You say it persists between Thunderbird sessions. When you close Thunderbird, it should write to and update the image of the profile on disk. It seems unlikely that the image in RAM would be able to persist until the next time you launch Thunderbird, or that a later session of Thunderbird would access exactly the same region of RAM.

How did you create your new profile?

Hello, If your profile persists after closing Thunderbird, it can't be in RAM only, it must be stored somewhere. I don't know whether this is a bug or not, but you can report Thunderbird bugs here.

Zenos said

You say it persists between Thunderbird sessions. When you close Thunderbird, it should write to and update the image of the profile on disk.

Thanks Zenos. I agree that it should write to and update the image of the profile -- but where? I cannot find it, nor can Windows search function.

It seems unlikely that the image in RAM would be able to persist until the next time you launch Thunderbird, or that a later session of Thunderbird would access exactly the same region of RAM.

All I know for sure it that when I reopen Thunderbird, mail sent and received and all folders persist from the previous session. I am assuming the information in the profile is somewhere in RAM (or swapfile) because I cannot find it in Windows.

How did you create your new profile?

I ran thunderbird -p and used the "Create Profile" button. The new profile showed up in the list of profiles; clicking on the new profile and hitting the "Start Thunderbird" button opens it

One other thing I mentioned in the earlier question: I ran MozBackup on my old profiles before creating the new one. I tried twice to run the same utility on the new profile, and both times the backup failed.

Make sure you can view hidden folders/files in file manager.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders Windows 7: First make sure you have Windows set to show hidden files and folders ("Start -> Computer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View -> Show hidden files, folders, or drives -> OK")

Thanks, James. Yes, my Windows is set to view hidden files.

The other profiles each have their expected profile files in the %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\ folder; this new one does not.

Also, when using one of the older profiles I select Help/Troubleshooting Information and hit the "Show Folder" button, the Explorer window opens with the %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\ full address in its address bar, ending with the profile name. When I do the same in the new profile the Explorer window opens, but with no profile name at the end of the address.

Thanks Gert.

I'm going to wait a day or so to see if someone can help me find where the profile information is. If nothing turns up I will file a bug report.

Linking to the original topic. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1102220

I am still of the opinion you need to consult with Microsoft, not anyone on this forum.

Matt said

Linking to the original topic. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1102220 I am still of the opinion you need to consult with Microsoft, not anyone on this forum.

Thanks, Matt. Please help me to understand what you are recommending.

As I see it, Microsoft created an operating system (in this case, Windows 7 Pro). A third party, Mozilla, wrote a software utility, Thunderbird 38.5.0, which is run by the OS on which it is installed.

In my case, Thunderbird partially created a new profile on an existing installation with other working profiles. The new profile can send and receive mail and persists when Thunderbird is closed and reopened.

This new profile did not create a new unique profile folder in the %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\ folder as it should have.

Why is it Microsoft's problem that Thunderbird, a third party utility, did not do what it was supposed to do? And what would I ask Microsoft in a consultation, "Where is the folder that a third party utility did not create?"?

If there is a problem with Windows 7 Pro, I would hope that someone who understands why Thunderbird 38.5.0 triggers it (the Thunderbird developers at Mozilla) would be able to describe what happened, and why, to Microsoft, and jointly work out a solution.

Please help me understand what I'm obviously not getting.

Thanks

This phantom profile apparently exists, yes? You can close and open Thunderbird and it's still there? Is it there after you power-cycle/reboot the computer?

If so, Thunderbird has successfully created and saved a profile. It would seem it is your OS that is hiding it from you.

We have thousand if not millions of Thunderbird users with visible profiles. While Thunderbird has its faults and foibles, failing to save a profile, if that's what you can demonstrate is happening, is not known to be one of them. If your profile persists through a computer reboot then it has been saved, has it not?

Zenos said

This phantom profile apparently exists, yes? You can close and open Thunderbird and it's still there? Is it there after you power-cycle/reboot the computer? If so, Thunderbird has successfully created and saved a profile. It would seem it is your OS that is hiding it from you. We have thousand if not millions of Thunderbird users with visible profiles. While Thunderbird has its faults and foibles, failing to save a profile, if that's what you can demonstrate is happening, is not known to be one of them. If your profile persists through a computer reboot then it has been saved, has it not?

Thanks Zenos. I may have said or implied something which is not true.

This phantom profile apparently exists, yes?

Yes it does, and I can use it. I have sent and received mail from it.

You can close and open Thunderbird and it's still there?

Yes, I have done so repeatedly (perhaps a dozen times).

Is it there after you power-cycle/reboot the computer?

No, this I have not done. If, as I expect, the profile exists in RAM only and I reboot, I will lose all the sent and received mail within the profile, and this I do NOT want to happen.

If there is any way I can move the two accounts with their multiple folders and the mail within from the broken profile to another (fully functioning) profile, I would gladly do so. I don't really care why Thunderbird failed to create the expected profile on disk (although I suspect the developers would like to know); I just want it to work properly again -- without losing any mail from the failed profile in the process.

Thanks again for your input

Just use the import export tools add-on to export the mail. You can then do what you like with it later, as long as you use BOX or EML file exports that is

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/

Then reboot you computer