Steps followed:

1. I used Firefox to download the Windows version of Thunderbird 78.2.2 from https://thunderbird.net/
2. When the download completed, I opened the download manager from the toolbar and clicked on it to launch the installer.
3. At the end of the install process, I checked the box to launch Thunderbird, and clicked Finish.
4. Thunderbird opened behind the Firefox window (which was itself behind the installer window, though the installer went away at that point).
5. Because the main Thunderbird window was to the left of my Firefox window, I could see it, so I clicked on it to bring it to the front. It appeared as though the email account setup wizard did NOT run, because I didn't see it anywhere.
6. I clicked on the Email button in the "choose what to set up" screen, and nothing happened.
7. I then closed the Firefox window, to discover the new email setup wizard was there behind it.

I'm a bit of a power user, so if this threw me for a loop it'll definitely be a sub-optimal user experience for a more average user on the first run. I've used Thunderbird before on other platforms, so I knew to expect the email setup wizard to automatically go on the first run, and wondered why I didn't see it. Someone who didn't know that would be confused by the button not working.

Suggested fix:

First choice: Make Thunderbird come to the front on first launch, or have the installer launch it in the foreground, whichever works best.

Second choice: make the Email button on the main window bring the setup wizard to the front when it's clicked, if that wizard is already open.

Those are just ideas of course.

Walt, do you see this?

Odd as it may sound, I've noticed something like this odd behavior on launching apps since updating to Windows 10 v2004. I see it at home most often and sometimes on my work PC. I'll launch an app, see it about to come to the forefront for a split second and then it jumps behind some already open apps being hidden until I minimize the other apps or click on the hidden app in the task bar.

I don't see this when starting 78.2.2 with test profiles.

Could not reproduce using the reporters STR when I was testing 81.0b4 on Windows 10.

Alex can you reproduce this?

Reproducing the described steps with Firefox:

Thunderbird 78.6.0 RC-1 is behind the Firefox window after the installation process, if the profile manager is not used (the account wizard is in front of 3-pane-window, but behind Firefox, too).

Doing the same steps with the profile manager set to choose a profile at startup, Thunderbird will be in front of the web browser and the email account wizard is correctly in front of the 3-pane-window.

As a sidenode: I hate the option to launch the application directly after the installation. In the past this option led to start the app with windows admin rights, which led to a created profile in the admins user folder. Restarting Thunderbird then launched the app with normal user rights and the prior created (admin) profile was "lost". IMHO the complete restart option should be removed from the installer.

In my testing of the 78.6.0 release candidate on Windows 10 yesterday the email setup window moved behind the Thunderbird window when I went to enter my full name.

Maybe we need to add a focus() somewhere? For TB91 we should have the dialog inside the main window so then this wouldn't be a problem.

Dave, does this still reproduce?

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #8)

Dave, does this still reproduce?

No.

1. Wiped out my profile so it would start from scratch.
2. Used Firefox to download Thunderbird 102.6.1
3. Clicked the entry in the download manager to launch the installer
4. When the install completed, it launched Thunderbird in the foreground, not the background
5. The "create your first account" dialog opened in a tab instead of a new dialog window.

So looks like this is all good to go now.