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I get a "Unable to process the back up file" error message when trying to restore the bookmarks I lost when I follwed the prompts to Reset Firefox settings.

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I followed the prompts over the weekend to reset my Firefox settings, reassured by the message that said it would save my bookmarks, and now they appear lost. I followed the steps of your help articles and got the error message above. Help!

I followed the prompts over the weekend to reset my Firefox settings, reassured by the message that said it would save my bookmarks, and now they appear lost. I followed the steps of your help articles and got the error message above. Help!

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What file were you trying to restore when you got the error message "Unable to process the back up file"?

The Firefox Reset feature creates a folder on your desktop named something like Old Firefox Data. Can you find that folder? It should contain a folder named bookmarkbackups that has dated files in it. They should have a .json file extension. Were you able to restore any of those files?

For quick reference: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer.

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Thanks--tried, that, alas. I was trying to restore bookmarks. Tried the steps in the quick reference you suggest and that is what generated the error.

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Not a single one of those backup files in the folder can be restored?

What was the problem that prompted you to reset Firefox?

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Doesn't give me the option to select amongst them--just a global error message.

I was prompted to reset it from a message from Mozilla suggesting I upgrade to the newer version and that bookmarks and password info would all be saved.

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Could you reinstall Firefox 21 over your current installation from here:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/fx/#desktop

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Seems like that's the one I had, as it just said "Your Firefox is up to date!"

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ah! That's it--brilliant. The "read only" box was selected. Many thansks to all.

Bill

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You're welcome