diff --git a/mailnews/base/src/nsMsgAccountManager.cpp b/mailnews/base/src/nsMsgAccountManager.cpp
index 59e665654c1..d13341b0d9a 100644
--- a/mailnews/base/src/nsMsgAccountManager.cpp
+++ b/mailnews/base/src/nsMsgAccountManager.cpp
@@ -3113,7 +3113,8 @@ NS_IMETHODIMP nsMsgAccountManager::OnItemRemoved(nsIRDFResource *parentItem, nsI
   folder->GetFlags(&folderFlags);
   if (folderFlags & MSG_FOLDER_FLAG_VIRTUAL) // if we removed a VF, flush VF list to disk.
     rv = SaveVirtualFolders();
-
+  // clear flags on deleted folder, especially MSG_FOLDER_FLAG_VIRTUAL
+  folder->SetFlags(0);
   // need to check if the underlying folder for a VF was removed, in which case we need to
   // remove the virtual folder.