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downloaded firefox twice, profiles are on different accounts. How do I find my other account? only the old account with it's profiles are found

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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My computer had repairs, after the repairs firefox was Not working. I downloaded it again, and it was a newer version ,but my bookmarks were there. After my computer was turned off, then turned back on, a version of firefox, that came up was from 2006 came up along with bookmarks from that time period. The only profiles I can find(3 profiles) are all old, nothing with newer (from the last 5 years) bookmarks. How do I find the New profile that I downloaded just 2 days ago... that has all my 5 years of bookmarks? I tried to find this other account, with profiles, but was not able to.

My computer had repairs, after the repairs firefox was Not working. I downloaded it again, and it was a newer version ,but my bookmarks were there. After my computer was turned off, then turned back on, a version of firefox, that came up was from 2006 came up along with bookmarks from that time period. The only profiles I can find(3 profiles) are all old, nothing with newer (from the last 5 years) bookmarks. How do I find the New profile that I downloaded just 2 days ago... that has all my 5 years of bookmarks? I tried to find this other account, with profiles, but was not able to.

All Replies (4)

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Hi Tan4482, are you running Windows Vista? Newer versions of Firefox should not install on Vista; the Extended Support Release of Firefox 52 was the end of the line.

Have you done a normal shutdown and restart of Windows since this problem occurred? One possible explanation would be starting up in an older Windows user account, since Firefox data is per Windows user profile.

Otherwise, hmm, could you check here:

Profile Manager Page

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

This page should list at least one profile and could list many. (Each profile has two folders and one or more buttons. Do not use any Remove buttons!)

The profile that Firefox is currently using will have this:

This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted.

Do you have another profile listed on this page? If so, you can check whether it is the one you were using recently by clicking its Launch profile in new browser button.

If it isn't what you want, simply close that new window.

If it IS what you want, back on the about:profiles page, click the Set as default profile button for that profile so Firefox uses it automatically at the next startup.

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Hello, thank you for getting back quickly. Yes, Sadly it is a Windows Vista, and I did try looking thru the profiles. there are 3 showing, all from the same time period(5+ years ago) I must have been having issues then. My husband put in a new power source into the computer, that's when the trouble began. Firefox would not start. After trying many different ways I downloaded, thought I was just updating Firefox. It started up, All was well... I had my most recent bookmarks,etc. I had to put some add ons back on, then turned off the computer, turned it on and found It had gone back in time. I was thinking I have a whole separate profile floating around Firefox (the Newest download). Is that a possibility, and if so how do I find it, and get that as my Main account?

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There are three showing in about:profiles? You could check on disk to see whether there are any more. The folder is normally hidden, but you can use this shortcut in the Windows system search box to access it:

Shortcut: %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Full path: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

In case needed: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-see-hidden-files-in-windows-vista/

Any folders here that aren't listed on about:profiles and contain recently modified files?

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Easiest is probably to use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page or the about:profiles page to go to the current profile and then go up one level.