Tried to "refresh" Firefox, canceled it before it was completely done and now I'm getting the "profile missing" error. None of the solutions have worked.
Running Mac OS 10.8.5 (older, I know) and when I opened Firefox last night it said I should consider a refresh to speed it up. I did so and it went through the motions then appeared to be frozen on the "almost finished" or whatever it says. After nearly an hour I canceled it. Now I'm no longer able to open Firefox. I get the "profile missing or inaccessible" error message. I tried reinstalling Firefox to no avail. I've looked at the solutions to a bunch of similar issues and none seem to be able to solve it.
At this point I'd really just like to get Firefox up and running, but if possible I'd like to recover my profile information, as I had a lot of things saved. I do have an "old firefox data" folder on my desktop with information from a previous refresh back in September, and the failed one from last night.
The main issue appears to be that I don't seem to have a profiles folder anywhere, nor can I locate the actual Firefox folder that everyone keeps talking about. It doesn't appear to exist on my machine.
Chosen solution
Let's try this procedure, using the newer of the semi-randomly-named profile folders in Old Firefox Data.
This unofficial "roll back" process takes a while, but it might be the fastest way to undo the Refresh:
Overview
These are the steps described in more detail below:
- Create a new Firefox profile
- Remove everything from that new profile folder
- Copy in everything from the old profile folder
Create a new Profile
Since I don't have hands on experience with Mac, I'll refer you to our support article: Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles. Don't delete any profiles in the Profile Manager; it's too easy to permanently lose data if you do that.
When you create the new profile, please ignore the option to change the folder location. Just let Firefox choose the location, then start up in the new profile.
Open the New Profile folder in Finder
Firefox in the new profile should look like a factory fresh installation. Open the Troubleshooting Information page using any of these methods:
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- Help menu > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table, click the "Show in Finder" button. Firefox will launch your brand new profile folder in a Finder window.
Leaving that folder open, switch back to Firefox, and Quit using either:
- "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
- (menu bar) Firefox > Quit
When Firefox closes, the Finder window showing the new profile folder should be front and center, or you can activate it.
Copy Old Data in Place of New
In that new profile folder, select all the contents and delete so the folder is now empty.
Leaving that window open, open or switch over to your Old Firefox Data folder. Drill down into your old profile folder. At this level you should see a folder named bookmarkbackups among other things.
Select everything and Copy.
Switch to the empty new profile folder in other window and Paste. This may take a minute since some of the files are large.
Start Firefox
Firefox should start up in that "new" profile with the resurrected old profile data. Success?
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Let's try this procedure, using the newer of the semi-randomly-named profile folders in Old Firefox Data.
This unofficial "roll back" process takes a while, but it might be the fastest way to undo the Refresh:
Overview
These are the steps described in more detail below:
- Create a new Firefox profile
- Remove everything from that new profile folder
- Copy in everything from the old profile folder
Create a new Profile
Since I don't have hands on experience with Mac, I'll refer you to our support article: Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles. Don't delete any profiles in the Profile Manager; it's too easy to permanently lose data if you do that.
When you create the new profile, please ignore the option to change the folder location. Just let Firefox choose the location, then start up in the new profile.
Open the New Profile folder in Finder
Firefox in the new profile should look like a factory fresh installation. Open the Troubleshooting Information page using any of these methods:
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- Help menu > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table, click the "Show in Finder" button. Firefox will launch your brand new profile folder in a Finder window.
Leaving that folder open, switch back to Firefox, and Quit using either:
- "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
- (menu bar) Firefox > Quit
When Firefox closes, the Finder window showing the new profile folder should be front and center, or you can activate it.
Copy Old Data in Place of New
In that new profile folder, select all the contents and delete so the folder is now empty.
Leaving that window open, open or switch over to your Old Firefox Data folder. Drill down into your old profile folder. At this level you should see a folder named bookmarkbackups among other things.
Select everything and Copy.
Switch to the empty new profile folder in other window and Paste. This may take a minute since some of the files are large.
Start Firefox
Firefox should start up in that "new" profile with the resurrected old profile data. Success?
Success! Thank you so much!
Well, hey, that worked out almost perfectly! Only drawback is that the bulk of the bookmarks have fallen by the wayside. a lot were at least 6 months old, so maybe they just get lost in transit when this occurs. Oh, well. I guess I'll take what I can get. Thanks for the help!!
Best, D