Firefox corrupted my Netscape profiles

After all the praise of Firefox I thought I'd try it. I didn't like something, I don't even remember what, so used the handy Uninstall feature - and then deleted the remainder from Explorer - bad move! (This is Win98se.)

Now Netscape won't work. I had two profiles. They were both there in the file tree, but wouldn't open, even the Profile manager had disappeared. I finally tried reinstalling Netscape. Then the Profile Manager says "do you want to convert this profile?" and I click "yes" but nothing happens.

I've tried all Ramona's suggestions on the Netscape/Mozilla site, but the mail is still all fouled up. I have one working profile for a browser, but it won't open the OLDinbox, though I can see from the file manager that it's there. I have multiple copies of what Firefox left behind but don't know how to get the new profile to 'see' the old files.

Also, now that the one is working Profile Manager doesn't come up, but I suppose I can manage that if I can get one account straight.

Thanks for any help anyone can supply. I've been working on this till I'm dizzy - and as likely to foul something up as to correct it.

 

Welcome to the Forum, beavertown!

beavertown,

I don't think Firefox had anything to do with your problem, unless you converted one of your Netscape Profiles to Firefox? You are given that option when doing the initial install of Firefox.

You are seeing OLDInbox in the actual Mail Account left panel, or are seeing it in Windows Explorer? If you followed the "Create a new Profile" instructions, then you copied Mail files in the corrupt Profile to the newly created Mail Accounts in the new Profile? Have you checked the Server Settings to ensure that Netscape points to the correct Mail Account folder:

Open Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings
Scroll to the appropriate Mail Account and select "Server Settings "
Scroll down the page to the "Local directory" field
Is the path pointing to the correct folder on the HD?

Ramona

 

No way! Even if the files were converted, automatically as prompted. The conversion process work more less like the conversion from 4.x went to 6/7.
None of these processes removed the the profile, not the link to it. Also, Firefox has no mail of its own. So, the first thing to look is to see what is on the hard drive. And, if the profilename is present on the HD, a profile with the same profile as the one which is not found should be create. This should reestablish the link from the program to the profiles.

 

I got the same kind of profile problem, although I had no mail to deal with. I found uninstalling Mozilla and Netscape and re-installing them fixed it for me. It seems you can't run Mozilla 1.7.x and Netscape 7 at the same time without messing up your profiles. So now when I want to use AIM, I have to remember to close Mozilla first.

 

I've tried it as well as I understood...

Please excuse me if this posting looks funny. It's my first experience with a bulletin board.

Ramona wrote:
"I don't think Firefox had anything to do with your problem, unless you converted one of your Netscape Profiles to Firefox? "

I converted both. Then, when I Uninstalled I deleted the Mozilla.org folder from the C drive, believing it to be left over from when I had installed Mozilla last year. I may have deleted anything marked Mozilla, forgetting that Netscape files are also marked Mozilla.

"You are seeing OLDInbox in the actual Mail Account left panel, or are seeing it in Windows Explorer? "

in Windows Explorer and in Local Folders in the Mail panel.

"If you followed the "Create a new Profile" instructions, then you copied Mail files in the corrupt Profile to the newly created Mail Accounts in the new Profile? "

Yes.

"Have you checked the Server Settings to ensure that Netscape points to the correct Mail Account folder:
[snip]
Scroll down the page to the "Local directory" field
Is the path pointing to the correct folder on the HD? "

OK, that did it for opening the old mail, except that it comes in Local Folders, instead of "account_name ". Is that where it's supposed to be? There is nothing at all under Account name, not even Trash.

I had the pointer to the hd file in the Local Folder setting instead of in the Server Settings. Can I now remove the pointer from the Local Folders properties?

And the profile is still named Default User. Once it seems to work, can I rename it back to the old one? (The remnants of the old ones are stored on cd and Zip disk.)

Thanks again,

meow (or whatever sound beavers make)

 

Hotaru,
it is possible to have all sort of things installed, and working, provided separate profiles are used. And, never, never mix Netscape and Mozilla profiles, because they are located in the same directory.
But, the original question was about Firefox, which uses a different directory. But, at this time, I don't even know which location is for Firefox1.0. I have found, at least, three folders, one of which was old.

 

What you need to do is point the Account Name server settings to the "Default User" Profile location on the HD. Then point the Local Folder setting to the location of the Local Folders within the "Default User" location on the HD.

E.G., for your Server Settings, Local directory:

C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\w5pje2h5.slt\Mail\pop.yourisp.net
and your Local Folders setting:
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\w5pje2h5.slt\Mail\Local Folders

Considering the problems you are having, I wouldn't bother renaming, just leave it "Default User" for now.

When you copy the rest of the Mail from the CD backup, check that the File Attributes are not Read Only.

Rename the Mail files before copying to the Mail Account folder in the new Profile, or they will overwrite the existing Mail. Do this with Netscape closed...

Ramona