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Ancient Dragon 5,243 Achieved Level 70

If you dual-boot Vista and Fedora or Ubuntu then Thunderbird email client can use a common email box for both operating systems. If you already have an email account set up on one of the operating systems, such as Vista, then open Thunderbird, select Tools --> Account Settings, then click the Local Folders link on the left side of the screen. On the right side you will see the current location of the email files under Local Directory. Write that down someplace so that you can reference it while booted in Fedora.

Now close Vista and boot to Fedora (or Ubuntu). While in that os, install Thunderbird if it has not already been installed (use Add/Remove Programs to do this), then set up your email account. After that is installed, again open Thunderbird, select Tools --> Account Settings, click the Local Folders tab, then use the Browse button to navigate to the same folder that is used in Vista.

That's all there is to it :) Now you can use all the same email messages in both operating systems. When new mail arrives it will be seen by Thunderbird in both operating systems.

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majestic0110 commented: Nice ! +6

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As noted, pointing Thunderbird in both OSes at the same mail store is a practical way to share messages between Windows and Fedora/Ubuntu. Thunderbird’s local message storage supports mbox (and, in recent code, maildir), so the raw mail files are readable across platforms — that is why a shared Local Folders store works. ()

Critical caveats: simultaneous access to any part of the Thunderbird profile or mailstore from more than one running instance is NOT supported and risks corruption. Profiles should be treated as single-user, single-instance data; shut Thunderbird down completely in one OS before booting the other, and keep regular backups of the profile/mailstore. Using the shared Local Folders store is safer than sharing the entire profile, and matching Thunderbird release channels (release vs ESR vs beta) reduces upgrade/compatibility risk. (support.mozilla.org)

Linux mounting and permissions matter when the mail store is on a Windows NTFS partition. The partition must be writeable from Linux (ntfs-3g is the usual driver) and mounted with options that make the files owned/usable by the Linux user (examples: uid, gid, umask). Example fstab-style mount (adjust UUID and uid/gid for the local system): 

UUID=1234-ABCD /mnt/windows ntfs-3g defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0022 0 0

Use the ntfs-3g documentation for exact options and testing. (github.com)

Watch for file-lock and antivirus issues. If Thunderbird reports the profile is in use, stale lock files (parent.lock on Windows; lock and .parentlock on Unix-like systems) can be left behind by crashes — remove them only when Thunderbird is really closed. Real-time AV scanners have been known to quarantine or lock large mbox files (causing corruption or hangs); add the Thunderbird profile (or at least Mail\Local Folders) to AV exclusions or pause scanning while compacting. (technotes.whw1.com)

If multi-device access is the goal rather than strictly sharing local files, server-side syncing via IMAP (or Exchange/CardDAV for contacts) is the safer, supported approach. When sharing a local store remains the choice, keep automated backups, avoid running two instances at once, and verify mounts and Thunderbird versions on both OSes before relying on the setup long-term.

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