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Feedback on issues moving Thunderbird to new computer - W10 to W11

  • 3 valiny
  • 0 manana an'ity olana ity
  • Valiny farany nomen'i david

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Moving Thunderbird from an old laptop (W10) to a new laptop (W11). Doing this for a non-computer-literate friend. Old laptop (bought in 2016) is now running W10 but I assume it was originally W7 and upgraded at some point (by me).

I followed Moving Thunderbird data to a new computer which seemed straightforward. However when I copied the Profile across and restarted Thunderbird there was no data to be seen. I tried again just to be sure, including uninstalling and reinstalling Thunderbird. Still no joy. [There are support threads about this but they seem to be archived so I can't update them.]

Onwards and upwards. I tried the "export to zip file" option. This had a mild warning that if the Profile was more than 3GB it might (!) be better to back up instead. [Noting that I had already tried this and failed - see above.]

It produced the ZIP file eventually, at an impressive 15.8GB. I then tried to restore from it, but the Restore option refused to find it, showing a comment that the file must be not larger than 2GB. I refer the reader back to the note on the Export option.

I then noted that you could Import from another Profile. I had one of those saved from my first attempts to copy Profile -> Profile. So I tried this option and it worked.

I think my issue was that the old version of Thunderbird was 32 bit and the new version was 64 bit. In which case the document linked to above could do with an update to warn about moving from 32 bit to 64 bit and include the method that worked. [Subject to more testing by others to confirm the solution works reliably.]

The Export dialogue could also do with a much more specific warning, to align with the Import dialogue.

This is a brief summary of a very long day because shifting 15.8GB of data around between computers and in and out as well is incredibly tedious! :-( Noting that the ZIP file and the Thunderbird directory tree with the Profile in are both the same size.

Moving Thunderbird from an old laptop (W10) to a new laptop (W11). Doing this for a non-computer-literate friend. Old laptop (bought in 2016) is now running W10 but I assume it was originally W7 and upgraded at some point (by me). I followed [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer Moving Thunderbird data to a new computer] which seemed straightforward. However when I copied the Profile across and restarted Thunderbird there was no data to be seen. I tried again just to be sure, including uninstalling and reinstalling Thunderbird. Still no joy. [There are support threads about this but they seem to be archived so I can't update them.] Onwards and upwards. I tried the "export to zip file" option. This had a mild warning that if the Profile was more than 3GB it might (!) be better to back up instead. [Noting that I had already tried this and failed - see above.] It produced the ZIP file eventually, at an impressive 15.8GB. I then tried to restore from it, but the Restore option refused to find it, showing a comment that the file must be not larger than 2GB. I refer the reader back to the note on the Export option. I then noted that you could Import from another Profile. I had one of those saved from my first attempts to copy Profile -> Profile. So I tried this option and it worked. I think my issue was that the old version of Thunderbird was 32 bit and the new version was 64 bit. In which case the document linked to above could do with an update to warn about moving from 32 bit to 64 bit and include the method that worked. [Subject to more testing by others to confirm the solution works reliably.] The Export dialogue could also do with a much more specific warning, to align with the Import dialogue. This is a brief summary of a very long day because shifting 15.8GB of data around between computers and in and out as well is incredibly tedious! :-( Noting that the ZIP file and the Thunderbird directory tree with the Profile in are both the same size.

All Replies (3)

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Ok, this works:

here is the info in brief steps:

  1. ensure thunderbird is not running on old machine
  2. enter %appdata% in search window on task bar and press Enter key
  3. this should open windows file explorer in Appdata\roaming folder
  4. highlight the Thunderbird folder and copy to external media
  5. ensure thunderbird is installed on second computer and NOT running
  6. enter %appdata% in search window on task bar and press Enter key
  7. you should be in Appdata\roaming folder , copy&paste the exported Thunderbird folder there. This may prompt to overwrite an existing folder of same name. allow it
  8. start thunderbird and all should be there

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Respectfully, did you read and understand my post?

I describe attempting your suggested solution as the first step (which failed), and then the investigation and further attempts before I found a working solution.

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The objective of your post was not clear, and my response showed a process that works. I'm pleased all went well.

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Mametraha fanontaniana

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