check the folder below your new profile. Does it have a folder with your old profile in it. My guess is it does.

Yes there is another profile below the new one. This is where I copied the data from to put in the new profile.

ok, replace the new profile data with the old. and move the old profile up to Thunderbird\profiles\

Thanks for your help. I replaced and moved the profile as indicated. When I open TB the profile is not loaded. I get a window asking if i want a new email address, when I cancel that, I get a window to set up my account, (asking for user name, password, etc.) In the TB troubleshooting window, the profile folder shows the correct profile in finder.

Sounds like you originally pasted old 'profile folder name' into a new 'profile folder name' (a profile folder in a profile folder) instead of just pasting the contents of the old profile folder name into the new profile folder name.

And now, I think you have removed the new profile folder name substituting with the old profile folder name. So that the 'profiles.ini' file is looking for the new profile name and cannot locate it.

I believe the 'profile.ini' file does not know the name of the actual profile you want to use. Open the 'profiles.ini' file and see if is looking for the new profile folder which I'm assuming you removed. Make a note of the profile folder name located in the profiles.ini file. Either: Change the 'profile folder name', so it is exactly the same as the one shown in the 'profiles.ini' file OR edit the 'profiles.ini' file so it is using the current 'profile folder name'.

the profiles.ini file should contain the same name as the profile folder name

Note thunderbird must be closed when doing any modification to the thunderbird profile folders.

No I only pasted the contents of the old profile into the new one. The profile.ini file has the correct profile name in it. Also, when I check the profile folder in the troubleshooting page, it shows the correct profile.

did you have Thunderbird running when you did this, resulting in corruption.

I deleted TB and profiles. Reinstalled TB, started, then shutdown, copied backup files into the new profile and restarted TB. All accounts and mail now showing up! Thanks for all your help.