Lost folder display in TBird

Been using TB for several years. Suddenly, I lost the display of my message reading folders. I tried re-install - no change

I seem to be able to GET MAIL but I don't know where it goes.

 

tenbob,

Several questions for you, in order to help:

Did you just do a reformat of your HDD, or did your PC crash, i.e., shut down without exiting TB? If there is nothing in your Mail Account folders, it usually means that TB has lost the pointer to your local Mail Account location.

Go to your "Local directory" field here:
Tools | Options | Account Settings
Scroll down to Local directory
Does the path point to the correct location of your Mail Account folder(s)?

Also check the profiles.ini file located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Thunderbird

Open the file with Notepad, and it should be similar to this one, but will contain your profile data:

Code:

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0]
Name=yourprofilename
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/xxxxxxxx.yourprofilename
Default=1

If your Profile is in a location other than the default, which is displayed above, then the file will show that location.

Reinstalling TB won't help, as the problem is in the Profile, which is in a different location than the program files.

 

I think I found the locations you specified but the data seems to be that written on installation. It may be that in trying to find it by reinstalling I overwrote the good data with basic data.

How can I get back to a new installation of TBird. I could then recover my addresses from a backup but, I guess not my messages

No, it was not a crash. I deleted a filel from my msconfig startup like a dummy, without know what it was.

 

tenbob,

You can't overwrite your Profile Data by reinstalling. That is because your Profile Data is located in a separate location as the Program Files. Reinstalling has absolutely no effect on your Profile.

When you look in your Profiles folder, is there more than one profile name folder (xxxxxxxx.profilename) ?

Do you want to uninstall, and start from scratch? If so, then uninstall TB using Add/Remove Programs.
Then delete the Mozilla Thunderbird folder located here:
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird
If you have installed plugins, then save the plugin folder to a temporary location, and replace the new plugins folder with the backup

Reboot your PC

Install Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 again
Copy the abook.mab file from your backup and paste it into the profile name folder (xxxxxxxx.profilename). Let it overwrite the existing abook.mab file.

That should have no effect on Thunderbird.

Let us know if you need more help. I don't suppose that you have a backup of your complete Profiles folder? If so, you could then retrieve your mail.