Er... no. All the originals are lost.

You can restore these preferences easily.
Simply go to about:config in Firefox.

You can then locate the strings in the details and change the string value.

Example

1. Type about:config into the address bar
2. Click the accept button to enter the page
3. Type accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar into the search bar on the page
4. Double click this string
5. Change the value to 0

This step with need to be repeated with each setting in the details.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Alright, its still doing it so I'm gonna try it that way now.

Now, just to make sure I'm doing this right, in the AppData, do I delete the Roaming and Local Mozilla folders, or just one of them? And if its the later, which one?

Sounds like at last we may be getting somewhere

ALSO: I share my bookmarks between two computers on the cloudy syncy thing. Might that have something to do with it? 

I am sure those trying to help would like to know exactly what that is ?

• Is it Firefox Sync ?
• see
  How do I set up Sync on my computer?_what-does-it-do_2
  How do I choose what information to sync on Firefox?

Whether it is that or someone else's service I guess that is the problem solved. The machine is syncing with another device.

Yes, Firefox Sync. But we already figured out that that wasn't the problem.

Sorry I answered the wrong comment.

(Hope it is just me and not a navigation glitch in the forum revision)

We figured out that that wasn't the problem after I asked that.

I'm not sure what you mean by "edit out the comment". I haven't edited anything out of that post.

Sorry BrokenEye my fault.

I am beginning to wonder if using multiple profiles may help. Something along the lines of.

CurrentProfile

• Leave as is it has all your bookmarks, passwords and addons that you like.
• Backup the bookmarks from that on a regular basis as .JSON Before each backup check the bookmarks appear correct and have not got extra ones added.
• Try not to use that profile, unless you really have to because of the combination of addons.

One or more Additional Test Profiles

• You could clone bookmarks into these if they are needed day-to-day.
• It could be arranged to use HTML to transfer any new bookmarks to the other profile if necessary
• Try to do most of your browsing in one or other of the test profiles. Try to figure out what changes do and do not work in fixing the problem.

If you are very careful and you do backup your profiles. And any new data created, it is possible to run tests in a clean reinstall and a clean profile, and almost put everything back together again once the testing is finished. (Obviously some changes may be needed to get the fix. History of test profiles will be lost - although of course they could be run at any time and the history searched if that is important, as long a their profiles are preserved.)

That is an approach I have used before. it is easier than repeatedly hacking about with a single profile.

In fact the best approach may be to start with a clean reinistall fresh clean profile, add a copy of places.sqlite If that works build up from that.

I don't know how to create multiple profiles. I didn't even know that was possible until now.

Using multiple profiles is not something we shout about on this forum. It is I think considered too advanced. It does have some dangers in that you may accidentally delete profiles for instance. It is however possible to manually backup profiles, and that may be a good precaution to take. I would also strongly suggest that you follow this good practice (At least until you are proficient enough to manually recreate and modify profiles)

1. Normally use the locations suggested by Firefox
   It is easier and safer
   • Always use an empty folder
     Other contents disappear when the profile is removed
   • Never nest profiles within each other
     As above,delete mother, lose child also
2. Do not rename profiles
   Confusing, profile names and folder names mismatch
3. Do not delete profiles
   Just remove shortcuts if not in use. Delete the wrong one and you lose settings, passwords & bookmarks etc

Uses of multiple profiles include

• Testing, with clean or temporary profiles
• Different users, or different work type within the same OS account. That may include different bookmarks files &/or a different set of addons.
• Running multiple Firefox versions &/or multiple instances of Firefox simultaneously.

There are other methods of creating profiles but the best is probably to use Firefox's built-in profile manager.

Read up some of the articles, and if you want to try anything and are unsure post back.

• Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles
• Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_multiple_profiles_-_Firefox
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Testing_pre-release_versions#Installing_multiple_versions
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder#Create_a_new_profile_and_migrate_your_old_data

Seems rather overcomplicated. How will this help, exactly?

I just thought it would make your testing and troubleshooting easier to handle.

Instead of messing around with and risking degrading your main and only working profile. Run sessions on test profiles where possible. If you damage a test profile or lose bookmarks it does not matter, you always have the original working profile, plus a backup profile.

It takes seconds to create a new clean profile, or to switch between existing profiles.

I still don't understand. If I do another clean reinstall, all my profiles will be deleted again anyway, no matter how many of them there are.

No that is exactly the point of using multiple profiles.

