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Get old profile data working with Firefox-ESR on Debian 11

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Hello,

after install Debian 11 I tried to move my profile data (comming from regular Firefox on Linuxmint Cinnamon) as is suggested by https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile, but I found no way to get the job done.

After repeating several times the same procedure, I concluded that Firefox-ESR simply doesn't work with all the regular ".sqlite" and ".json" files comming from regular Firefox.

¿Is any workaround to get Firefox-ESR working with my old data? Is is importan because my old profile holds access data for many differents sites during more than a decade.

Thanks,

Hello, after install Debian 11 I tried to move my profile data (comming from regular Firefox on Linuxmint Cinnamon) as is suggested by https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile, but I found no way to get the job done. After repeating several times the same procedure, I concluded that Firefox-ESR simply doesn't work with all the regular ".sqlite" and ".json" files comming from regular Firefox. ¿Is any workaround to get Firefox-ESR working with my old data? Is is importan because my old profile holds access data for many differents sites during more than a decade. Thanks,

All Replies (5)

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Just us Sync. I use it and my data is on all my devices. see screenshot I forgot to ask, are these 2 different devices?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-set-sync-my-computer https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-choose-what-information-sync-firefox

Modified by jonzn4SUSE

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.....

Modified by jonzn4SUSE

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It's a good idea for less privacy obssest people, but for me the point is to have the maximum control I can get been a non technical guy; so, put my passwords on the cloud is the same to be naked.

By the way, I access all my banking accounts (and all commercial relationships) from the same device, a desktop computer with mint linux distribution and a vpn.

Anyway, thanks for the advice,

PS: as a courtesy, I would appreciate a warning about what could happens when somebody move from regular Firefox to Firefox-ESR. I've been using this ¡fantastic! browser since prehistoric times (aka Netscape), almost thirty years, and never, never, i had a complain until now

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May the Schwartz be with you.  ;-))

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What Firefox last used that profile if you check compatibility.ini in that profile ?

Upgrading a profile to a newer Firefox version shouldn't be a problem, but downgrading a profile used by a newer version is not always a good idea.

You can copy certain files with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to transfer or recover personal data. Note that best is to avoid copying a full profile folder.


  • 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;32+) and key4.db (decryption key;58+) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
    key3.db support ended in 73+; to use key3.db in 58-72, make sure to remove key4.db
  • cert9.db (58+) for (intermediate) 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)