Transplanting Thunderbird from one machine to another

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hello everyone;
I need some help with Mozilla Thunderbird [MTB].
I have two identical machines, this one of them where MTB, version 17.0.5 resides.
It has the address book with the lists I created, my local folder containing the personal folders and sub-folders I created.
I want to REPLICATE ALL of MTB in machine #1 into machine #2.
Could someone please help me with the steps it takes?
My first idea was to open C:>Program Files>Mozilla Thunderbird and copy everything there and paste into machine #2, but I believe it could be a mistake because there are registry settings that can not be transplanted directly (please confirm / correct this assumption / understanding).

Thank you very much in advance.

daniel rozenberg

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Does this help:
https://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer

Jerry

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Does this help:
https://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer

Jerry

Jerry, I used mozbackup to get the Thunderbird data off my old PC, but when I tried to import it into Thunderbird on the new PC, there was not enough space on drive C. Do you know of a way I can put Thunderbird on a bigger drive on my new PC and still import all my old data and emails? Thanks for any help….sw

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Thunderbird Source= Machine 1
Thunderbird Destination= Machine 2

What I do in this situation is open Thunderbird Source.

1. Select the items you want and export them. You should be able to export your address book as a single file this way.

2. Select the emails you want to move over as well and export them. This will take longer depending on the amount of mail you have. Make sure you delete any spam or unwanted/un-needed mails before exporting, as this will speed up the export.

3. I’m not sure if profiles are exportable, as I generally re-enter the server information in each new email program (even if it is the same program but a different machine).

4. It may take some time, but you should be able to get the NEW to work just like the OLD in a couple of minutes (after the export/import is finished).

Go to Thunderbird Destination.
Import each file.

While you could try other methods, I generally stick to using the tools built into the application.

I would open the Destination copy and confirm it syncronizes mail correctly and has everything you need and expect before ditching the original copy on the Source.

I use Thunderbird Portable now. It makes upgrading and moving the install a breeze. Copy the folder and move it. That’s all there is to it. I have a client’s email on a thumbdrive, and he regularly uses various machines for email. Never had a problem, although it does take an extra minute or two to shutdown the program (it visually appears to be closed, but still takes time to flush data back to thumbdrive- he waits for the light to stop blinking before shutdown).

Good luck! And remember, NEVER CHANGE the Source install until the Destination install is complete. This whole process should be done OFFLINE (so no new mail arrives while performing the steps) on BOTH machines. Only when you believe you have finished should you take the Destination machine online and check for mail. And only if there are issues on the Destination copy should you use the Source copy. You can and probably will lose mail if you don’t heed this warning. Only if the option to ‘leave mail on server when deleted’ can you be safe in this situation. And I don’t know your settings.

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thank you VERY much for your guidance and assistance.

i’ll give a try in the next few days and will report results / problems.

danielr.

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I want to get my old emails and contacts from my prior PC (Windows 7) over to my new PC (also Windows 7), but the C drive on the new PC is full. Can I put Thunderbird on a different drive on the new PC even though it was on the C drive of my old PC? Thanks for any help…..sw

Thunderbird Source= Machine 1
Thunderbird Destination= Machine 2

What I do in this situation is open Thunderbird Source.

1. Select the items you want and export them. You should be able to export your address book as a single file this way.

2. Select the emails you want to move over as well and export them. This will take longer depending on the amount of mail you have. Make sure you delete any spam or unwanted/un-needed mails before exporting, as this will speed up the export.

3. I’m not sure if profiles are exportable, as I generally re-enter the server information in each new email program (even if it is the same program but a different machine).

4. It may take some time, but you should be able to get the NEW to work just like the OLD in a couple of minutes (after the export/import is finished).

Go to Thunderbird Destination.
Import each file.

While you could try other methods, I generally stick to using the tools built into the application.

I would open the Destination copy and confirm it syncronizes mail correctly and has everything you need and expect before ditching the original copy on the Source.

I use Thunderbird Portable now. It makes upgrading and moving the install a breeze. Copy the folder and move it. That’s all there is to it. I have a client’s email on a thumbdrive, and he regularly uses various machines for email. Never had a problem, although it does take an extra minute or two to shutdown the program (it visually appears to be closed, but still takes time to flush data back to thumbdrive- he waits for the light to stop blinking before shutdown).

