Firefox Community Forum

Subject: Firefox Sync appears to have erased all bookmarks after setting up a new Windows installation

Hello Mozilla Support,

I believe I have encountered a Firefox Sync issue that resulted in the loss of my entire bookmarks collection.

Here is exactly what happened:

I have been using Firefox Sync for several years without any issues. This was not my first Windows reinstallation. I have restored Firefox through Sync multiple times before. Firefox Sync had always synchronized bookmarks, passwords, history, extensions and open tabs correctly across my Windows PC and Android phone. I had approximately 350 bookmarks, organized into folders. Timeline Yesterday I performed a clean installation of Windows 11. I installed Firefox 152.0.5 (64-bit). I signed into my existing Firefox Account. I did not immediately enable Sync, so nothing was synchronized at that point. Today I enabled Sync and waited for the synchronization to complete. Passwords synchronized successfully. Browsing history synchronized successfully (it took a little longer). Extensions were restored successfully. Bookmarks never appeared.

Immediately after noticing this, I checked Firefox on my Android phone.

At first, one of the bookmark folders still showed that it contained more than 300 items (I saw the item count), but when I opened the folder it was completely empty. After synchronization finished, all bookmarks disappeared from both devices.

Additional information Browsing history is still present. Saved passwords are still present. Extensions are still present. Open tabs synchronization continues to work. Bookmark synchronization is enabled. I am signed into the correct Firefox Account. The second local Firefox profile is empty. The automatic bookmark backup now contains only the current state (7 items), indicating that the original backup has already been overwritten. The current profile contains both places.sqlite and places.sqlite-wal. The only Sync error log is related to a temporary DNS lookup failure (NS_ERROR_UNKNOWN_HOST) and contains no bookmark synchronization errors.

Because history, passwords and extensions synchronized correctly, this does not appear to be an account or authentication problem.

What concerns me most is that I briefly saw the bookmark folder still reporting over 300 items on Android before it became empty. This makes me suspect that something went wrong during bookmark synchronization rather than the bookmarks simply never existing on the server.

Could you please advise:

Is there any server-side recovery or investigation that can be performed for Firefox Sync bookmark data? Are there any diagnostic logs that I can provide? Is this a known issue with Firefox Sync after connecting a newly installed device?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance, as this bookmark collection had been accumulated over many years.

I have a Sync error log available: error-sync-1783454370913.txt

It only contains a DNS error related to tabs synchronization: NS_ERROR_UNKNOWN_HOST

There are no bookmark-related errors in the log.

Thank you.

Why doesn´t the new checklist widget (that apperas on a new tab) sync between my different computers?? As it is now, it is totaly useless. If i create a checklist on my homecomputer (logged in with my firefox account) it does not show up on my work computer (also logged in with my firefix account). Eveveything else is syncing fine, but not the widgets...

Hello,

I have been using the same Firefox Account with Firefox Sync for several years.

I always reinstall Windows using a full disk format, and I have done this many times over the years. I have never signed out of my Firefox Account before reinstalling Windows, and Firefox Sync has always restored all my passwords, bookmarks, history and other synced data without any issues.

This time, after performing the same clean Windows installation and installing Firefox again, I signed into the same Firefox Account using the correct email address and two-factor authentication (Authenticator app).

I have verified that:

I am signed into the correct Firefox Account. Two-factor authentication works correctly. Firefox Sync is enabled for Passwords, Bookmarks, History, Tabs, Add-ons and Settings. Only the two new passwords I created after reinstalling Windows are present. All previously synced passwords, bookmarks, history, tabs and other data are missing. My Mozilla Account now shows only the new device. The previous computer is no longer listed.

I also checked the Firefox Sync log. It contains entries such as:

No metadata record Fresh start Wiping server data

Since I have successfully restored my Firefox data after many previous clean Windows installations using this same Firefox Account, this behavior is unexpected.

Could you please check whether my Firefox Sync storage still existed before this device connected, or whether it had already been reset or become empty?

Is there any possibility that my previous Sync data can still be recovered from the server?

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Firefox desktop saved logins not appearing on android. Sync enabled on both devices yesterday. Previously worked fine, kinda frustrating having to manually re enter everything.

For years using firefox, I have had all of the bookmarks and login information retained by Firefox on my old HP laptop, but after buying a new Windows 11 Laptop and performing the Firefox syncing, none of the bookmarks/favorites and none of the password (and other items that used to self-populate) are there on my now machine. This has caused an emergency situation since my old laptop is now fatally broken. I'm wondering how to start diagnosing what the problem is, whether the "syncing" actually occurred within my account, while the syncing process indicated no problem. The new machine has it's own Bookmarks toolbar showing, but only contains a few new bookmarks that I have manually added.

I have been using a new windows 11 laptop, but which hasn't been able to import my favorites/bookmarks as well as password data from my previous (also running firefox) Windows 10 laptop. I performed syncing, but which didn't seem to help.

I have tried to look for my profile and it isn't there, I can do it through my mobile but when it syncs it doesn't add the Bookmarks I have saved there either to my PC

it can be useful if u create a system of syncing which actually works, why my passwords dont sync when i log in and also i had to put my exact same passwords 6 times before the stupid system recognized it was correct, the fuck is happening i had changed devices before and this never happened i dont know why now but im very upset

My internet connection is with Comcast, whom has told their customers that they will no longer be allowing email addresses with their company’s name. To this end I have been trying to move my old email accounts over from them, and I'm facing a lot of problems. However, since I was able to change the email in the Mozilla account today, I may be able to do it now. Also, please update my computer info to windows 11. Educated guesses below are correct.

Thank you V

I am logged into the same Firefox account on both my phone and desktop.

Sync is enabled and bookmarks are ticked.

My desktop bookmarks do not show up in my phones bookmarks, and nothing I bookmark on my phone shows up in my desktop bookmarks.

I remember there used to be a mobile bookmarks folder where these were stored, but that has disappeared from both my phone and desktop bookmark manager.

I have a lot of open tabs on my phone which I need to bookmark and organise, so I can't reinstall to test if that fixes it without losing them all.

I can see my phones open tabs on desktop through synced open tabs, so I'm definitely connected to the right account and clearly some stuff is syncing, just not bookmarks.

I have many computers that I put Firefox on, and had no problem getting my bookmarks on them as long as I sign in to my account. However, I just had my desktop redone (that previously had Firefox) and now, after I have downloaded Firefox, I cant get my bookmarks when I attempt to do the syncing. Please help

I changed the password of my Firefox account recently, which logged me out of my Firefox iOS app. When I'm prompted to scan the QR code to re-establish the pairing, nothing happens. When I choose to use email instead, I get "unexpected error". This happens every time I try to re-pair. Please help me sign in to Firefox iOS.