Thunderbird opens 7+ instances by itself

[Collider]

This just started happening: whenever I open Thunderbird multiple instances open up normally at least 4 then as I close and reopen it, the number increments. This is driving me mad, I've uninstalled every plugin/theme I had, also tried uninstalling Thunderbird, cleaning registry and reinstalling again... still the same thing. Any ideas?

http://screencast.com/t/bS9p7Jfc2uO

 

[Steltek]

I presume you've scanned for viruses/malware?

If so, you might have a corrupted profile. Try creating a new profile by invoking the profile manager (i.e. run the command Thunderbird /p ). Make a note of the location of the new profile folder, then copy your email and folders from the old profile to the new profile. If running with the new profile fixes the problem, you just need to delete the old one.

 

[Collider]

Yep I ran virus/spyware scans..

Update: I think one of the plugins was causing this (MinimizeToTray), after I installed every plugin this no longer happens..

 

[Steltek]

MinimizeToTray was last updated in 2006 and is almost certainly incompatible with both current versions of Firefox and Thunderbird. It is known to cause this same type of issue with the Mozilla Sunbird calender application.

Try MinimizeToTray revived as it is more up to date and should work with current Mozilla applications:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/minimizetotray-revived/?src=ss

 

[gcc112]

This can also be causes by Thunderbird restoring your "session" when you exit the app: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=506526#c7

 

[bin-false]

I had a similar issue, for me it was caused by the FireTray extension. I solved it by manually editing the `session.json`: https://binfalse.de/2016/09/25/thunderbird-opens-multiple-windows-on-startup/