Good luck! And remember, NEVER CHANGE the Source install until the Destination install is complete. This whole process should be done OFFLINE (so no new mail arrives while performing the steps) on BOTH machines. Only when you believe you have finished should you take the Destination machine online and check for mail. And only if there are issues on the Destination copy should you use the Source copy. You can and probably will lose mail if you don’t heed this warning. Only if the option to ‘leave mail on server when deleted’ can you be safe in this situation. And I don’t know your settings.

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Jerry, that link is perfect!

I didn’t know about the mozbackup utility! GREAT SHARE! ;D

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hello everyone;

well, thanks again for the VERY valuable help.
initially, tried ton use the windows easy transfer, but (for some reason unknown to me), the mtb did not appear as a possible option to transfer.
so,i used mozbackup, which did a beautiful job,not only for mtb, but also for mozilla firefox,my browser.
actually, i am writing now this from the new machine,where everything was transferred.
nevertheless, i will be using the windows utility for other stuff and files.
AGAIN,
my deepest appreciation for your help.

daniel rozenberg.

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I’ll second that approach, I use mozbackup as part of my backup routine, & have always used it to migrate all my firefox & thunderbird data to my new systems, & also to update my portable on the odd occasion when going away, & in return updating my main machine upon return, that data includes not only all your emails, address box, bookmarks etc, but also all your installed add-ons etc, been using it many years & never so much as a glitch, big props to the mozbackup crew for such a wonderful, simple & reliable solution.

Cheers

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I do that almost weekly when I replace a customer’s old XP system with a new one. Conditions: System disk from originating computer is free on my desk and with USB adapter (example) connected to the destination machine.
[INDENT]
1. Install Thunderbird on the destination machine.

2. Copy TB’s profile folder and all its contents from the old system’s disk drive to the new system. All location info is here (Windows 8 equal to Windows 7).

3. Start TB on the destination machine and EVERYTHING is right there including saved passwords and so on.
[/INDENT]

Proven to work every time over and over again – even when the customer claims “I never had to have a password” – which about 2 out of 5 do quite regularly.

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C drive on my new computer is not large enough for me to use your system. I would like to store the message on a bigger drive but have spent over 10 hours so far trying to read everything and accomplish that goal, to no avail. Do you know if it’s possible? Thanks for any help….sw

I do that almost weekly when I replace a customer’s old XP system with a new one. Conditions: System disk from originating computer is free on my desk and with USB adapter (example) connected to the destination machine.[INDENT]
1. Install Thunderbird on the destination machine.

2. Copy TB’s profile folder and all its contents from the old system’s disk drive to the new system. All location info is here (Windows 8 equal to Windows 7).

3. Start TB on the destination machine and EVERYTHING is right there including saved passwords and so on.
[/INDENT]

Proven to work every time over and over again – even when the customer claims “I never had to have a password” – which about 2 out of 5 do quite regularly.

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Ok, for youse Explorer geeks out there:
after closing tbird [or ff] on both source & destination computers —
— user appdata local thunderbird or mozilla [firefox]
— user appdata roaming thunderbird or mozilla [firefox]
these two directories contain everything for mozilla thunderbird or mozilla firefox respectively.
I’ve copied those directories many many times to sync tbird or ff between 2 computers.
Of course, follow carefully the advice of previous posters concerning making sure the most complete, the most current tbird [or ff] account is the source.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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You need to change the location of the TBird data files prior to restoring with Mozbackup.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_mail_storage_location_%28Thunderbird%29

cheers, Paul

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I suspect you need to move data off your c drive. Being full isn’t good. Is it an SSD and do you have a hard disk as well?

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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I suspect you need to move data off your c drive. Being full isn’t good. Is it an SSD and do you have a hard disk as well?

I just got this computer and it has an 80GB SSD drive, and a 1.5TB and a 2TB hard drives. I installed everything that I added to the 2TB drive but had no control over what was pre-installed. Thunderbird, even though it is installed on the 2TB drive, using that mozbackup utility, wants to put its files on the C drive, so I am stymied how to get around that. Thanks for your feedback….sw

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Well I’ve just tried Mozbackup on Tbird and I can put it wherever I want – currently on my F drive. On the select profile page just hit browse and browse to where you want it. Or am I missing something here?

p.s. thanks for reminding me (indirectly!) to do a backup!

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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Well I’ve just tried Mozbackup on Tbird and I can put it wherever I want – currently on my F drive. On the select profile page just hit browse and browse to where you want it. Or am I missing something here?

p.s. thanks for reminding me (indirectly!) to do a backup!

