transfer thunderbird profile from XP to 7

[erratic]

hi , first post here on this forum but i have been stalking in the corner for a while
i have a dual boot with windows XP SP3 , and windows 7.
and i might just say that windows 7 is very nice
i am trying to setup thunderbird and would like to transfer all my profile settings/emails/local emails to the windows 7 thunderbird.
it doesn't seem to be working
does anyone have any tips for me? i have scrolled through the net for an hours or so including this forum and have tried several different options.

there is 2 different locations on windows 7 for the thunderbird profile
c:\users\*username*\AppData\Roaming\thunderbird\profile
and
c:\users\*username*\AppData\Local\thunderbird\profile

but only one on windows xp
c:\documents and settings\*username*Application Data\thunderbird\profile

if i copy the profile folder from xp to both locations on windows 7 it wont work, or just one location on windows 7 same thing

does anyone know of a easy way to do it?

i stupidly had Tbird running on windows 7 but thought i would be smart and try to set it up exactly th esame as XP - and it stopped working - uninstalled it - reinstalled it and now just want to transfer email/profile settings over.

thanks in advance !

 

[noyb]

Have you tried MozBackup ?? ... I assume this'll work on W7
MozBackup - Backup tool for Firefox and Thunderbird

 

[24c]

MozBackup works fine with Win7. I have used it on every beta release and now the RTM version. IMO - an excellent program

 

[erratic]

awesome
worked easy as !
had to boot into xp run the program to backup, re-boot into windows 7 run program to restore profile - and all there like it should be !
thanks.
quick response and working solution - just how i like it

 

[stormy13]

Even easier and no need for any software to do it. In XP just go to,

C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application Data

locate the Thunderbird folder and copy it to a USB key, cd, whatever. Then in 7 go to,

C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Roaming

and put the Thunderbird folder there AFTER you have installed Thunderbird.

P.S. The same works for Firefox by copying the Mozilla folder.

 

[erratic]

tried that , didnt work, came up with an error saying thunderbird is already running close the window or restart to get it to work *or something similar*

 

[stormy13]

Didn't happen to have Thunderbird open at the time did you?

To transfer that folder on a new Windows install you have to install Thunderbird (or Firefox) first, then add the folder before running it.

 

[erratic]

no i checked that, even checked the task manager to see if it was running without showing up.
anyway - all good. now working

 

[JoHn87]

yea i used that MozBackup tool from vista to windows 7.

works perfect, no issues.

 

[BeechV35Pilot]

To transfer that folder on a new Windows install you have to install Thunderbird (or Firefox) first, then add the folder before running it.

I can attest to this method as well. I have preserved existing Thunderbird and FF profiles across reinstalls/upgrades of the OS simply by copying their respective profile folders to a location away from the OS partition and back again.

Actually, after doing this a few times I just permanently moved their profile folders to another HD partition and include the folders (minus their cache folder contents) in the list of folders to include in daily backup jobs. Restoring the profiles is as easy as restoring the entire profile folder that was backed up.

 

[wrieken]

Solution to Moving Thunderbird from XP to Windows 7

Hi, I just had this problem with transferring between Windows XP 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit Enterprise Version.

1. Install Thunderbird.
2. Go to C:/Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/[delete all files and directories].
3. Go to C:/Users/[user name]/AppData/Local/Thunderbird/[delete all files and directories].
4. From the XP Thunderbird folder that you saved from Windows XP; Copy [Profiles directory, Profiles.ini and registry.dat] to Go to C:/Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/.
5. Start up Thunderbird. It will ask you some questions, say OK and you are good to go.

I didn't know about the Mozbackup software before I deleted XP. So I had no choice but to find a solution. I hope this helps others.

It is not enough to just copy over files. You really have to delete all the install files first as described above.

Take Care,

Will...

 

[BeechV35Pilot]

It is not enough to just copy over files. You really have to delete all the install files first as described above.

That maybe true if you are attempting to copy your existing profile into the profile stored in Thunderbird's default location (which, even under Win 7 is improperly embedded deep within the OS partition, IMO).

However, if you store your Thunderbird and/or Firefox profile in a location other than its default (preferably to a separate partition or hard drive) and then simply change the Thunderbird and/or Firefox profiles.ini file to point to this location, you will have no problems copying the profile folder and all its hierarchy.

