re :I saw suggestions on deleting key3.db and/or checking permissions on key4.db, cert9.db, session.json and the pkcs11.txt files, but the permissions are ok on the first 3, and the last file (for Mac only?) I do not have.

If moving between different OS eg: Windows to MAC or Linux. Then deleting the pkcs11.txt file is required, but it does auto get recreated upon restart. But now it will contain the correct OS info.

If you do not have the pkcs11.txt file it may explain everything.

Logins.json stores passwords. The other two (key4.db, cert9.db,) are used to store security exceptions. However, they should be considered a set, if you delete one you should delete all three.

You mention migrated from another pc. What OS did you migrate from and what OS are you using now? I'm assuming it was the same - Windows to Windows.

Do you have a backup of your 'profile'? Can you still access the old computer? If yes, see if it has a copy of pkcs11.txt file which you can paste into the profile name folder (Exit Thunderbird first before altering anything in profile name folder)

Otherwise: Exit Thunderbird Access profile name folder.

Delete :

• session.json
• xulstore.json
• logins.json
• key4.db
• cert9.db

usually, I would also say delete the pkcs11.txt file as well.

Start Thunderbird.

Empty versions of those files will be automatically created and I'm hoping the pkcs11.txt will also get recreated.

Please make sure you do not have any clean up program like CCleaner or WiseCleaner or even some Anti-Virus products have the functionality to clean up files. These products are known to delete necessary files. If you do have them then it is important to make Thunderbird profile folders exempt from any scanning. More info:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Password_not_remembered_%28Thunderbird%29

Please report back on results

Note: re :Did not find a file called pkcs11.txt file anywhere in the profile folder.

Did you perform a search in windows or did you actually access the profile folders?

In Thunderbird Help > More Troubleshooting Information Under 'Application Basics' - Profile Folder -click on 'Open folder' button It will open a window showing contents of profile name folder.

At this point exit Thunderbird.

Use 'View' tab to show list as 'Details' and also select checkboxes to show 'File name extensions' and 'hidden items' Sort by the 'Name' column header. scroll down to 'p' section. You should see: pkcs11.txt

Access the Profile by this method then delete the files, and let me know whether you can now see that pkcs11.txt file. If yes, then delete it.

Todd-Hail,

Thanks for your posts.

To answer your first post, I did a Windows to Windows transfer (might have been from 10 to 11, not recalling whether or not I did the transferring before or after upgrading the new pc to 11).

As to the questions in your second post, I no longer have either the old pc or the backup of it, and have no pkcs11.txt file in the current Thunderbird profile folder. (I did find one such file in what appears to be a Mozilla/Firefox/profiles folder. But I think for some reason I took that file (and profile?) from my daughter's pc; perhaps because I was not using Firefox on my old pc. There was also a pcks11.txt file in a Kaspersky Lab\SafeBrowser\Common\...\Firefox folder, again perhaps that is more connected with Firefox than with Thunderbird_)

So I took your other suggestion, eliminating the json and db files and restarting Thunderbird to create a new pcks11.txt file.

While this recreated the 5 json and db files, it did not create anew any pcks11.txt file.

Since passwords were wiped out, I tried inserting them in again, but had the same problems as before. After doing a safe restart, I was able to reinsert passwords, and send and receive email. But then when I restarted in normal mode, I was back to the same problem, with no passwords shown in the password list. Just to be sure, I again did a restart in safemode, and in effect, the passwords were there in the password list.

Something still seems to be blocking things.

got a new anti virus with the new PC? Some of them come with password managers and their interactions can be rough to say the least.

Thanks Matt,

I thought that might be the problem, saw it mentioned in support question 1350009. But although I have Kaspersky as antivirus and have it doing email antivirus scanning, I do not have its Password Manager installed.

I did see in Kaspersky a potential problem:

  Mozilla Thunderbird may not be able to establish an SSL connection to the Gmail server through the IMAP protocol if a Kaspersky application is installed on the computer and the Always scan encrypted connections option in the Settings → Network settings window is enabled in it. 
 To connect Mozilla Thunderbird or another mail client with similar issues to the Gmail server, you need to import the Kaspersky application certificate to the mail client manually. For instructions, see the Mozilla support site.
 To find the folder with the certificate, open Windows Explorer → Local disk С: → The "ProgramData" folder → The "Kaspersky Lab" folder → The "AVP[application_version_number]" folder → The "Data" folder → The "Cert" folder → The "1.cert" certificate file. ProgramData is a hidden folder by default. To access it, enable the displaying of hidden files and folders.

But my Kaspersky has "Scan encrypted connections upon request from protected components" set.

In any event, i tried suspending both Kaspersky and Windows security for a minute, launched TB, but still got the password problem.

In that same 135009, I did see some other db files which it advised to eliminate (cert8 and secmod.db), although couple of posts in the same question disputed whether or not these two files were obsolete in the later versions of TB, so whether or not their deletion would make any difference.

The only way to reliably test is use Windows safe mode with networking. Antivirus products are notorious for saying they are disabled, but continuing to block normal functions as it is a defect that causes the issues in the first place.

Note: a wired connection is required as WiFi generally is not available in safe mode. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234

Matt,

no difference with Windows in safe mode in networking.

Tried eliminating the two other db and json files (cert9 and secmod, respectively) plus the logins-backup.json file, so that the list of files removed was: cert8.db cert9.db key4.db secmod.db logins.json logins-backup.json session.json xulstore.json

This fixed things, kept the passwords in the password list and created a pkcs11.txt file.