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

(SOLVED) TB Profile path needs to be re-entered on Dual boot w/each boot

  • 16 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by christ1

more options

Have a dual boot (W10 & Ubuntu 14.04). Setup TB on W10 first and migrated all W7 files/folders for TB to it. Worked fine. Then set up Ubuntu TB. Set path for Profiles to the location on main drive used by W10 so I could use same files. Worked 1st time and recognized all folders/files/addresses/etc. When I re-boot to Ubuntu it says Profiles folder is missing. In Terminal I do the following to correct:

cd /usr/bin> ./thunderbird -profilemanager> delete "default profile"> create new "default profile" and set path to the same old Profile folder on main drive>

All works again, till next re-boot. Then I have to reenter the above all over again! Any suggestions GREATLY appreciated!

Have a dual boot (W10 & Ubuntu 14.04). Setup TB on W10 first and migrated all W7 files/folders for TB to it. Worked fine. Then set up Ubuntu TB. Set path for Profiles to the location on main drive used by W10 so I could use same files. Worked 1st time and recognized all folders/files/addresses/etc. When I re-boot to Ubuntu it says Profiles folder is missing. In Terminal I do the following to correct: cd /usr/bin> ./thunderbird -profilemanager> delete "default profile"> create new "default profile" and set path to the same old Profile folder on main drive> All works again, till next re-boot. Then I have to reenter the above all over again! Any suggestions GREATLY appreciated!

Modified by BOHICAMAN

Chosen solution

Congratulations. Can you then mark the thread as 'Solved' please? Thank you.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (16)

more options
Set path for Profiles to the location on main drive used by W10

Can you explain this in more detail? What exactly did you do?

more options

Thought it was fairly well explained above...standard install for both operation systems; path set to same Profile folded; and what happens when I re-boot and how I currently need to correct the problem with each re-boot. Please let me know what other info you'd like and I'll happily provide same.

The apparent problem as I see it is that once I enter/re-enter the path to the profile folder (in Ubuntu) on the main drive, TB (ProfileManager) fails to save it and the next re-boot of system can not find the path or profile folder until I reenter the path thru ProfileManager.

more options

Can you post the contents of your Ubuntu profiles.ini file?

What is the exact path to the profile folder on the Windows partition?

more options

The Profiles.ini file is:

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0] Name=Default User IsRelative=0 Path=/media/robert/MAIN Drive/Users/Robert A. Cressman/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/jls91gxq.default


The path to the Profiles folder on Windows is:

C:/Users/Robert A. Cressman/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/jls91gxq.default

Thanks!

more options

There are spaces in your path, which may cause problems. You need to escape the spaces in profiles.ini with a backslash: Path=/media/robert/MAIN\ Drive/Users/Robert\ A.\ Cressman/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/jls91gxq.default

Modified by christ1

more options

Ok, tried that and didn't work. I get the error that the Profile is not accessible, or missing when I boot up. However, it I click on the Thunderbird icon after that, it does boot.

Don't know if this is related, and only as an FYI, but after I made the change, Firefox shows a picture from my hard drive as background to the home and subsequest webpages and I can not make it go away!

more options
I get the error that the Profile is not accessible, or missing

Can you post the contents of the adjusted profiles.ini again?

However, it I click on the Thunderbird icon after that, it does boot.

Did it create a new profile at the default location? What profile is being used when you start Thunderbird? You can check via Troubleshooting Information.

Firefox shows a picture from my hard drive as background to the home and subsequest webpages

That isn't related to Thunderbird. You may ask in the Firefox support group. Just in case if this is related to malware see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware

more options

I checked the Troubleshooter. If I do not check (tic) "Include Account Names" box, the Profile Directory line shows a radio button stating... "OPEN DIRECTORY" (unknown location).

When I check the box, it changes the Profile directory line to... /media/robert/MAIN Drive/Users/Robert A. Cressman/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/jls91gxq.default (Unknown location).

This is what the current Profile.ini file reads... [General] StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/jls91gxq.default Default=1

[Profile1] Name=Default User IsRelative=0 Path=/media/robert/MAIN\ Drive/Users/Robert\ A.\ Cressman/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/jls91gxq.default

more options

You do have two profile entries in your profiles.ini now, and they appear to have the same name. That can't be right.

When I check the box, it changes the Profile directory line to...

I don't think checking that box would have any impact on the profile path.

(Unknown location)

Something seems to be wrong with your profile path.

When you use the path as specified in profiles.ini and do a 'cd <path_to_your_profile>' in a terminal, does it work?

more options

Ok, I tried the "cd <path to your Profile>" in terminal and it did not work -No such file or directory. I also copied the Profile folder and Profile.ini file to a different drive (with no spaces) and put them in a new folder. I reset the Profile Manager to the new path and deleted all the other locations in Profile.ini except the new one. ZIP! NADA! Didn't work there either!

I have no idea why not.

more options

In the terminal, start with 'cd /media'. The 'cd' to the next level until you get stuck.

more options

I did as stated. I could not get to the completed path. So, I moved the Profile and Profile.ini to a completely different drive on a path without spaces. I tried the cd / to check the path. I did it in increments starting with /media/. and it went all the way to my profile. I rewrote the path in -profilemanager and exited. I then re-booted completely. I get the same error...

I have no idea why, but Profilemanager does not seem to save/remember the path. When I re-enter the exact same path, it goes there till the next boot.

more options

You cannot move profiles.ini to a different location. Thunderbird does only look for profiles.ini in your home directory: $HOME/<your user id>/.thunderbird/profiles.ini You can move the profile folder referenced in profiles.ini though, what you did.

Modified by christ1

more options

I had copied the two (Profiles Folder & profiles.ini) to the new drive, so the original was still in the ./thunderbird folder. All back to square one.

I set up thunderbird in windows 10 and migrated my Profiles folder which is on drive E: (via profiles.ini). I then copied the prefs.js file to Linux (Ubuntu 14.04) ./thunderbird/<my Profiles folder>/perfs.js.

I made the path corrections in the Linux perfs.js to point to the Profiles folder on E;. I then opened -profilesmanager and set the new Profiles folder location.

After saving it, I started Thunderbird. All ok. After re-boot, back to not finding the profile.

more options

Problem solved. It had to do with the correct path, but I'm not sure in which file as I made so many corrections and changes, over and over!

more options

Chosen Solution

Congratulations. Can you then mark the thread as 'Solved' please? Thank you.