Sharing one Thunderbird profile with several PCs?

[Mike Halmarack]

Can anyone please tell me a way to share existing Thunderbird profiles
on a network drive to be accessed by several PCs?

I did a lot of searching and spent a full day yesterday trying to
apply the various methods suggested to the problem but no luck so far.
Modifying the 'profiles.ini' file to point to the new location hasn't
had the required effect, as I may not be doing it properly.

My existing, long time profile contains 7 different email addresses
with years of messages attached and it's a lot to try to rebuild from
scratch.
--

Mike

[GlowingBlueMist]

I do exactly what you are trying to do, share my Thunderbird files
between 3 PC's here at home.

It has been a couple of years since I set it up but I'll try to relate
how I did it.

First I copied my Thunderbird files from my original working
Thunderbird setup to my server which is
\\Snow\GlowingBlue\Thunderbird\Profiles\a5fkuk8j.default

My original files were found in the hidden folder of
C:\Users\GlowingBlue\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird

Don't change anything on the original PC other than editing the
profiles.ini. Make a backup copy of the profiles.ini before you start, I
called mine profiles.old.

Then I modified the Profiles.ini on the original PC to read as:

[InstallD78BF5DD33499EC2]
Default=\\Snow\GlowingBlue\Thunderbird\Profiles\a5ufku8j.default

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=0
Path=\\Snow\GlowingBlue\Thunderbird\Profiles\a5ufku8j.default
Default=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2

The above "[InstallD78BF5DD33499EC2]" was already just as it is and will
most likely be different for your main PC's install of Thunderbird. As
for the a5ufku8j references they were what was already there in the
Profile.ini. The rest is just the path where the copied Thunderbird
profile was placed on the server. I think it is the IsRelative=0 that
seems to be what is needed make things work properly but I'd make the
rest match anyway, allowing for the file path differences on your system.

If you get this far your original PC should be able to access the Email
now directly from the server.

As for accessing the files from your other PC's all I can remember is to
first install Thunderbird on them but there was no need to actually
configure any Email or newsgroup accounts. Then from your "Main" PC
that you started with copy over the installs.ini and profiles.ini from
it over to the additional PC(s) and they should work. I just leave the
rest of the Thunderbird files alone on the various PC's as the
installs.ini and profiles.ini are all that is needed to redirect over to
the file server, providing you had Thunderbird already installed on the
various PC's.

There is one or two gotchas however, only one PC at a time can access
the files on the server as a lock file is created when you access the
Thunderbird from the server. Close out Thunderbird on the first machine
and then another machine can access them. The error messages you get
when the second or other PC's try to access the files makes it look like
Thunderbird crashed or something. I just force an exit on the PC that
can't access the files, go to the working one and close it. Then one of
the other PC's can access the file just fine.

The other problem is that if a copy of Thunderbird gets updated on a PC,
like usually happens automatically, and it then accesses the Email or
newsgroup files the remaining PC's won't be able to access the files
again until they also get upgraded to the same version of Thunderbird.

Also if a PC is accessing the Thunderbird files and crashes the lock
file is usually left behind on the server.
If that happens you may have to manually go to the Thunderbird profiles
folder on the server and delete the program called parent.lock. Once it
is deleted the other machines can then access the files once again. I
seem to vaguely remember the parent.lock being difficult to delete a
time or two as it would depend on which PC was trying to delete it or
else I had to use a file deleting program that was running on the server
itself. Try to delete it from the PC that crashed if possible as I
think that was the easiest most of the time.

Have fun and go slow.

[Mike Halmarack]

Thanks a billion for the detailed help.
I'll work my way through it carefully.
--

Mike

[Adrian Caspersz]

On 01/01/2022 15:32, Mike Halmarack wrote:
>>
>> Have fun and go slow.
>
> Thanks a billion for the detailed help.
> I'll work my way through it carefully.
>

Following answer depends on your relation with google for archiving
(some people understandably won't), but ye could set intermediate google
account(s) to fetch and filter (label) email from your external
POP3/IMAP accounts, and then use whatever IMAP email client on whatever
computer/device to fetch whatever interesting label you like.

