Refreshed my firefox and lost all passwords and bookmarks
Hello I refreshed firefox yesterday (never again!). I lost my whole profile bookmarks, passwords and everything.
I tried about:profiles press return action but it was not successful.
So I spent a couple of hours setting up my profile again, passwords etc. and now have a new one, or thought I did. When I opened up my laptop this morning, to my horror, there was another new blank profile with an msn search engine. I nearly cried. I went to start again and the first thing I did was change my search to google. When I did this the newly created profile reappeared.
So my question is, how do I save my new profile and how can I be certain when I close my laptop that it will open again to that profile? Also, how do I back that profile up so if it does disappear I can easily get it back?
I am no longer secure about my profile being there. I am afraid to shut down my laptop!
All Replies (6)
When you did the refresh, some data from the old profile should have been copied to the new one. Bookmarks, passwords, . . . After, the original profile should have been moved to a folder on the desktop called old firefox
I don't know why the profile was bouncing around as you describe.
Look on your desktop. Do you see a folder
called; Old Firefox? Look inside.
Look for the folder with the latest creation date.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-user-data-missing-after-firefox-update
The refresh should have saved your old data in a folder on your desktop. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data#w_what-information-is-stored-in-my-profile
When you create a new profile, it should be added to a file called profiles.ini. That is not mentioned in the following article. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles
I wonder why so many users fail to backup the profile folder at least. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
Hello
Thank you both for the information.
I can see that folder sitting on my desktop. Being completely tech non-savvy, I am not sure what to do with it.
Can someone talk me through how to get my original profile back from that folder and make sure it stays please?
Step-by-step instructions will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Julie
When you are ready, we can start moving parts of your old data and Copy it to the new profile.
First; open your file browser to the New profile;
Type about:support<enter> in the address box.
Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To its right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.
Windows: Show/Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
Linux: Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Directory. To its right press the button Open Directory.
Second, open another file browser to the Old Firefox folder on your desktop. Then open the folder with the latest date, or whatever one you want to use.
Warning ! ! Only Copy the files you are told. We will avoid anything that might cause problems. Here is the list of files;
cookies: cookies.sqlite Do not bother. Cookies will be created when you return to the website. However, you will have to log in everywhere. And you may lose any settings that websites store on your computer.
extensions(add-ons, themes): it would be better to download them fresh. If you need to remember what add-ons you had, open the extensions sub-folder and look at the .xpi files
logins.json and key3.db [v58+]key4.db : These are the password files. Copy Both !
persdict.dat : custom dictionary - words you added to the dictionary
mimeTypes.rdf [v55+]handlers.json : What to do with what type of file.
places.sqlite : History and Bookmarks.
prefs.js : Your settings. Note: If you were having problems, this could be contaminated.
cert8.db [v58+]cert9.db and possibly cert_override.txt : Stores all your security certificate settings and any SSL certificates you have imported into Firefox. If removed, the cert8.db, cert9.db file will be replaced.
search.json.mozlz4 : file stores the user-installed search engines that are available in the Firefox v47+
search.sqlite file and searchplugins folder store the search engines that are available in the Firefox Search bar before Firefox v47
Copy these files from the old to the new. You may get a message that the files already exist. Choose to over-write for each file.
In case something is wrong with the old files, I would rename the new ones before copying the old ones, for example to renplaces.sqlite.
You can also check if there are profiles in the default location that aren't registered in the Profile Manager (profiles.ini) file and do not show on the about:profiles page.
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-user-data-missing-after-firefox-update
You can find the profiles.ini file in a hidden location:
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\
%AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
Firefox uses two locations for the Firefox profile folder. One location for your personal data (e.g. bookmarks) and another location for temporary files like the disk cache.
Location used for the main profile that keeps your personal data (Root Directory on about:profiles). You can check how many profiles are present.
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
%AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\