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To what ought Profiles/Root Directory point?

  • 2 replies
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  • Last reply by plowmail

plowmail
plowmail
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Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Thunderbird 68.6.0 (32-bit) Portable

Thunderbird works fine, except that when I try to read a ".eml" file, I get the message "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible."

In "Help->Troubleshooting Information", the entry for "Profiles/about:profiles Root Directory" points to the nonexistent file Q:\mail\Thunderbird\Profiles\32umcxms.default. ("Q:" is an external USB disk. The path Q:\mail\ does not exist.)

Could that be why Thunderbird cannot read ".eml" files? To what ought Profiles/Root Directory point?

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Thunderbird 68.6.0 (32-bit) Portable Thunderbird works fine, except that when I try to read a ".eml" file, I get the message "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." In "Help->Troubleshooting Information", the entry for "Profiles/about:profiles Root Directory" points to the nonexistent file Q:\mail\Thunderbird\Profiles\32umcxms.default. ("Q:" is an external USB disk. The path Q:\mail\ does not exist.) Could that be why Thunderbird cannot read ".eml" files? To what ought Profiles/Root Directory point?

All Replies (2)

AgnesRM
AgnesRM
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To clarify your situation - I would just like to check how you get to the failure point. You are opening a file in your Windows computer, and Windows 7 is failing to load Thunderbird as the appropriate app to open that file? Double click or open with from Windows? Or - already in Thunderbird - File - Open - Saved message? Please test these methods and report which work or do not.

Meanwhile, you are using Thunderbird Portable version (from a USB?) and it works fine to send, receive and to save emails as long as you open Thunderbird rather than opening a saved .eml file?

If the problem happens only if you are opening the .eml from Windows, and not if you open the .eml from within Thunderbird, maybe Windows is looking in the wrong place for Thunderbird. As it is expecting Portable, at some point Windows may have stored the wrong path. Just a guess, but you could try changing the default program for .eml files and then changing back to Thunderbird.

Disclaimer - I do not use TB Portable, so otherwise do not have much advice to offer about correcting the profile path. Agnes

plowmail
plowmail Question owner
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AgnesRM, you figured it out.

When I double-clicked on an ".EML" entry in Xplorer2 (replacement for Windows Explorer), I got the failure message about not being able to find the profile.

When I opened the file from within Thunderbird (Portable) with File->Open->Saved Message, it worked.

The ".EML" file's Properties window showed "Mozilla Thunderbird" as the "Open with" program. I clicked on Change in that Properties window, which showed "Thunderbird Mozilla Corporation" as the opener. I changed it to point to the Portable's executable. Now the Properties window shows "Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition" as the opener. On the ".EML" file name, the mouse-3 context popup menu lists "Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition" and "Thunderbird" as choices. If I choose "Thunderbird", I get the error message.

It seems there is a spurious Thunderbird lurking somewhere.

(Since Portable works as expected, I'll ignore whatever that other Thunderbird is. Maybe it will evaporate...)

(Portable is installed on an external USB disk.)

Thanks very, very much!