You are correct. Mozbackup files can be put on any drive accessible to the machine.

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You need to break out Treesize Free to see where all the space has gone – I run a 55GB SSD and it is 70% full.

The profile will be on C: – you can move it to another disk if required – but the data can be anywhere. Mozbackup should use the location specified in your profile.

cheers, Paul

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There are 2 HUGE files on the C drive. “pagefile.sys” is 15.9GB and “hiberfil.sys” is 11.9GB. The Windows folder is 23GB but I am assuming I can’t mess with that. But since those first 2 files aren’t IN the Windows folder, are they deletable??? Or movable to a different drive? That would solve my Thunderbird problem. I could run MozBackup to the C drive and then move it all to the F drive???

I tried MozBackup again and I don’t see where it is even asking me where I want to restore TO. It is going to C:UsersuserAppDataRoamingThunderbirdProfilesfxkxjhfa.defaultMailpop.googlemail.com. I tried moving that folder to the F drive and directing Thunderbird to go THERE instead but it said it was not an acceptable location.

I am going in circles…..

You need to break out Treesize Free to see where all the space has gone – I run a 55GB SSD and it is 70% full.

The profile will be on C: – you can move it to another disk if required – but the data can be anywhere. Mozbackup should use the location specified in your profile.

cheers, Paul

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swb, I believe within the major-league settings, either program or account settings, there is a way to specify another drive letter other than C, another path other than the default.
I have never tried that yet, so I do not know if such will remain entact if tbird has to be reinstalled.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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How much free space do you have on C? You need to sort this out first because Windows will be VERY slow on a machine with a full C: drive and the SSD performance will degrade quickly if there is very little free space.
When you have that sorted we can work on Thunderbird.

cheers, Paul

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The SSD drive is 80GB and came to me with only 6GB free. I have installed everything possible on the F drive. Right now it says C has 2.27GB free of 74.3GB. It varies dramatically, though, for reasons I don’t understand. One time it was 736 MB free. I have run CCleaner and defragged to try to stay afloat. That’s why putting Thunderbird on the C drive is unthinkable! Thanks, Paul…..Sharon

How much free space do you have on C? You need to sort this out first because Windows will be VERY slow on a machine with a full C: drive and the SSD performance will degrade quickly if there is very little free space.
When you have that sorted we can work on Thunderbird.

cheers, Paul

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You can reduce / remove both of those files.
If you do not hibernate your computer you can remove hyberfil.sys. Following the instructions in this article: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tr-dojo/delete-hiberfilsys-by-disabling-windows-hibernate-function/

Reducing the size of pagefile.sys is more complex. Follow these instructions to show the Virtual Memory use and post the answer here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/danstolts/archive/2013/01/07/how_2d00_to_2d00_change_2d00_the_2d00_size_2d00_of_2d00_virtual_2d00_memory_2d00_pagefile_2d00_sys_2d00_on_2d00_windows_2d00_8_2d00_or_2d00_windows_2d00_server_2d00_2012.aspx

cheers, Paul

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Oh my goodness! I had no idea I could save that much space on drive C, Paul! Got rid of hibernate completely since I never use that anyway. Then read the link about the pagefile.sys 16GB space hog and again had no idea that that was for virtual memory! I had 16GB of RAM installed on this PC, possibly too much, but I do a lot of photography and work with images so wanted image software to have enough memory to not bog down. So I don’t see a big need for virtual memory and reduce that allocation. The difference is amazing! I now have 27.6GB free on drive C!

40035-TreeSize-Free-032915-2

So I “think” I could use MozBackup now and it would go to drive C where it insists on going (I tried every technique to coax it to another drive but it always refuses).

40036-F-not-suitable-for-message-storage-032915
40037-Thunderbird-pcv-file-17GB-032915

At that point, I assume Thunderbird from my old PC is now on my new PC with all my folders and old emails intact? I would not want to LEAVE it on drive C, though; at that point would it be possible to relocate the bulk of it to drive F?

