Forum der Gemeinschaft Firefox

I have recently purchased a new Windows 11 computer, and want to install Firefox there and transfer all my bookmarks, passwords, etc. There are obviously quite a few Support articles on this topic, and seemingly quite a few methods to use: copy and paste profile folder, sync, the backup/restore function within Settings, etc. I'm a bit reluctant to use sync, as some users report it can be an incomplete transfer. My current profile also may contain some "corruption", so I'm reluctant to copy the entire profile folder to the new computer.

Comments by esteemed and superb contributor cor-el in this Support article: [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/que.../1454070] therefore may be my best option. He wrote:

Note that best is to avoid restoring a full profile folder and only restore important files that are safe to restore/transfer.

   bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
   favicons: favicons.sqlite
   bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
   cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
   formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
   logins.json (encrypted logins) and key4.db (encryption key/primary password) for logins saved in the Password Manager
   cert9.db for certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
   persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
   permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
   sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder) 

My questions are: 1. Why is it "best is to avoid restoring a full profile folder"? 2. Is this the complete list of "important files that are safe to restore/transfer"? 2. In my profile folder, there are several files that start with the same file name, but then have different file extensions. For example: cookies.sqlite, cookies.sqlite.bak, cookies.sqlite-shm, cookies.sqlite-wal. Should I restore ALL these files, or just "cookies.sqlite"? 3. Is the correct procedure to copy the selected files from the "old" profile, and then paste them to the "new" profile, which presumably would overwrite files of the same name in the "new" profile? Thanks!

(Apologies for any formatting, bold text, and italicized test oddities. I selected these options for parts of this text, but am not sure I did that correctly. It would be very helpful if a question/message could be previewed prior to sending!)

Hi, I recently purchased a new laptop and want to bring over the bookmarks I had from my old laptop. I had copied what I thought was the profile from the old one and copied it into the new laptop - but I'm not sure of the next steps :(.

Firefox updated on my macbook pro running Sequoia 15.5 but failed to restore my previously open windows. The option to restore previous session was missing. How can I get my previously open windows back, bearing in mind I'm not not a computer nerd? Thank you, Edouard.

This has happened several times in the last 4 months or so, it had never happened prior to that and I've used Firefox for years. It now occurs when I open Firefox after my computer has either been shutdown, or the computer does a restart. I am signed in to my Mozilla account.

Hi

I've just booted my machine and opened Firefox, only to be presented with a completely fresh install.

All my settings, bookmarks and history gone. It was fine yesterday when I closed it and powered down.

I'm running Kubuntu, I've checked the .mozilla folder and nothing...it's like my profile has just been overwritten.

Not happy at all, I'm starting to dislike Firefox.

Can anyone offer any help or advice please?

Thanks in advance.

ello. My favorites have disappeared from my Windows 11 PC. It has happened once before and then I was able to get them back by deleting the sqlite file, now it doesn't work and I need your help with ending firefox processes etc.

My computer shut down. I turned it back on, and the browser was completely updated. Nothing! I'm panicking. There's not a single backup anywhere. there is no folder on the desktop «Old Firefox Data» I don't know what to do I tried to restore bookmarks, but the list only showed other browsers.

Just updated to FF 141.0.3. The browser had advised me to restart to finish the update. So I did. But in doing so, not all my tabs were recovered.

Most were, but like 3 were not.

Out of a sudden all of my bookmarks were lost. I tried importing bookmarks i had previously saved in an HTML. Did NOT work. I tried "revert to older date bookmarks." Did NOT work. I tried "import from another browser."Did NOT work. Funny thing is that with the same HTML file i extracted from mozilla when i made a copy a couple of weeks before, i was able to upload all bookmarks to Opera but not to Mozilla!!!! The image below for the non Greeks reads "Failure to process copy document".

After Firefox requested to be updated, I lost all of my bookmarks. I tried to go in and "restore" them but there are no backups to restore from. How do I get my bookmarks back?

I was asked to create a new profile in order to keep using Firefox, despite never having an account. After I clicked okay, it opened the new version of Firefox, but without all the passwords, bookmarks and history of the past few years. This is really inconvenient. I have since then made an account, but the fact that I can't find any of this data anywhere has me worried that every time I update Firefox it will wipe my account.

Firefox updated. I know no longer have access to my bookmarks, saved links, and passwords. How do I revert back to previous version of Firefox? How do I retrieve access to my passwords, bookmarks, and saved links/pages? I will need easy step by step instructions.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

This morning all my bookmarks have vanished, and I can't recover them using the instructions in the help articles. ALL WERE AVAILABLE LAST NIGHT. My home page is the only thing still there

I've tuned in to Firefox this morning to find that I'm kind of shut out, no access to my usual apps, and required to enact some difficult backing up etc. When I explore, it seems to relate to Windows 10 losing its backup from Microsoft. But I'm running Windows 11, not 10. What's going on? Is this legitimate? If so, why is it complicated and why wasn't it forewarned (by Firefox)?

I have just restarted my computer following installation of updated software. I find that Firefox has lost all my bookmarks. Are they stored somewhere, and if so how can I recover them?

Hello! Recently I experienced some massive issues with my pc and it needed service, it was uncovered that my drives crashed and the data is gone, they tried to restore it but its all corrupted therefore I cant get my bookmarks back in file form.

My account was synched so all my bookmarks surely are in cloud, today I got the pc back from repair, but my account only syncs bookmarks from the spare pc I used during the repair time and those bookmarks are outdated by two years, the pc which went under repair does pop up in the logged in devices list, so all the bookmarks that were there gotta be stored in the cloud, can you help me recover them?

Best regards Sarah