Thunderbird won't uninstall, hangs

Topic

New Reply

Hello-All,
My new Dell win7-64bit system is driving me NUTS!! What’s new!?
I had thunderbird installed and running just fine for my email client….I know it works….Doing the necessary backups and getting all my email into win7 – I “”uninstalled””” the program to have a blank – empty profile…Now I can’t open TB – says it’s already running, please close all open programs???
I’ve tried re-installing and uninstalling-still the programs says it’s running!!!
I don’t want to use system restore, since I’m sure it will screw up my other programs that are working fine…especially, roboform…
Help greatly appreciated!!!!
John in Dallas
P.S. When Dell initially set up the system to verify all components were working, the agent said sometimes programs won’t uninstall completely using the add/remove function////he did something else to verify all traces were completely removed…..NOW-of course, they have NO IDEA what I’m referring to!!!! What a SAD commentary on the current status of Dell support!!!

Reply | Quote

Replies

Click on ths Start Orb and type in services.msc in the search box.

Find thunderbird (not necessarily in that name; you may have to look at each entry to see what it is supposed to do) in the list of services, double-click it and then click the Stop button.

See if that enables you to do what you want to do.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

I had the same problem.
I used REVO uninstaller to get rid of it then I re-installed it and it worked fine.

Reply | Quote

For future reference, ThunderBird does show in the Processes list when you invoke the Task Manager. Could be that was causing the problem of uninstalling.

Reply | Quote

For future reference, ThunderBird does show in the Processes list when you invoke the Task Manager. Could be that was causing the problem of uninstalling.

Yes. Use Task Manager to kill it. I have found that Thunderbird and Firefox will tend to not shut down entirely. The issue usually is caused by plugins that I installed (so I identify then and get rid of them) or by device drivers (I had a smart card driver that prevent Firefox from shutting down, I had to reinstall the smart card driver security key used by it to get Firefox to shut down properly).

Reply | Quote

Thanks – Guys,
Appreciate your responses, but that’s NOT the problem! Nothing in TM indicates TB is running? Unless it’s masquerading under another name…Firefox is there and labled – TB is there and labled on my XP system..
I’ve noticed on the win7 box, when I d/l TB then check in programs/ d/l area, there’s nothing in the size column??? Perhaps, it’s NOT d/l correctly? Should show the size in MB’s. Other programs do.
I’ve run CCleaner – has no affect….Also, I notice the TB icon has only ONE KB in size!!?? That’s really strange!
I finally did system restore….Still didn’t help!! Running out of ideas?? Registry —- NO THANKS!!!! I know enough to stay away from that!!
Thanks for suggestions.
John in Dallas,

Reply | Quote

Thanks – Guys,
Appreciate your responses, but that’s NOT the problem! Nothing in TM indicates TB is running? Unless it’s masquerading under another name…Firefox is there and labled – TB is there and labled on my XP system..

Am I reading your comment correctly? It appears that you are saying that TB is shown listed in Task Manager, but there is nothing to indicate TB is running? TB may not be running, but if a TB process is still showing under the Task Manager Processes tab, then that can cause your difficulties. Any TB process should be killed after you quit TB.

Reply | Quote

Am I reading your comment correctly? It appears that you are saying that TB is shown listed in Task Manager, but there is nothing to indicate TB is running? TB may not be running, but if a TB process is still showing under the Task Manager Processes tab, then that can cause your difficulties. Any TB process should be killed after you quit TB.

=================================================================================================================================
Thanks – Gerald,
No – nothing appears in task mgr. on my win7 box relating to Thunderbird…I was referring to how they DO appear in my xp box – clearly labeled.
Thanks / John

Reply | Quote

Jon,

Try stuff *in this order*:

1. Uninstall T’Bird again
2. Delete any remaining T’Bird folders – both the program location and where email is stored (I’m at work right now, so I can’t give you the firm paths)
3. Run CCleaner twice – once on the normal tab, once on the registry tab. Go ahead and make the registry backup, when it asks.
4. Reboot
5. Reinstall T’Bird
6. Restore your mail folders

If you still have trouble, I’d download sysinternals’ autoruns program, and see just what the heck is set up to run on your computer.

~ Rosanne

Reply | Quote

It’s a little bit off topic but after you have solved your TB problems, you might consider Portable TB instead of TB. It does not need to be installed so it’s a lot easier to move to any system you want (or just carry it around on a USB). I have mine set up so that the same folders are used regardless of which hard disk/operating system I booted off of. Even my Ubuntu disk can run the same mailbox folders so that I don’t have to synchronize between systems (although setting that up was a little complicated).

Reply | Quote

Sometimes Thunderbird has problems if it’s trying to reference a mail profile that’s in the wrong place. You need to locate the following file: C:usersyourusernameappdataRoamingThunderbird. (Note that Appdata is a hidden file.) There should be a text file there called profiles.ini. If this is pointing to an incorrect profile location, then Thunderbird will tell you there’s another copy of Thunderbird running. The file opens with notepad, and the text gives the path to the profile. Check to see that the line “Isrelative=1” is there — that should prompt Thunderbird to create a profile in its default location. If “isrelative” is set to 0, it will look for the profile somewhere else. If it doesn’t find it, it won’t open. Don’t know if that’s your problem, but it can cause that message.

