Firefox and Thunderbird Upgrading FAQ's

**Ramona** · 9th March 2005

Thunderbird : FAQ : Upgrading

Before upgrading to a newer version of Thunderbird, make sure to read the release notes (http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/) for any comments about installing or upgrading.

When you upgrade, the new version of Thunderbird should automatically detect all your mail, address books, and settings (called your "profile(s)") and start up with these intact, just as they were before. Because profiles are by default stored completely separate from the directory where the program itself is installed, they will most likely not be deleted or otherwise affected when you first uninstall an old or directly install a new version of Thunderbird. However, to be on the safe side, you should make a temporary backup copy of your profile directory before upgrading.

There is more than one way you can upgrade. Some users, for instance, might choose to keep an older version of Thunderbird on their computer even after they install a newer one so that they can fall back on the older version if they wish. Below are upgrade procedures that should work well for general users.

Windows (installer version)

1. Make a temporary backup of your profile(s), i.e. of the directory (folder) where your mail, address book, etc. are stored.
2. Decide where you want to install the new version of Thunderbird (i.e. this is something completely different from your profile). Unless you want to keep the old version on your computer, you can install into the same folder as the old version.
3. Unless you want to keep the old version on your computer, uninstall it through Add/Remove Programs in Windows (accessed through the Control Panel).

Note: If you install directly over the old version without uninstalling it, the Thunderbird installer will properly delete the old program files, but the old version may still show up in the Windows list of currently installed programs. Uninstalling the old version through Add/Remove Programs before installing the new version will prevent this from happening. (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=267726)

4. Install the new version of Thunderbird, choosing your setup options from the Install Wizard along the way.
5. When finished, launch Thunderbird. It should pick up your profile information automatically and be ready to use.

Linux (tar.gz version)

1. Make a temporary backup of your profile(s).
2. Open a shell (terminal) and decide where you want to install the new version. Remove the old thunderbird directory if you want to install over an older version; this does not remove your profile data.
3. Go to the directory you want to install Thunderbird, use the command: cd /path/to
4. Extract the downloaded thunderbird tar.gz file: tar -xzvf /path/to/thunderbird-<version>-i686-linux-gtk2+xft.tar.gz
5. When finished, launch Thunderbird with the command: /path/to/thunderbird/thunderbird
6. Thunderbird should pick up your profile information automatically and be ready to use.

Mac OS X

1. Make a temporary backup of your profile(s).
2. Unpack and mount the thunderbird**.dmg.gz. Double-click should do it all (if not already mounted).
3. Copy the thunderbird.app from the .dmg to your Applications folder, overwriting the existing one.
4. Launch Thunderbird. It should pick up your profile information automatically and be ready to use.
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Installing Firefox

Once you have downloaded a Firefox, follow these instructions to install:

Windows

Double click the Firefox Setup 1.0.1.exe installer to start the install.

Mac OS X

Once you have downloaded the Firefox 1.0.1.dmg file, double click the Firefox Disk Image to open it in Finder, and then drag the Firefox application onto your hard disk. Drag the icon to your Dock if you want it to appear there.

For Firefox 1.0, double click the Firefox 1.0.dmg.gz Disk Image to uncompress and mount it. Your browser may have already done this for you. Double click the Firefox Disk Image to open it in Finder and drag the Firefox application onto your hard disk. Do not double click the icon in the disk image! Be sure to drag the Firefox application out of the disk image and onto your Hard Disk before running it. Drag the icon to your Dock if you want it to appear there.

Linux/GTK2

Extract the tarball and run the installer like so:

tar -xzvf firefox-1.0.installer.tar.gz
cd firefox-installer
./firefox-installer

If you have Nautilus set up to run Executable Text Files you can just double click firefox-installer to run.
Other Platforms

Extract the compressed archive and run firefox
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I strongly recommend uninstalling any versions of Firefox before installing any upgrade. However, if you wish to keep two versions, then ensure that you install the newer version in a unique folder. Don't install the newer version in the same folder as the existing version. Never install a newer version on top of the existing version, as you will experience problems.

Ramona