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With Mozilla Thunderbird, the default storage for data is in C:\Users\User1\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\.... Even if we want to move a Profile folder to another path, we have to fill this information inside C:\Users\User1\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\...\profiles.ini, as explained in Moving a profile (official documentation):

In the profiles.ini file, locate the entry for the profile you've just moved. Change the Path= line to the new location.

How to totally bypass this C:\Users\User1\AppData folder and use Thunderbird as a real portable software?

PS: I don't want to use the "PortableApps" version. Even if this project seems trustworthy, I'm not sure the "repackaging" script is fully open-source, and anyway, I don't want to add another layer if we can do it without this.

Basj
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2 Answers2

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(As I searched for this since years, now that I found the answer, I share it with the "Q&A-style" StackExchange feature.)

  • First install it (with the official installer) to your desired path, e.g. D:\Portable\ThunderBird\app

  • Create another empty folder D:\Portable\ThunderBird\profile

  • Create a shortcut like this:

     D:\Portable\ThunderBird\app\thunderbird.exe -profile "D:\Portable\ThunderBird\profile"

    enter image description here

  • Run this shortcut!

Notes:

  • Documentation about Command line arguments - Thunderbird

  • More about Running from a USB drive

  • Some files will still be saved to C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\...: Crash Reports, Pending Pings, but you can forget about that. What's important (the email data) will be in D:\Portable\ThunderBird\profile.

Basj
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I would recommend reading this article Profile on USB drive. If your computers of choice can be guaranteed to have the same version of Thunderbird on then that is preferable to actually installing it on your USB drive.

Write performance is very important. This means using USB 3 as anything lower will cause random stalls while changes are flushed back to the drive. Also, set the drive for maximum performance (Device Manager -> Disk Drives -> each USB drive -> Properties -> Policies). This requires correct ejection of the USB drive, though, as opposed to simply pulling it out.

ACProctor
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