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Why is ThunderbirdPortable using non-portable locations?

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October 1, 2020 - 8:30pm
#1
renaldafeen
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Why is ThunderbirdPortable using non-portable locations?

I have standard Thunderbird installed in the standard location on my C: drive.
I just created a fresh install of Thunderbird Portable on a thumb drive using the PortableApps app.
Before creating ANY account or profile information, I navigate to /// -> Help -> Troubleshooting Information.
I see that the Update Folder parameter is pointing to a directory in C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates; this is NOT portable.
Clicking on about:profiles, I see Root and Local Directory parameters for a non-default profile that are pointing to directories for my standard installation.

https://imgur.com/qt7wgWB

When I REMOVE these erroneous references, Thunderbird Portable DELETES the references from profiles.ini on my C: Drive!!

W.T.A.F.?? Why is a portable app modifying files on a non-portable drive??

I've done this twice now: uninstalled completely. Reinstalled. Same thing. I ultimately set my profile.ini to read-only so it couldn't be edited, which causes TB Portable to issue an error.

Please advise.

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October 1, 2020 - 8:35pm
John T. Haller
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How Did You Start It?

Are you running ThunderbirdPortable.exe directly or using it via the PortableApps.com Platform?

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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October 1, 2020 - 8:50pm
(Reply to #2)
renaldafeen
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Thanks for the reply. I've

Thanks for the reply. I've always run it from the PortableApps.com window, i.e., double-click Start.exe on the thumb drive, then choose Mozilla Thunderbird from the list of portable apps.

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October 1, 2020 - 10:30pm
(Reply to #3)
renaldafeen
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Firefox too...

FWIW, I'm seeing similar behavior with a fresh Portable Firefox install.
On the Troubleshooting Information page, the update directory is set to the C: drive.
The profile and binary parameters are both correct (thumb drive - I:).
However, about:profiles shows something similar to TB.
https://imgur.com/lMjKAr9

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October 1, 2020 - 11:44pm
John T. Haller
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Not Actually Using

The Profile Manager abilities of Firefox and Thunderbird only work with local profiles. While they'll show you the local profile in about:profiles, they should not be using it in portable mode. Try a fresh install of Firefox Portable to your desktop directory. Open it up, see that it's clean, and then look at the about:profiles page. It'll look the same.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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October 2, 2020 - 1:08am
(Reply to #5)
renaldafeen
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Actually editing, however

Well, I'm not sure I understand why a portable app would need or want to know anything about what's already installed on non-portable media, so while this may be the behavior, it doesn't make sense (to me).

Also, when I run either app, and monitor the corresponding Users\blah\AppData directory on my C: drive, there is activity there. This should not be happening based on my understanding of "portable" (which may of course be a misunderstanding). Here's the AppData directory on C: before, during and after running portable TB:

https://imgur.com/a/0LkXF82

Note that the existing Crash Reports directory on C: gets renamed and a new Crash Reports dir is created, then, when portable TB shuts down, it deletes the one it created, restores the renamed one and then DELETES the Pending Pings directory that was there (which it didn't create OR back up).

If I temporarily rename the Thunderbird directory under AppData\Roaming, when I run portable TB it just goes ahead and creates its own directory there - on the C: drive - rather than creating it on the portable media I have all this stuff installed on.

Finally, worst of all, note that the installs.ini and profiles.ini in the images linked above are both marked read-only (the *.edited files are the ones that were overwritten). This is to protect them from portable TB, which felt it was OK to muck with my NON-portable INI files when I made a change to the profile information in the portable app via about:profiles. Seems like it absolutely should NOT be editing the profiles.ini file on my C: drive, but that's precisely what happened. As noted previously, when I clicked Remove to get rid of the erroneous profile information on about:profiles while running portable TB, my active, non-portable profiles.ini and installs.ini were modified, and my active, non-portable profile information was deleted (!).

This last bit, at least, seems like a pretty serious bug.

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October 2, 2020 - 9:34am
(Reply to #6)
John T. Haller
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Profile Manager

As stated, the profile manager in Firefox and Thunderbird (about:profiles) *only* works with local profiles. Always has, apparently always will. You should not use it when running them portably. It exists solely to manage local profiles only and will not show or see the portable profile that it is currently using. This is something you can address with the publisher if you'd like it changed.

Firefox and Thunderbird both require access to APPDATA when running, even with the -profile switch. This is the way they are written and, again, something that if you'd like changed, you'll need to address with the publisher. This is the way these apps work and we can not change that.

The launcher (ThunderbirdPortable.exe) backs up all the important bits and restores them after running. You can see that as the appropriate bits are all removed on exit. As for PendingPings, it's removed on exit only if empty as it's not necessary for it to exist. You can see the code yourself in line 763 in ThunderbirdPortableU.nsi within the Other\Source directory.

If you don't like the above behavior of them temporarily using APPDATA and the registry while running, you can't use Thunderbird and Firefox Portably. Full stop. Nor can you use many other portable applications which do the same.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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October 3, 2020 - 6:23pm
(Reply to #7)
renaldafeen
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Thanks for the clarification John.

Much appreciated.
cheers!

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