Old profiles.ini file gone - profiles won't load on new machine.
Hi guys,
I have a problem similar to the one described in this thread: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1113367
Last December, Firefox updated automatically and when it opened after the reboot, all my profile (I have six profiles) information was gone. I was about to get a new computer and was short on time, so I figured I wouldn't sweat it until I installed the browser on the new one, since I saw I still had the 2h4hgh56.Profilename folders in the Profiles folder.
In the Profile folder on the new computer, there are two folders named default. The only one opening is the one created when the browser reinstalled. The others don't show up in the profile manager.
Fast forward to today (yes, this is how long it's taken me to get around to dealing with this). I installed FF on the new computer and copied/pasted the profile folders from my old computer into the new Profile folder. No luck - what happens is that the new 'default' folder is created in the Profile folder - just like on the old computer, the old profiles just don't show up in the Profile manager.
I've read all the threads on this and similar issues I can find, and I guess what happened in the old automatic update is that the current profiles.ini file was corrupted or disappeared somehow. In the thread mentioned above, it is suggested that the .ini file is the only way to access the profile folders through the browser/profile manager.
There's no system restore point left that I can go back to at this point, so what I'm wondering now is whether or not there is ANY way to extract the MASSIVE amounts of bookmark data from my six profile folders WITHOUT the .ini file that disappeared last December. All I want are the bookmarks.
Many thanks!
All Replies (4)
When profiles no longer show in the profiles.ini files then this file got corrupted or you didn't include it in a restore if you copied a full profile folder from another computer.
Easiest to recover/restore such an unregistered profile is to use the Profile Manager to create a new profile and click the "Choose Folder" button on the second screen to browse such a lost profile. Firefox will recognized this profile and use the files stored in the profile.
Note that you should never use "Choose Folder" to point to an existing folder that already has files not created by Firefox, but either use it to re-register a profile or possibly create a profile in a different location.
The profile folder is stored in a hidden location (Vista and later:"AppData", XP: Application Data; Mac: ~/Library; Linux: ~/.mozilla), so make sure you see hidden folders.
Thanks! This was one of the first things I tried, and it didn't work. The profile loaded fine in FF, but there was no additional data to be found - the data simply didn't import.
Then I started looking at what KIND of data I was supposed to find in my profile folders. In the folders from the old computer, there is barely anything compared to a typical profile file on the new computer.
The structure in a new, normal folder is basically 12 folders and 26 files (among them places.sqlite). In the old folders, the structure is 5 folders and 2 files (no cookies/places/whatever.sqlite).
It seems files like places.sqlite have simply gone missing, which would certainly explain the problem.
But why would they just disappear when FF updated? It makes no sense. They should have ended up SOMEWHERE, and not just left butchered profile folders behind.
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Then I started looking at what KIND of data I was supposed to find in my profile folders. In the folders from the old computer, there is barely anything compared to a typical profile file on the new computer. The structure in a new, normal folder is basically 12 folders and 26 files (among them places.sqlite). In the old folders, the structure is 5 folders and 2 files (no cookies/places/whatever.sqlite). It seems files like places.sqlite have simply gone missing, which would certainly explain the problem.
Sounds like you are looking in the wrong "Profile" folder location.
There's one in the Roaming path (the folder where places.sqlite and a whole bunch of other files and folders reside) and another in the Local path which is where the cache2 folder is located, along with a few other folders and two .json files.
Can you attach a screenshot?
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem
- Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
- Make sure that you do not exceed the maximum size of 1 MB
Firefox uses two locations for the Firefox profile folder. Location used for the main profile in "AppData\Roaming".
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
Location used for the disk cache and other temporary files in "AppData\Local".
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
See also: