Do I guess you had Thunderbird open while trying to do this? If not what program just sat and spun?

It was Thunderbird. I copy and pasted the email files from the c drive to our file server drive with windows explorer while Thunderbird was closed. I created a new profile with the profile manager on the 2nd computer. Copied the contents of the profile folder from the server drive to the new profile folder. When I started Thunderbird and tried to open the email files was when it would just spin. I realized I must have done something wrong but just don't know what it was. I have now tried so many different things to correct the issue I'm not sure what to do at this point.

Thanks

starting from the beginning.

copy the %appdata%\Thunderbird folder and the included sub folders from the original location. Making sure to include the ini file in the %appdata%\Thunderbird folder

Reverse on the new device.

Windows key +R Type %appdata%\Thunderbird to get exactly what thunderbird folder and it's absolute location.'

Did this and got the same result, files would not open. I copied everything in the Thunderbird folder to make sure the ini file was included. I can see that the files copied to the other computer but they will not open in the Thunderbird app. Was I correct in copying the entire folder? I used the Windows Key +R to get the Thunderbird folder location.

The thing that bothers me is that I can not open the files in Thunderbird on the original computer and profile. When I look for the files with Windows Explorer, I can see the files in the %APPDATA%\THUNDERBIRD\PROFILES\XXXXXXXX.default\ImapMail folder.

Thanks

I can see the files in the %APPDATA%\THUNDERBIRD\PROFILES\XXXXXXXX.default\ImapMail folder.

If this is about an IMAP account, what's the point copying mail files? They are on the server anyway.

If the files you're copying are not from an IMAP account, but you're trying to copy them to an IMAP account, this won't work. The server will delete them right away.

You'll need to copy them to your 'Local Folders' account, and upload the messages to the server afterwards.

The point was that the person who used this email retired and left the office. The purpose was to be able to save some of the files (emails) and be able to refer to them when needed. The retired employee wanted to keep this email address for personal emails, but for our office to no longer have access to his password.

At one point I was able to access the folders on my workstation, but another employee need to have access to them also. In the process of loading Thunderbird onto another workstation and copying the file folders I can no longer open the files in Thunderbird on either workstation.

If I copied them to an IMAP account are they lost for good. I can see files with extension .msf and other folders that show a large file size.

Sorry I'm not very knowledgeable about file types.

Only files without a file extensions are mail files, e.g. like Inbox, Sent, Read, etc. Do not copy over .msf files. Again, when copying over mail files, put them into your 'Local Folders' account.

Recovered the emails from the backup on the server and put them in Outlook. Much more user friendly.