Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Moving Bookmarks from XP slave drive to Windows 7 main drive?

  • 14 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 10 views
  • Last reply by pablo222

more options

I updated my computer by moving my XP OS to a slave drive and now have Win 7 professional OS in the main C drive.

When I went looking for the location of the bookmarks in the XP slave drive, I could not find it at the locations that were commonly listed. I have made hidden files option viewable. Just not sure where my bookmarks went. I found the modzilla folder and it contained everything else except the bookmarks.

I updated my computer by moving my XP OS to a slave drive and now have Win 7 professional OS in the main C drive. When I went looking for the location of the bookmarks in the XP slave drive, I could not find it at the locations that were commonly listed. I have made hidden files option viewable. Just not sure where my bookmarks went. I found the modzilla folder and it contained everything else except the bookmarks.

Chosen solution

The problem is fixed. I had to enter through XP mode in order to get to the Json file that I needed and bingo it brought back all my bookmarks. I used Cor-el solution with the extra step of going through the XP mode to solve this very specific issue.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (14)

more options

On your old hard drive:

\Documents and Settings\your_username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

If there is more than one folder under Profiles, try the most recently active one, and look for a folder named bookmarkbackups that contains a number of .json files. Anything like that?


Edit: Assuming you find a very recent .json file, see this for the restore procedure: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-up-bookmarks-or-move-them-to-another-computer#w_restoring-from-backups

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

more options

You can either copy the places.sqlite file to get the bookmarks and the history or restore the bookmarks from a JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.


See also:

more options

There seems to be a problem in that I can not access the user name part as it has disappeared from the Win 7 menu. Before it disappeared the application data folder for modzilla was not there just the IE folders. This sucks!

more options

Which folders are list in the "Documents and Settings" folder of the slave drive?

more options

Ok, I was able to get to the file. But it did not restore. I followed the instructions but nothing happened.

more options

I was able to get the Json file. In the list I chose the more recent that is 8 months old by date. But when I click on open nothing happens and I get no bookmarks being restored to the Win 7 FF. I am thinking that I should just launch the OS in the slave drive and copy over the bookmarks to HTML then do a manual install. Such a pain.

more options

Did you try to copy the places.sqlite file to the current Firefox Profile Folder?

Does the JSON backup have a .json file extension and did you check if the file has the bookmarks?

more options

Eight months old doesn't sound right; Firefox seems to creates a new file in bookmarkbackups every day that you use it. You might need to keep searching.

more options

I agree that the backup is a bit old. But I think that Win 7 is not letting me see the full file in the slave. The next try will be to launch the OS in the slave and copy the bookmarks to HTML and then copy that to a flash drive then go back into Win 7 and try it from that point. But even with the 8 month old version. I could not extract out the bookmarks.

more options

When you launch the old Firefox, copy your entire active settings (profile) folder. Simplest way to identify it is:

Help > Troubleshooting Information > Show Folder

Keep that folder open, exit Firefox, then copy that entire folder to your USB flash drive. If you saved passwords or want your browsing history, it's all in there. Note that if you just want bookmarks, you could copy places.sqlite and the bookmarkbackups folder.

more options

Let me get clarification. Are you suggesting that I copy over the folder named "modzilla" then replacing the Win 7 one? Secondly, I am running Win 7 Professional 64bit. I am wondering if that might be an issue.

The reason I bring up Win 7 professional is because I looked at another computer that is similarly configured other than it having Win 7 Home version. I am certain that there is either a problem in Win 7 Professional or some other glitch issue because for some reason it is not letting me see all the files like it is supposed to. In the Home version of Win 7, I can see more files within the modzilla folder in that computer verses the new new computer with Win 7 Professional.

Microsoft had a similar problem before and was  known to have these type of issues especially with Vista 64bit. I used Vista as a slave Drive OS to XP professional in one of my computers as Vista sucked so bad. 

Because I can not see all the files with Win 7 Professional, I can not trust that copying a folder would also get me all the files because Win 7 does not recognize or read the contents. Right now, I can not find any bookmarks list from within the modzilla folder and I can not locate places.sqlite. I could find 6 JSON files but they range from August 2009 when Firefox was first installed on the now Slave XP HD to December 2011. Basically, it is showing 2 results per calendar year. The Slave XP OS was heavily used until July 24, 2 days ago when that computer was rebuilt with new MB, Chip, Ram, OS, Graphics card and new power supply. The Slave XP OS is strictly for storage as I did not want to transfer files all the files. But only transfer those files that are specifically needed within the Win 7 OS.

more options

No, I am not saying to copy all the files into your "live" settings folder, just copy them to a convenient location for salvaging. In some cases, it does work to just drop them into the live folder and replace the new (mostly blank) ones that are in there, but I suggest a backup first.


I run Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, but I haven't tried attaching an old Windows XP drive to it. As far as I know, all versions of Windows have the feature of hiding certain folders under either

C:\Users
C:\Documents and Settings

To view hidden files and folders, if you haven't already done this, in Windows Explorer:

Organize drop-down > Folder and search options > View tab or
Tools (Alt+t) > Folder Options > View tab

Turn off "Hide extensions for known file types"

Does that help?


By the way, it should say Mozilla, no "d".

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

more options

For what ever reason. Win 7 just does not let me see certain folders. Microsoft Tech support is absolutely clueless and they admitted that they have no answers to this issue.

I tried to launch my Slave OS but ran into a problem which I will take to the computer repair store to deal with as the guy forgot something as part of the bios where I can not access it as a stand alone OS at this moment in time. HOWEVER, I was able to get finally to the files that had been missing by launching Virtual PC and going into XP mode. From that screen within Win 7, I was able to see files I had previously not seen. Since it is now nearly 4am, I am going to get some sleep. But I will try accessing the information for my bookmarks via the Virtual PC area of Win 7. I stumbled on this while installing some software that can only run on XP. I then did a quick look and was able to find a JSON file from July 23, 2012 which was the day I moved the old HD to Slave and installed Windows 7 Professional as my Primary OS on the main HD. It would be helpful if anyone has any additional tips on dealing with transfers of the JSON and places.sqlite files to get all my bookmarks up and running from the XP mode in Windows 7 Virtual PC.

Modified by pablo222

more options

Chosen Solution

The problem is fixed. I had to enter through XP mode in order to get to the Json file that I needed and bingo it brought back all my bookmarks. I used Cor-el solution with the extra step of going through the XP mode to solve this very specific issue.