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How can I retrieve my bookmarks after reinstalling Win7 and Firefox?

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  • آخر ردّ كتبه Fred615

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I had to re-install Win7 and Firefox and now need to locate my bookmark file and put it back into Firefox. What is it called and where is it located?

I had to re-install Win7 and Firefox and now need to locate my bookmark file and put it back into Firefox. What is it called and where is it located?

الحل المُختار

Those backup files are compressed and not human-readable. You can use it to completely replace your current set of bookmarks by using the Restore feature (look past any dates to the bottom of the menu for "Choose File...).

Important: A restore completely replaces your current set of bookmarks. If you have saved any new bookmarks you need, add a couple steps:

(1) Export current bookmarks to an HTML-format file: Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks (2) Then do the restore (3) Import that HTML-format file: Import Bookmarks from an HTML file (4) Move the imported bookmarks to their proper locations (they should be an Imported Bookmarks folder somewhere on the Bookmarks menu or under Unsorted bookmarks)

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Well, it depends.

Did you make a backup of the C:\Users folder before doing the reinstall? If so, we can describe where to look in the backup.

Or did Windows create a folder named: C:\Windows.old\Users that contains your old user folder? If so, we can describe where to look in that folder.

Or did Windows leave your old data in place or restore it automatically? That doesn't seem as likely to me.


Generally speaking, your bookmarks, saved passwords, and other Firefox data are stored under

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Because AppData is hidden by default, a shortcut to open this location is

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

You can paste that into the Start menu search box and press Enter to load it.

With a backup or with C:\Windows.old you may need to drill down using the address bar of Windows Explorer, or turn off hiding of hidden files as described in this Microsoft support article: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hidden-files

What you would be looking for is settings files with date/time stamps around the last time you used Firefox before the format. Can you find those? If so, we can describe next steps. In particular, look for a folder named bookmarkbackups and see what you find inside.

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This is the file I found that most resembles what I think you are talking about. The time stamp is just about the time that I last accessed Firefox. So, is this the file that has all the latest bookmarks?

It is in the C:Windows.old Profiles Folder: bookmarks-2015-05-26_4150_XwUHS2+SWUaVQmXeVArQ....etc...

I tried to open this file but neither Notepad or Wordpad showed me anything but garbage.. Wordpad had a few letter strings that hinted at being a Bookmark listing.. Notepad was all hieroglyphics..

On the other hand, the same folder in C:Users shows an empty Profile folder.

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الحل المُختار

Those backup files are compressed and not human-readable. You can use it to completely replace your current set of bookmarks by using the Restore feature (look past any dates to the bottom of the menu for "Choose File...).

Important: A restore completely replaces your current set of bookmarks. If you have saved any new bookmarks you need, add a couple steps:

(1) Export current bookmarks to an HTML-format file: Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks (2) Then do the restore (3) Import that HTML-format file: Import Bookmarks from an HTML file (4) Move the imported bookmarks to their proper locations (they should be an Imported Bookmarks folder somewhere on the Bookmarks menu or under Unsorted bookmarks)

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For convenience, you might want to copy that backup file to the desktop before trying to restore. That's a lot of folders to drill down through...

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jscher2000,

I had to do a little research on export/import of bookmarks but it worked great and I now have all my bookmarks back as of an hour before I started the re-install of Win7.

Thanks much for your help !!

Fred615