The advantage being that in using IMAP you have the message read status
propagating on all of your other email clients when you read, and so
don't have to worry about syncing profiles. You can also use IMAP on
mobile phones, or at a pinch use gmail.com on a browser.

The disadvantage is that you have to take security of your google
account a lot more seriously.

--
Adrian C

[Mike Halmarack]

Thanks.
Both your own and GBM's responses are very convincing and helpful
advice.
They seem to offer good solutions, involving significant work and
maintenance to achieve. Either of them I will be glad to adopt, as it
seems they would solve my problem.

OTOH, I've also seen it suggested that a relatively simple way to
produce an effective outcome is to make available Thunderbird on its
current single PC by means of remote access from the other PCs.

"Remote Utilities for Windows" https://www.remoteutilities.com
seems like a fairly small and tidy possibility. On the downside, it's
noted that Anti-Virus programs tend to dislike it, either justifiably
or otherwise.
If Remote Utilities does do the job safely, it would have other uses
too.
--

Mike

[Raj Kundra]

Just a thought, it will only allow one user from one PC at one time to
log to profile?

Multiple users from different PC's can not log into at same time?

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

On 2 Jan 2022 at 11:29:40 GMT, "Mike Halmarack"

<mikeha...@gmail.com> wrote:

> OTOH, I've also seen it suggested that a relatively simple way to
> produce an effective outcome is to make available Thunderbird on its
> current single PC by means of remote access from the other PCs.
>
> "Remote Utilities for Windows" https://www.remoteutilities.com
> seems like a fairly small and tidy possibility. On the downside, it's
> noted that Anti-Virus programs tend to dislike it, either justifiably
> or otherwise.
> If Remote Utilities does do the job safely, it would have other uses
> too.

Windows has remote viewing built in unless you're on a Home version,
btw. It's useful if and only if you're on the same network as your
'primary' email machine, and it's not the best experience in the world -
particularly for scrolling.

I'd very much suggest using the imap/gmail/etc server approach, then
every client has the same view on your remotely-served email data.

Cheers - Jaimie

--
Tomorrow (noun) - A mystical land where 99 per cent
of all human productivity, motivation and achievement
is stored.
-- http://thedoghousediaries.com/3474

[Jeff Gaines]

On 02/01/2022 in message <1v23tgtoofdg2dm5c...@4ax.com> Mike

Halmarack wrote:

>"Remote Utilities for Windows" https://www.remoteutilities.com
>seems like a fairly small and tidy possibility. On the downside, it's
>noted that Anti-Virus programs tend to dislike it, either justifiably
>or otherwise.
>If Remote Utilities does do the job safely, it would have other uses
>too.

Microsoft Windows has Remote Desktop Protocol client built in to all
versions of Windows and the server version built into the Pro versions of
Windows. It is excellent, I use it all the time to drive my server from my
various laptops - all my data is on my server so I can work on something
from my sofa laptop then when I go to bed carry on working on it from my
bedroom laptop.

I think you can only have one person at a time using it, I've not tried
more than one.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
Though no-one can go back and make a new start, everyone can start from
now and make a new ending.

[Mike Halmarack]

On 2 Jan 2022 16:33:08 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

<jai...@usually.sessile.org> wrote:

>On 2 Jan 2022 at 11:29:40 GMT, "Mike Halmarack"
><mikeha...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> OTOH, I've also seen it suggested that a relatively simple way to
>> produce an effective outcome is to make available Thunderbird on its
>> current single PC by means of remote access from the other PCs.
>>
>> "Remote Utilities for Windows" https://www.remoteutilities.com
>> seems like a fairly small and tidy possibility. On the downside, it's
>> noted that Anti-Virus programs tend to dislike it, either justifiably
>> or otherwise.
>> If Remote Utilities does do the job safely, it would have other uses
>> too.
>
>Windows has remote viewing built in unless you're on a Home version,
>btw. It's useful if and only if you're on the same network as your
>'primary' email machine, and it's not the best experience in the world -
>particularly for scrolling.
>
>I'd very much suggest using the imap/gmail/etc server approach, then
>every client has the same view on your remotely-served email data.
>
> Cheers - Jaimie

Thanks.