I have been doing this for a few years now and it works well. To routinely back up your Thunderbird mail you easily include the root folder of your Thunderbird profile folder in your backup software.

 

[nonbeing]

I just followed the procedure outlined in comment 11 above by wrieken. It's beautiful! It works! Saved me much anxiety, and thunderbird is working like clockwork again on Windows 7 with my old XP thunderbird profile. A big thanks to wrieken!

 

[SheDevil]

Hi, I just had this problem with transferring between Windows XP 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit Enterprise Version.

1. Install Thunderbird.
2. Go to C:/Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/[delete all files and directories].
3. Go to C:/Users/[user name]/AppData/Local/Thunderbird/[delete all files and directories].
4. From the XP Thunderbird folder that you saved from Windows XP; Copy [Profiles directory, Profiles.ini and registry.dat] to Go to C:/Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/.
5. Start up Thunderbird. It will ask you some questions, say OK and you are good to go.

I didn't know about the Mozbackup software before I deleted XP. So I had no choice but to find a solution. I hope this helps others.

It is not enough to just copy over files. You really have to delete all the install files first as described above.

Take Care,

Will...

Ok, despite this step by step guide being very clear and easy to follow, it just doesn't work for me. Here's how things go:

1. I installed Thunderbird and deleted all files and folders in the Thunderbird folder under Roaming as well as Local.
2. I transfer the content of my old Thunderbird folder into the Thunderbird folder under Roaming.
3. I start up Thunderbird and it asks me for name, e-mail etc and auto setup my account.
4. I then get into a clean version of Thunderbird and none of my mails or local folders are there.....
5. When I subsequently check the profile folder under roaming it now contains a new profile in addition to my old one. This has just been created as I started up Thunderbird and it seems I can't prevent it from creating that upon start up.
6. Thus, Thunderbird doesn't seem to accept that it should use the profile that I put into the Thunderbird folder.

Any ideas, what's going wrong??

P.S. I do not keep my profile folder in the default location, I have moved it to a separate HD, and have changed the profile.ini to reflect the full path as well as making it non-relative. However, Thunderbird keeps overwriting it with the new random profile it creates.

P.P.S. I'm running Thunderbird version 3.0.4. if that helps.

Appreciate any help you guys can offer.

-SheDevil

 

[murkhanand]

transfer of Thunderbird from xp to win7

Hi

I followed the steps. Even thunderbird started as in xp and asked a few questions and I could see my inbox as in xp. However, I can not either send or receive emails. I get errors - pop3 server on port 465 can not be connected.

Unless I run Thunderbird I do not see the Thunderbird either in Roaming or local folders.

Any Help please.

 

[shah147]

Worked for ME, thanks

Even easier and no need for any software to do it. In XP just go to,

C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application Data

locate the Thunderbird folder and copy it to a USB key, cd, whatever. Then in 7 go to,

C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Roaming

and put the Thunderbird folder there AFTER you have installed Thunderbird.

P.S. The same works for Firefox by copying the Mozilla folder.

Playing around with Windows 7, didn't like at uni, got used to it in a couple of days, must faster with more RAM, got 2 gig, will upgrade to 4 gig.

THANKS worked straight away with THUNDERBIRD,

overwrite the old folder, only other thing I can think of is, are you in Administrator Account, I was, am, and the only user on the computer, installed, restart, copied folder

am trying now with FIREFOX,

 

[shah147]

PS Firefox justed worked as well.

Happy New Year, LOL

 

[Mike Connor]

A new Thunderbird installation automatically creates a new profile when you start it. You have to overwrite that with your backup.

Or you need to point your profile.ini file to the profile you want to use as otherwise Thunderbird will use the new default profile.

Or simply use Mozback to restore your profile from a backup, AFTER you have started the new installation once, then closed it.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[Appmen]

You may also try to use the PickMeApp application. It transfers your applications from one windows PC to another

 

[ylvi]

Hello,

I followed wrieken's instructions and didn't find any folders. The reason was that I had set the local folder path, where all my mails and folders have been stored. Obviously this had to be copied to the new computer and the path had to be adapted accordingly.
I found the respective path here:
Thunderbird-Menue: Extras -> Konten-Einstellungen -> Lokale Ordner : Lokales Verzeichnis

Cheers