Reply | Quote

Sometimes Thunderbird has problems if it’s trying to reference a mail profile that’s in the wrong place. You need to locate the following file: C:usersyourusernameappdataRoamingThunderbird. (Note that Appdata is a hidden file.) There should be a text file there called profiles.ini. If this is pointing to an incorrect profile location, then Thunderbird will tell you there’s another copy of Thunderbird running. The file opens with notepad, and the text gives the path to the profile. Check to see that the line “Isrelative=1” is there — that should prompt Thunderbird to create a profile in its default location. If “isrelative” is set to 0, it will look for the profile somewhere else. If it doesn’t find it, it won’t open. Don’t know if that’s your problem, but it can cause that message.

I’m assuming that you are upgrading from a previous version of Windows. The profile.ini and related files in Windows 7 (& Vista too I think) are kept in the path noted above. If you place it where it was in XP and earlier versions of windows under
C:UsersxxxAppDataLocalThunderbirdprofiles.ini It won’t work. (xxx is yourusername)
This link may help.
Thunderbird already running

Reply | Quote

I’m assuming that you are upgrading from a previous version of Windows. The profile.ini and related files in Windows 7 (& Vista too I think) are kept in the path noted above. If you place it where it was in XP and earlier versions of windows under
C:UsersxxxAppDataLocalThunderbirdprofiles.ini It won’t work. (xxx is yourusername)
This link may help.
Thunderbird already running

=============================================================================================================================
Hello – Madturtle,
Was so in hopes your tip might help!! It didn’t!? in (isrelative=1) is there in profiles.ini…
I’ve gone through the registry and ((( removed )))) every mention of TB….then d/l and tried to install…..Won’t since win7 says it’s running??? The first two apps I installed were FF and TB.. ran just fine initially, could send and receive msgs….For some reason — a suggestion on some forum — I uninstalled TB to have a — blank – empty profile to copy my xp mail into??
Apparently, TB didn’t uninstall correctly? I’ve used the uninstaller in CCleaner and registry function to clean up win7, no HELP….

I bought carbonite as my back-up, thinking it would be easier to migrate files from xp…..Believe ME,,,,that’s my first MISTAKE!!!! I’ll never recommend then for “”””anything””””!!
They have NO idea how to get my files where they should be!!!! My files (((( mail – docs word )))) are all over win7!! It would have been easier to d/l everything to my external HD and copied over!!!! I wonder if TB is trying to get into the carbonite backups? I don’t see how, they are just files….no profile…..TB makes its own when installed…

I believe win7 is the main problem!!! I d/l seamonkey – it’s similar to TB…It installed ok — BUT, I can’t send or receive msgs…..My settings are identical to my xp settings…Why won’t win7 recognize them?
Thanks for help/suggestions.
John in Dallas

Reply | Quote

Like I said in an earlier post, I had to use REVO Un-installer to get com[completely rid of Thunderbird before I re-installed it.
Then it worked fine.

Reply | Quote

Like I said in an earlier post, I had to use REVO Un-installer to get com[completely rid of Thunderbird before I re-installed it.
Then it worked fine.

==========================================================================================
Well OK,,,Banyarola,
Took your suggestion and d/l revo!!! Found all sorts of left over fragments…deleted them all and searched for everything…revo completely un installed TB..
D/l another copy…installed it….tried to open – still running close all OPEN appsQ@???
did the process AGAIN….Still same results…I give up…Guess TB won’t install-period…
I’m about ready to sell or send back to Dell this mess…I don’t like win7!
Thanks for help / john in dallas

Reply | Quote

Hello-All,

Thanks for all your help and support through this mess with TB not closing properly….It was all in the profiles.ini…..I found on the TB forum, if this occurred….delete the profile.ini….TB will create a new one….IT did….have my mail back….
Revo may work but not for this instance….
Appreciate your help.
John

Reply | Quote

Hello-All,

Thanks for all your help and support through this mess with TB not closing properly….It was all in the profiles.ini…..I found on the TB forum, if this occurred….delete the profile.ini….TB will create a new one….IT did….have my mail back….
Revo may work but not for this instance….
Appreciate your help.
Johnhttp://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use#End_processes

That’s where I found the trick re the profile.ini files

Reply | Quote

Well, FWIW, I’ve had my share of nightmares with TB with it hanging, i.e., running in background, but never displaying its window, or crashing sometimes, etc, etc. I did the complete re-install, etc–nothing seem to work until I stumbled upon a firewall issue. On one machine, I use Online Armour (w/Win 7), which has a couple options: “keyloggers” and “program guard”. Disabling these before starting up TB did the trick (I not sure which one works as I don’t really care–I was exhausted by this time with trying stuff). I spent days trying to find an answer until I discovered this. It’s really a mystery what TB does during its startup……..

Reply | Quote