Gmail is my main emailer. I have a number of other accounts on my
hosting service. All accounts are IMAP.
Thunderbird carries all these accounts and I like to keep copies of
all my mail locally. This means that my Tbird profile is currently
around 11Gb in size.

If I want Tbird on all my PCs with access to all my mail would I need
to have this 11Gb folder on each PC? Or, is there a way to have the
mail history stored on just one PC and bare bones email on the others?

If this is not possible I might be better off accessing a single
instance of Tbird remotely across the LAN from each of the other PCs.
--

Mike

[Mike Halmarack]

Probably not but that wouldn't be a deal breaker at this stage.
--

Mike

[Mike Halmarack]

On 2 Jan 2022 17:00:38 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines...@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 02/01/2022 in message <1v23tgtoofdg2dm5c...@4ax.com> Mike
>Halmarack wrote:
>
>>"Remote Utilities for Windows" https://www.remoteutilities.com
>>seems like a fairly small and tidy possibility. On the downside, it's
>>noted that Anti-Virus programs tend to dislike it, either justifiably
>>or otherwise.
>>If Remote Utilities does do the job safely, it would have other uses
>>too.
>
>Microsoft Windows has Remote Desktop Protocol client built in to all
>versions of Windows and the server version built into the Pro versions of
>Windows. It is excellent, I use it all the time to drive my server from my
>various laptops - all my data is on my server so I can work on something
>from my sofa laptop then when I go to bed carry on working on it from my
>bedroom laptop.
>
>I think you can only have one person at a time using it, I've not tried
>more than one.

Sounds like a practical solution to my problem given that I struggle
with too much complexity.
--

Mike

[Raj Kundra]

I got simplest set up using HP Microserver running windows plus 2 PC and
2 laptops on same network.

Raid is set up on Microserver and everything is stored there.

All I got is simple share folder on server which I can see from all PC
and laptops over network. I can open anything on any PC or laptop, work
on it and save it on server.

This does not require using “Remote Desktop Protocol client”

 I did set up Thunderbird profile on server to store e mails on one
place, but I prefer each machine receives e mails while I am working on
that machine, so I get all new mails. On 1 PC and 2 laptops I got mail
server settings “Leave mail on server”, then on main PC, I got mail
server setting “delete once downloaded”.

 This way if one machine fails or e mail system becomes corrupt, I can
access e mails on others and restore on failed by simply copying a
profile from another machine and tell Thunderbird where the e mail
folder is.

[Adrian Caspersz]

On 03/01/2022 10:23, Mike Halmarack wrote:

> Gmail is my main emailer. I have a number of other accounts on my
> hosting service. All accounts are IMAP.
> Thunderbird carries all these accounts and I like to keep copies of
> all my mail locally.

If they are *all* IMAP (including the main gmail account), then it
shouldn't matter connecting another email client. They should mirror the
state of one another. If any are POP3, then that's not the case.

This means that my Tbird profile is currently
> around 11Gb in size.

That needs managing (after first backing all of that up - first move).

You probably really don't need all of it downloaded to your machine(s)!
About half of it really belongs in the trash?

With google mail (in the gmail.com website) you can setup filters (easy)
that apply a "label" to mail items. In IMAP this label views as a
folder, and you can have a nested hierarchy of them.

