This really sucks. I can not even log in to my email because all of my passwords are gone. Im not sure how I was able to log on to this support page. I was not asked for an email, or password.

• Im not sure if this is related, but there is currently a message on my screen that states "Please use at least 5 characters (you are currently using 1 characters)

Hi You may have had an upgrade to Thunderbird that lost track of where your profile is. In the mean time, use your webmail to read emails. There are solutions to this issue - try the suggestions here to show Thunderbird where to find your profile again: https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com/2019/09/i-lost-my-profilemail-on-update-to.html Agnes

I am not sure what might have happened with Firefox, it could also be a lost profile. There is a support group for that too, with expert help here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/firefox

I see from your history of questions that this has happened to you before with Firefox, and you were able to restore the profile. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/user/Skiddingme Perhaps the help you were given before will work for you again.

I ran check disk and it resolved the Firefox issues. At least I can access my email now.

Thunderbird is still like it was just installed.

Hi I am glad Firefox is back. If checkdisk cured it - that suggests you may have hard drive problems, which could result in lost and corrupted data. I would recommend that you back up your profiles for both Firefox and Thunderbird regularly. Working on the missing Thunderbird profile - see if the Thunderbird profile is simply misplaced. Follow the instructions I referred to here https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com/2019/09/i-lost-my-profilemail-on-update-to.html Report back if you get stuck, or it turns out your existing profile is not usable. Agnes

I tried the above link and everything was fine until I got to this step:

This list of files with their random characters and "profile names" on the end is the same list as shown in the about:profiles page. But there should be one more profile listed here than is shown in the about:profiles page.

• The list was not the same. There was only one profile.

You might need to explore a bit to find the location of your old profile(s), and confirm the name of the correct profile. Look around for any other \Thunderbird\Profiles folders with a similar <string of characters>.default. Are there any others a step above in the path? If your profile is not in \Roaming\Thunderbird, you may need to hunt for it. (For example, mine is in F:\Programs\Mozilla Thunderbird\Profiles, not on the C: drive, and not in %Appdata%). If you find another profile, it should have Mail or IMAPMail folders with recent dates (from the last time you used TB) but not as new as the empty profile. You could try doing a file search for abook.mab (make sure to set the file search to include hidden files & folders). Once you find a profile other than the one Thunderbird is using (which is empty) continue the process you were using to direct Thunderbird to use that profile. Agnes

I only see one profile, but it appears to be my missing one. There are settings for my email and an 800MB Mail folder.

Ok, good! Then you need to make sure Thunderbird uses that profile. If - 'Launch in a new browser' opens OK and works, then the profile is usable, and you can set it as your default profile. (that would be the next step in the instructions you were following.)

1) There is no Launch in a new browser option.

2) About profiles shows the default and the new one I created. Both have the same directory. C:\Users\Mark\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\yo9wz5hb.default

3) The new profile is not set as the default. Should I change it?

Set the one that has your 800MB Mail folder as the default. If it already is, and you see nothing when you open Thunderbird - it is broken somehow. You will need more expert help to recover the emails, settings and address book from it if it is damaged. Just to be sure - set as default profile. Open Thunderbird - Help - Troubleshooting information - Profile Folder - click Open folder and make sure it is the same one where your Mail etc. are. Fingers crossed.

A few things:

1) I just noticed that my contacts are still in Thunderbird, but everything else is gone.

2) If I set my new profile as the default then restart Thunderbird, the default reverts to the original profile.

3) I have only found 1 profile folder. It is located at: C:\Users\Mark\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\yo9wz5hb.default

Delete the global database from your profile and see if that helps. There are two similar issues in support at the moment, unfortunately the symptom reported is similar enough that we are guess which it is. Agnes has been operating on it being a lost profile, the other is caused by the global database.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database

I just deleted the global-messages-db.sqlite file (5.65 MB) then restarted Thunderbird. It still does the same thing. (window opens for setting up a new account).

That is not going to happen. After loosing so many important emails, which can not even be restored, I will not be using Thunderbird again.

re :I just deleted the global-messages-db.sqlite file (5.65 MB) then restarted Thunderbird.

Please check you did this correctly. Please confirm that you exited Thunderbird first, then deleted the global-messages-db.sqlite file and then started thunderbird.

Because if you accessed profile and deleted the global-messages-db.sqlite file and then Exited and Restarted Thunderbird, it would not work.

In the 'Roaming'/'Thunderbird' folder: eg: C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\ There will be a 'profiles.ini' file Please open the 'profiles.ini' file using a text editor like notepad and post an image of the contents.

What version of Thunderbird are you currently using? The info will be Help > Troubleshooting Information.

Do you know what version you were using before the problem occured?

Do you use any product like CCleaner or Wisecleaner?

Thunderbird was closed when I deleted the global-messages-db.sqlite file.

Current version: 68.4.2 (32 bit)

• Laptop is a 64bit

While checking the version Thunderbird started downloading another update. How do I prevent this? 1) this issue started after the last update. 2) I have a limited data connection at home. If I allow Mozilla and Microsoft updates at home, I can not even use the internet.

RE: Do you use any product like CCleaner or Wisecleaner? No

profiles.ini file:

[Install8216C80C92C4E828] Default=Profiles/yo9wz5hb.default Locked=1

[Profile1] Name=Newprofile IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/yo9wz5hb.default

[Profile0] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/yo9wz5hb.default Default=1

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2

BTW: Last night I re-entered my account information in Thunderbird. I was hoping it would allow me to access my email, but it did not.

Is your computer suffering from old age, or a failing hard disk?

Check disk will usually not fix anything unless there are error on the disk media. You Thunderbird profile may well be suffering for corruption if check disk is finding and fixing errors.

Looking at the profile ini file you posted you have the same folder three times as a profile, so they are all the same folder.

One thing to check is the size of the prefs.js file in that profile folder. As that is the core store of settings, if it has become corrupt the rest of the folders contents have to directions as to what goes where. So how large is the prefs.js file?

I replaced my hard drive about 1 year ago. I have only had issues with Firefox and Thunderbird. All other programs work fine.

I assume the multiple folders are the result of creating new profiles (a recommended "fix" from elsewhere)

The prefs.js file is 11.6 KB