3.2.4.1, true, {3ed8cc52-86fc-4613-9026-c1ef969da4c3}
   CompactHeader, 2.1.0, false, {58D4392A-842E-11DE-B51A-C7B855D89593}
   Extra Folder Columns, 1.1.5, false, extra-cols@jminta_gmail.com
   Lightning, 4.0.3.1, false, {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}

 Important Modified Preferences

   Name: Value

     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     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
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 38.3.0
     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.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx: 0
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: bad47603-59db-48af-a577-fdf5b0811e3
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1444922049
     places.history.enabled: false
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858
     plugin.importedState: true
     print.print_printer: Lexmark 4200 Series
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_bgcolor: false
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_bgimages: false
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_command:
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_downloadfonts: true
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_evenpages: true
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_footercenter:
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_footerleft: &PT
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_footerright: &D
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_headercenter:
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_headerleft: &T
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_headerright: &U
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_in_color: true
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_margin_bottom: 0.5
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_margin_left: 0.5
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_margin_right: 0.5
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_margin_top: 0.5
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_oddpages: true
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_orientation: 0
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_pagedelay: 500
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_paper_data: 1
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_paper_height: 11.00
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_paper_size: 7216128
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_paper_size_type: 0
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_paper_size_unit: 0
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_paper_width: 8.50
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_reversed: false
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_scaling: 1.00
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_shrink_to_fit: false
     print.printer_Lexmark_4200_Series.print_to_file: false
     privacy.donottrackheader.enabled: true

 Graphics

     Adapter Description: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M
     Vendor ID: 0x10de
     Device ID: 0x1213
     Adapter RAM: 3072
     Adapter Drivers: nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
     Driver Version: 10.18.13.5582
     Driver Date: 8-25-2015
     Direct2D Enabled: false
     DirectWrite Enabled: false (6.2.9200.17461)
     ClearType Parameters: ClearType parameters not found
     WebGL Renderer: false
     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
     4.10.8
     4.10.8

     NSS
     3.19.2 Basic ECC
     3.19.2 Basic ECC

     NSS Util
     3.19.2
     3.19.2

     NSS SSL
     3.19.2 Basic ECC
     3.19.2 Basic ECC

     NSS S/MIME
     3.19.2 Basic ECC
     3.19.2 Basic ECC

larrykoe said

account2: INCOMING: account2, , (pop3) pop.secureserver.net:110, trySTARTTLS, passwordCleartext OUTGOING: smtpout.secureserver.net:3535, trySTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true

From search on internet:

• Incoming server (POP3): pop.secureserver.net 110, 995 (SSL)

.

• Incoming server (IMAP): imap.secureserver.net 143, 993 (SSL)

.

• Outgoing server (SMTP): smtpout.secureserver.net 80, 3535, 25, 465 (SSL)

.

Every one has SSL as security.

Ok so it is not obviousle that your just not getting it.

You have a local folders account that you have changed the name of. It is account one

So open the config editor and change the name of account 1 to "Local Folders".

Then there is no duplication and you can merrily change account 2

Dear Sir:

I know you know your stuff, but in my attempt to communicate what I see on my end, your not reading me. This help system makes submitting screenprints or pdf captures of screen almost impossible. So far I have not figured out how to show you an image of what my thunderbird screens looks like. By changing the identity 1 to local folders it has messed up the working identity by default identity 2 so now the inbox is under the name localfolders and the option on the account settings screen gives only one possible name to call the folders ie localfolders. This is wrong. By changing identity 1 we have messed up to some degree identity 2 which contains years of emails and attachments. I do not know or remember what the folders field used to be called but now my inbox and all folders below it are under the mail id of localfolds rather than user@domain.com. This is why I said things look cross linked. identity2 should not have changed, by renaming identity one. You also insist I created this problem for myself. I object, how ever this mess occurred it was not intentional user input. More likely years of updates from mozilla corrupted my config. But if it makes you happy to think all users are unintelligent creatures then let if suffice. Right now I have no confidence of the integrity of my folder structure and naming convention. I would prefer a remote support option where you can see for your self what I see and correct it properly. This is a service I would be willing to pay for. What I have now is uncomfortable and potentially going to cause data loss. I thank you for your help but the fix is not here yet and unlikely to appear until you listen to what I am saying. Please advise me if a paid support option is available with a remote desktop connection. Thanks very much...larry

Thunderbird Support: Since we are making no progress only repeating the same steps and getting the same result let's try a different approach. Problem: Account Profile is Corrupt Solution 1. Leave msgs as is.

                   Delete all thunderbird program and configuration files. Install thunderbird from scratch. Create a new user profile. Link new profile to existing msg store.

I have done these steps already but was unable to get the old msg store linked so it could be seen by the new profile. This should be possible, can you help. Detailed steps would be appreciated. No more wasted time trying to fix the corrupt profile. Thanks for your support. larry

If you need help to create a screenshot, please see How do I create a screenshot of my problem?

Once you've done this, attach the saved screenshot file to your forum post by clicking the Browse... button below the Post your reply box.

Is this the only response to my question on how to link a msg store to a new profile? thanks larry

It is my response. simply because you going from deep water to a shark filled ocean of hurt.

If you think there were issues before, they are only going to get a lot worse.

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_deleted_mail_accounts and you will have to repeat it once at least of every folder and every account, and even then you will be using the old folders so basically nothing is gained.