So define "tesco" to anything from Tesco, and then you can choose in
thunderbird if you want to download this folder or not - or apply a
retention policy and automatically get rid of old messages (auto deleted
then on both local and the gmail server) - or backup old messages to a
'local folder'.

With your hosting service IMAP accounts, the equivalent server side
filtering should be be implemented in whatever your provider is
offering, sendmail?

Though instead you can instead get gmail, to collect email from those
other IMAP accounts, and then implement filtering on the received mail.

If this is sounding greek, try setting up another test gmail account and
play around with it, on another machine with thunderbird (or whatever).

The absolute goal is to decouple "just read" read status of email from
one machine, so that you can have access to it anywhere, even on the
native email client of a mobile phone, knowing what has been read and
replied to.

Your suggestion of using remote desktop to a central machine does not
sound as convenient.

Please implement secure 2FA on Gmail, and if you do go down the remote
desktop route instead secure that absolutely damn well preferably using
a VPN that you control.

--
Adrian C

[Mike Halmarack]

Fascinating enough to study in detail. You do mention "simple" a
couple of times, which is quite encouraging. Here's hoping.
--

Mike

[Mike Halmarack]

Thanks. That's a lot to work through but well worth it I'm sure.
If I can get it to work it will be a pretty thorough solution.
--

Mike

[Adrian Caspersz]

On 03/01/2022 13:43, Mike Halmarack wrote:
> On Mon, 3 Jan 2022 11:40:35 +0000, Raj Kundra

>> I got simplest set up using HP Microserver running windows plus 2 PC and
>> 2 laptops on same network.
>>
>> Raid is set up on Microserver and everything is stored there.
>>
>> All I got is simple share folder on server which I can see from all PC
>> and laptops over network. I can open anything on any PC or laptop, work
>> on it and save it on server.
>>
>> This does not require using “Remote Desktop Protocol client”
>>
>>  I did set up Thunderbird profile on server to store e mails on one
>> place, but I prefer each machine receives e mails while I am working on
>> that machine, so I get all new mails. On 1 PC and 2 laptops I got mail
>> server settings “Leave mail on server”, then on main PC, I got mail
>> server setting “delete once downloaded”.
>>
>>  This way if one machine fails or e mail system becomes corrupt, I can
>> access e mails on others and restore on failed by simply copying a
>> profile from another machine and tell Thunderbird where the e mail
>> folder is.
>
> Fascinating enough to study in detail. You do mention "simple" a
> couple of times, which is quite encouraging. Here's hoping.
>

Just to mention, while the above is workable, it's a workaround - it's
what home user folks used to do using POP3 years ago when they didn't
have the equivalent (expensive) shared mail server that was typically
implemented in businesses.

Now with gmail, zoho, protonmail, outlook.com - everyone now has better.

Go IMAP ;-)

Horses for courses, though.

--
Adrian C

[Mike Halmarack]

On 2 Jan 2022 17:00:38 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgaines...@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 02/01/2022 in message <1v23tgtoofdg2dm5c...@4ax.com> Mike
>Halmarack wrote:
>
>>"Remote Utilities for Windows" https://www.remoteutilities.com
>>seems like a fairly small and tidy possibility. On the downside, it's
>>noted that Anti-Virus programs tend to dislike it, either justifiably
>>or otherwise.
>>If Remote Utilities does do the job safely, it would have other uses
>>too.
>
>Microsoft Windows has Remote Desktop Protocol client built in to all
>versions of Windows and the server version built into the Pro versions of
>Windows. It is excellent, I use it all the time to drive my server from my
>various laptops - all my data is on my server so I can work on something
>from my sofa laptop then when I go to bed carry on working on it from my
>bedroom laptop.
>
>I think you can only have one person at a time using it, I've not tried
>more than one.

I'm going to start from here and see how that goes. There's only need
for on at a time access, so that's no problem. Then I'm going to try
the more elaborate methods recommended. Partly because they may
provide more flexibility and partly out of appreciation for the advice
given in this thread.
--

Mike