How to Create Mozilla Thunderbird Email Profiles on a Network

We will see how you can configure Thunderbird to store emails and profiles on a server machine.

The main objective is to centralize emails (and central backup) in business, using an email client.

Step 1: Preparing a server directory

The first thing to do will be to prepare a shared folder where you store profiles for Thunderbird users. Here I will be very simple and use the user directories already on the server and add a thunderbird directory, with directory security measures to ensure that only the user can access and modify this file.

Start with a new directory, which I will call "Thunderbird".

Right-click it, and then select "Sharing and Security".

You will need to check "Share this folder on the Network". Name the share "Thunderbird" and "Allow network users to change my files".

Step 2: Create Thunderbird profiles

Also on the server side run a command window in msdos (Start, Run, "cmd.exe) and type the command: "\ thunderbird.exe"-p

Click on "Create a Profile".

The Profile creation wizard opens, click on "Next".

Now enter the name for the profile in the next window. For example, I will build the profile of the user Thunderbird "Anthony". Finally, click on "Choose the folder" to choose which will be stored on the profile of this user.

Choose the Thunderbird shared directory of the user that you created.

In my case, I chose \ \ computer XP SP2 \ Thunderbird \ Anthony

and now my profile "Anthony" is created and a shared directory on the server.

It is not very difficult to use thunderbird on a local network to store profiles on a server and to read emails on any pc in the network.

For the sake of this tutorial we have used the simple sharing option within Windows. You could go the more complex route and set Roaming Profiles for each user. This would create more security and multiple users could read their emails at the same time. However, it is not necessary to do this if you are just on a home network.