[SOLUTION]Mail does not quit or show old messages after 10.4-10.5 migration

Excellent, thanks very much. I just bought a new iMac and migrated my G4 Powerbook over only to be hit by this bug. Now sorted thanks to you!

This worked for me too. Hooray!

I had the problem mitgrating to Leopard, and followed Adam's text. Just thought I add some input and my experience

1. Navigate to your Library folder inside your home folder.

2. Locate the Mail folder and drag it to your desktop.

3. Launch the Mail application.

4. Mail will now ask you if you want import your messages. DO NOT HIT CONTINUE YET.
+(I never got this message, Mail just did something quickly and closed the dialog box)+

5. Navigate back to your Library folder inside your home folder. Notice there is a NEW mail folder that was created. You cannot delete this folder yet because it is in use by mail so we will just rename this folder Mail2.

6. Drag your OLD mail folder located on your desktop to your Library folder located in your home folder.
+(I copied it back in (option drag, and I am glad I did as I didn't follow step 8 and started over), a copy is left on the desktop)+

7. Go back to the Mail application and click continue. Your messages and settings should import fine now.
(go to File/import mail boxes..., choose OSX mail, then navigate to ~/library/mail)

8. Verify that your messages and settings imported correctly and quit Mail. Navigate back to your home Library folder located in your home folder and delete the Mail2 folder.
+(note that in Mail the the old mail will be in imported folders, that is OK, JUST QUIT mail and delete that Mail2 folder)+

9. Launch the Mail application again and make sure everything functions correctly.
+(now you see that all the mail in the import folder will be where it should be. All the mail folders in the import folder should now be empty. You can safely delete the import folder)+

I found a fix to this by just messing around with the issue for awhile. I have found NO good resolutions online for this bug. Good luck to you all.

Thank you adamast...tried it, it works...why don't know, don't care.
Chris

Thanks
You saved my ***!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Paul Hillman.

WOW - You rock dude. Saved my skin too and hours of messing around. THIS SOLUTION WORKS GREAT. I'll just reset up junk mail and a couple other things and I'm good to go. COOOOOOOL!!

Worked great! Thanks very much!

Thank you so much for this fix. I never would have figured it out. Would have been stuck with Entourage forever.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Why this fix/post is not in the formal Apple fixes and included in the Mac Box Set as required reading is beyond me! Like everyone else I've spent many hours looking for a fix to this problem and only came across it once I got the correct phrase in Google. Unfortunately Apple's support search engine is not up to the job!

You are a people's hero all over the world. Panic on the streets of London is now over and my email is restored. Phew. Thanks.

Thank you! Thank you! I never would have figured this out by myself. I hope Apple picks up on this one.
Big thanks again.

Me again, I forgot to mention that I cannot rename the mail file to mail2.

thank you so much , worked like a charm ! have a great weekend :))

Thank you so very much. I was hoping that I could find a quick fix and this was it. I have over 30,000 messages in my program (yes I archive every year) and would have been devastated had I lost them.