Hi, it looks like the second installation has created new profiles. See Dedicated profiles per Firefox installation.

Hi tyDraniu,

thanks for the hint. In fact since v67 Firefox will create a new profile if the installation location is different.

Am I able to change this at the installation? There is no opportunity to tell the users to change their Firefox profiles manually after the update. I use the msi installer.

Perhaps this will be helpful: https://github.com/mozilla/policy-templates#legacyprofiles

Daniel said

This article mentioned no problem at all; install 64-Bit and afterwards uninstall the 32-Bit version of Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switch-32-bit-64-bit I did this step for step but I can't see the bookmarks on the 64-Bit version. If I uninstall and reinstall the 32-Bit Version the bookmarks are back. I need help, please. The users are going to kill me, if I "delete" their bookmarks.

I updated the article to add this warning:

Firefox creates dedicated profiles for each installation. See Recover user data missing after Firefox update if the new 64-bit installation of Firefox results in missing profile data.

The linked Recover user data missing after Firefox update article explains how to switch profiles if the new 64-bit installation results in missing profile data.

Hi TyDraniu,

thanks but I have trouble with this admx, refer to the screenshot attached. Do you know what to do? I copied the firefox.admx file to one DC in C:\windows\sysvol\domain\policies\policydefinitions\ and firefox.adml to the subfolder de-DE

Hi AliceWyman,

thank you for adding the warning. As you mentioned I uninstalled 32-Bit first, but it does not work either.

best regards, Daniel

Did you try opening 64-bit Firefox and switching profiles from the about:profiles page? See Recover user data missing after Firefox update.

If you install Firefox 64 bit and do NOT uninstall 32 bit, it will install into the 32 bit location and profiles should not change.

Also, there is a GPO that turns off legacy profiles completely.

https://github.com/mozilla/policy-templates/blob/master/README.md#searchengines--remove

As far as the GPO error goes, it looks like a version problem maybe?

Are you using the English ADML?

Are you using version 1.14?

Mike Kaply said

If you install Firefox 64 bit and do NOT uninstall 32 bit, it will install into the 32 bit location and profiles should not change.

Thanks. Looks like it was fixed as of Firefox 69 and 68esr (bug 1558320).

Yep, it was definitely recent. We were trying to address this specific usecase :)

Mike Kaply said

If you install Firefox 64 bit and do NOT uninstall 32 bit, it will install into the 32 bit location and profiles should not change. Also, there is a GPO that turns off legacy profiles completely. https://github.com/mozilla/policy-templates/blob/master/README.md#searchengines--remove As far as the GPO error goes, it looks like a version problem maybe? Are you using the English ADML? Are you using version 1.14?

Hi! The very first try was an installed 68.4.2 ESR 32-Bit, installing the 68.5.0 ESR 64-Bit version. I started the 64-Bit version and a new profile was created. The second try was with the help of this article, steps 1-7. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switch-32-bit-64-bit

On the DC (native German OS) I added the German ADML only. On the DC itself the error is the same. My client with RSAT tools is native English, same problem.

I am using the adml /admx file saying "3 days ago" from github.

AliceWyman said

Did you try opening 64-bit Firefox and switching profiles from the about:profiles page? See Recover user data missing after Firefox update.

Hi,

I opened 64-bit switched to about:profiles and selected the "old" profile with the bookmarks. It worked fine. But this way is no opportunity for 900+ clients respectively 4.500 users (we are running terminal servers to, see first post).

Daniel, you wrote, The very first try was an installed 68.4.2 ESR 32-Bit, installing the 68.5.0 ESR 64-Bit version. I started the 64-Bit version and a new profile was created. Did you do a custom install of the 64-bit version? See Custom installation of Firefox on Windows.

If you custom-installed 64-bit Firefox in a separate location then that would explain the creation of a new default profile for the 64-bit version. The new "empty" profile would then be the default for 64-bit Firefox and the old profile would become the default for 32-bit Firefox. When you uninstalled 32-bit Firefox and opened 64-bit Firefox, the new "empty" profile would still open by default, unless you select the old profile in about:profiles and make it the default.

My guess is that this would only be an issue for a user who opened Firefox when there were two, separate installations (64-bit and 32-bit). With only a single Firefox installation, clients and users would not have to deal with a new "empty" profile and the old profile would still be used. You may want to wait for Mike's thoughts.

did you get the ADMX files from github directly or from the ZIP file for the release?

https://github.com/mozilla/policy-templates/releases/tag/v1.14