Thanks SO MUCH for your guidance! I must admit I gulped a few times at the thought of messing with Windows, but it sure was worth it! Sharon

You can reduce / remove both of those files.
If you do not hibernate your computer you can remove hyberfil.sys. Following the instructions in this article: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tr-dojo/delete-hiberfilsys-by-disabling-windows-hibernate-function/

Reducing the size of pagefile.sys is more complex. Follow these instructions to show the Virtual Memory use and post the answer here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/danstolts/archive/2013/01/07/how_2d00_to_2d00_change_2d00_the_2d00_size_2d00_of_2d00_virtual_2d00_memory_2d00_pagefile_2d00_sys_2d00_on_2d00_windows_2d00_8_2d00_or_2d00_windows_2d00_server_2d00_2012.aspx

cheers, Paul

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Messing with Windows is always a good idea, but it does require you have a proper backup regime in place. 🙂

Post #12 in this thread shows how to move the data to another disk.

cheers, Paul

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In this on-going saga, I have learned a lot but obviously still don’t know even more! I tried with the smaller of my email accounts only on the new PC to move its profile location to drive F and redirect Thunderbird to the new drive F folder. It still tells me no. What am I not understanding, Paul, do you know? Thanks for your patient help….Sharon40050-F-not-suitable-for-mail-storage-033115

Messing with Windows is always a good idea, but it does require you have a proper backup regime in place. 🙂

Post #12 in this thread shows how to move the data to another disk.

cheers, Paul

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I suspect that message means the folder doesn’t exist. You should create a folder for you mail before attempting to move the mail. I’d use a much shorter path, something like: F:Thunderbird
1. Shut down Thunderbird.
2. Copy your mail to the new location.
3. Start TB.
4. Change the local directory.

cheers, Paul

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Paul, don’t hate me….I evidently left out some important details. I followed your directions re the folder on F drive not being named so complicated and redirected Thunderbird there and WOW, it started working! I was SO excited! For a few minutes anyway….. :huh:

I assumed – wrongly I now know – that if I selected the options of “General Settings”, “Emails” and “Address Book” in MozBackup, that it would transfer over BOTH of my gmail accounts AND all my Local Folders I had set up and had filters for. That didn’t happen. All my emails went into S2, no doubt my fault, because that’s the lesser used account and I set it up on the new PC as a test to see what went where on my new PC. S2 didn’t know about the S1 account, nor did it know about all the folders I had set up.

So if you have patience left to deal with my situation, can you advise how to actually DUPLICATE the setup I had on my old PC, with TWO gmail accounts working happily together, and both filtering messages into folders? As you can see, one was imap and one pop and I have no idea why. When I set them up long ago I wouldn’t have had a clue what that meant. That is probably part of my problem as well. My apologies for being inadvertently dense…..Sharon

40060-S1-thunderbird-settings40061-s2-thunderbird-settings

I suspect that message means the folder doesn’t exist. You should create a folder for you mail before attempting to move the mail. I’d use a much shorter path, something like: F:Thunderbird
1. Shut down Thunderbird.
2. Copy your mail to the new location.
3. Start TB.
4. Change the local directory.

cheers, Paul

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I don’t know you so there’s no chance of me hating you – not much chance if I did know you. 🙂

Having 2 accounts means you can’t redirect by changing the location of the account in TB. You need to follow the instructions for moving your profile.

cheers, Paul

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I got hopelessly lost in the directions on that link for moving my profile, Paul, even with several re-reads, so I did it a convoluted way. I opted for Thunderbird in the first place when I had to use a Windows email system because the others wouldn’t let me embed images in the text where I wanted them, but now gmail online does allow that, so I could have just gone that route and not gone through this long odyssey with Thunderbird. Except that I had a lot of old emails I wanted to keep and that inspired my dogged pursuit of moving them and repeated questions to you. By a pretty unorthodox route that made sense to me but I would probably never be able to duplicate (!) I did finally succeed, greatly helped along the way by your comments. I definitely didn’t want Thunderbird on drive C and it’s on drive F now. My primary “S1” and secondary “S2” eddresses are present in my “new” Thunderbird, and all my filters and “Local Folders” (which ended up with its own separate folder on drive F) are there and working! As an added bonus, thanks to your superb information on hyberfil.sys and pagefil.sys, I have 26.9GB free on drive C, out of the 74.3 available for the 80GB SSD drive, whereas before all this I had less than 1GB free, so you helped me tremendously with Thunderbird AND with drive C space! Thanks so much…..

I don’t know you so there’s no chance of me hating you – not much chance if I did know you. 🙂

Having 2 accounts means you can’t redirect by changing the location of the account in TB. You need to follow the instructions for moving your profile.

cheers, Paul

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I assume you just installed TB to F. I should have thought of that!

cheers, Paul

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