On dual-boot machines running Windows (any version) when opening Thunderbird email instead of the programme opening a banner appears telling the message that another instance of Thunderbird is already running or the profile is corrupted or missing.
This happens with NTFS formatted drives that has the “dirty bit” set by the issues below. This stops any linux system from writing to the NTFS drive, essential for Thunderbird.
The problem is that Windows was either not correctly shut down, or is running with fastboot, or is in hibernation.
To fix: Reboot to your Windows installation and do a scan and repair on the offending drive. Ensure Windows is shut down cleanly and not hibernated and fastboot is disabled.