• Sure if you do a baremetal reinstall of the OS and everything else from install media then yes you lose everything.
• If you are (as I expect) asking about a clean re-install of Firefox NO you retain all those profiles and any backups Ready to use with whatever Firefox version is cleanly installed.
  • a clean reinstall of Firefox involves deleting the program files, or using an empty folder for the new custom install, BUT there is no need to touch the profile.

Ok that is a slight oversimplification, Firefox 2 is not going to cope with a profile for a current release, but if I swap profiles used between Fx10 and Fx28 they hardly bat an eyelid and start-up as expected.

How's that then? The Firefox AppData is where the profiles are kept, and I'm supposed to delete the AppData. And I know from the last three times doing it that this does, in fact, result in my profile being deleted.

You shouldn't delete Mozilla or Mozilla\Firefox folder in AppData as there is usually no need for this drastic action.
Only severe accessing or permission problems with creating files would qualify for this.

Creating a new profile with the Profile Manager would be sufficient to test for issues with the current profile folder.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Managing+profiles

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_multiple_profiles_-_Firefox
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows

Well I already tried deleting just the Program Files, and that didn't fix it. ComputerWhiz told me that in order to preform a clean reinstall I've got to delete both the Program Files and the AppData. Is that how I preform a clean reinstall or isn't it? Why won't anyone give me a straight answer on that?

The main part of a clean reinstall is to delete the Firefox program folder in case there is a problem with some files in it.

• (32 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\"
• (64 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\"

If that doesn't help then you can try a new profile as well.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Clean_reinstall

Well in that case, I've already done a clean reinstall and that didn't fix it, which means I need a new solution

Clean Re-Installs & Profiles:

Let's try to offer a bit of a generalised overview.

What I guess I am saying is hat Firefox can have custom install locations and multiple profiles, even multiple install of Firefox. These are all things an ordinary user is never going to even need to think about. We do not even document this in the Knowledge Base. As someone with a difficult to resolve issue you are needing to put a lot of effort into looking for a solution and testing various things, maybe you need to be aware of these concepts.

Now think about as an example deleting a file. Consider maybe a Word Processor (WP) one that includes Documents with many different versions as internal restoreable revisions. If you rewrite it and you know the old version with its sub versions is never to be needed again then you just delete it.

Say you are documenting your life story or writing a novel. If files (WP Documents in this scenario) are going to be needed again then it is worth considering instead of deleting them renaming and possibly moving them. That takes slightly more time, and more space on you computer but opens up greater possibilities; if you wish to look back at older versions and revision history for some reason.
Even if the WP program was toast, having the renamed Document file may help if that WP or a similar WP was reinstalled.

• Now consider the situation with Firefox.
  We teach users to use safe mode or Firefox Reset. These are often effective solutions, or diagnostic tests and are easy for the user to do.
  • More advanced users may consider more advanced methods. The multiple actions of Safe Mode or Firefox Reset may be tried individually.
• Consider Firefox Bookmarks, very appropriate in your thread !
  As a working database they are stored in and used from a profile file places.sqlite
  • The bookmarks database.
    As you have discovered deleting that database file has consequences. You may never get your Firefox History back again (Windows OS & file recovery routines, and a measure of luck may help).
  • Had you instead, renamed the database file you would have had an easy escape route if you wanted the History back.
  • Other Bookmark Backups.
    Firefox has internal snapshots of bookmark files in a folder within the profile. Ordinarily they are used to restore bookmarks state to a state from several days ago. This overwrites current bookmarks and modifies the database. Had you had one or more backup profiles you would have had many more possibilities of restoring bookmarks and History. (Specifically in this instance it is only the database & backups folder that are required not the whole profile)
• Consider Firefox Profiles
  Often a disused or discarded profile is broken, unusable and beyond the efforts of even attempting a repair. In a troubleshooting situation you may be trying deliberately modified profiles that you expect or know to work, and maybe successfully resolve some situation. It could be worth preserving at least some of those for use at a later date, without the time consuming and potentially dangerous steps of modifying the valuable and only working profile.

Totally Clean Re-installs & Profiles - In summary.

Whether reinstalls of Firefox, the OS or a Word Processor; are involved sometimes the only, and even the quickest option is a full clean reinstall. However especially where data is to be preserved be it revisions of Bookmarks, revisions of a novel or other stored information; then there are often various alternative backup and recovery options that may be tried instead; or less drastic uninstall & reinstall options . From a Firefox perspective multiple profiles may occasionally assist with some of the options that may be considered.