Hi corystes, Hopefully, you backed up the correct folder. :) The Thunderbird user data is kept in a separate location from the program files.

Assuming you backed up the correct Thunderbird folder, just follow these instructions:

1. Close Thunderbird.
2. Right-click on the Thunderbird folder you backed up, and select Copy.
3. Press +R on the keyboard to open the Run dialog.
4. Enter %APPDATA%, and click OK
5. Right-click inside the folder, and select Paste.
6. If prompted, choose to replace your current data.

Even if you didn't back up the correct folder, the default account type when adding an account to Thunderbird is IMAP, which keeps messages and folders on the server. You should be able to add the account to your new installation, and the folders and messages will automatically appear.

I am not sure what you mean by "reset Windows" but if its File History feature is designed to keep suck files anyways, you need to restore the files first. There are many online guides for that, here is one.

The profile folder name should end with "%%%%%%%%.default" (% stands for randow characters), normally it should be in the App Data folder for Thunderbird. To find this folder:

1. In the Start menu select Run...
2. Type "%appdata%" (without quotes), then Return
3. Open the Thunderbird folder, the Profiles Folder

Thanks for for your responses Chris & Fabian. Sadly they haven't worked, so I guess the wrong folders have been backed up.

Do you see a 'windows.old' folder ? If yes: This is where your default profile should be located: C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\

This would be the same place you currently use and should be the same place located in 'windows.old' folder.

You may need to make hidden files and folders visible: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders

Note: when copying any data from a backup into thunderbird, you must exit the Thunderbird' program - it must not be running.

Do you see a 'windows.old' folder, it may be on your desktop ?

Hey! Toad-Hall, thanks for your suggestion. now we're getting somewhere! I hope! found a Tbird profile under C:\windows.old\users\user\appdata\local\thunderbird\profiles. Was well hidden. Am I right in thinking I just need to delete current profile contents and copy paste from the old folder? Would hate to just nuke things after all this effort.

Hi corystes, I'm sorry, but \appdata\local\thunderbird\ is the location of your caches, not your profile data. It should be in \appdata\Roaming\thunderbird\

Access location of stored profile in 'windows.old' folder. Note: as mentioned \appdata\Roaming\

C:\windows.old\users\user\appdata\Roaming\Thunderbird\ Copy the 'Thunderbird' folder . This will copy everything.

Access the current 'Roaming' folder on computer where profiles are stored: C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming folder In the 'Roaming' folder there will be a default 'Thunderbird' folder. As you do not intend to use it - delete it.

Then paste the 'Thunderbird ' folder copied from 'windows.old' into the 'Roaming' folder. Start Thunderbird and it will use the one you have just copied over.

bum! looks like i'm screwed then, as the profiles folders in roaming is empty and there's no such folder stored in file history. Thanks for your efforts guys.

re: profiles folders in roaming is empty Windows should have copied them into that 'windows.old' folder. But the new one in your computer Roaming folder will be empty. Are you sure you are talking about the 'windows.old' folder?

If emails are still on server you could recreate the mail accounts and download again.

If the accounts were imap then all emails should still be on server. If pop then you can only download whatever is in the server Inbox.

Profile folder in Windows old is def. empty. Only profiles folder with any thing in is C:\users\user\appdata\roaming\thunderbird, - which I'm assuming is from the reinstalled Tbird linked to ISP so I can at least access mail. Biggest frustration is losing all emails kept on my pc (pop3 set up).

I'm having the same problem after reinstalling Windows 10. I saved both the AppData folders (Roaming and Local) on a backup disk, and restored them both after the re-install to the appropriate AppData locations. These do appear to contain all the right data.

Now when I open Thunderbird, it starts by asking me to set up a new account. there is no sign of the two other accounts that should be in the profile. I clicked on the hamburger menu and tried Import, but it said that there was "No application data to import from found".

hi JohnRostron It is much better if you start a new question as you're issue sounds different. You are not trying to locate information from a 'windows.old' folder. Also, when you post into someone else's question, you are sending them an email asking them for help which they may or may not want or know how to assist. Your setup could be entirely different.