Why aren't my firefox settings preserved when I upgrade?
Was just prompted to upgrade my Firefox to 23.0 and, as usual, was asked if I wanted to "import" anything from INTERNET EXPLORER. I said NO - I don't want those settings brought into Firefox.
I expected, however, that the upgrade WOULD bring over my customizations from my previous version of Firefox -- but it didn't! No bookmarks preserved, my window (I HATE TABS!) settings are gone, my privacy settings wiped out -- I have to rebuild my environment to move from one version of FF to another?
Why do you ask me about IE, but not about Firefox? And - now - are all those customizations lost?
Chosen solution
Yes, that looks like your Firefox profile folder.
Do you have a profiles.ini file in C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\
If this file is there then can you list its content?
Note that Windows may be hiding the .ini file extension, so you may only see a profiles file in addition of the Profiles folder that stores the profile folder.
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An actual "update" shouldn't trigger the "import from another browser" dialog. That sounds like a fresh installation.
Could explain exactly what steps you performed to do that "upgrade"?
And which version of Firefox you were running previously?
Firefox will only start the import wizard to import data from IE if the profiles.ini in missing or otherwise not accessible.
The usual cause of such issues is security software that is either protecting files against changes or otherwise interfering.
Under normal condition you should notice anything and especially would have dataloss.
You can check if there are still profile folders present in the usual location and if found use the Profile Manager to register the previously used profiles.
In Windows 7, you can find the profiles in this location:
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
The "Application Data" folder in XP/Win2K and the "AppData" folder in Windows Vista and Windows 7 and later versions are hidden folders.
If you find old profiles that aren't showing in the Profile Manager then you can use the Profile Manager to create a new profile and click the "Choose Folder" button to choose the location of an existing profile as the location of the new profile.
Firefox will recognize and use that folder and you will have access to all personal data (bookmarks) that is stored there.
See:
I started Firefox, and was prompted to install a new version. It looked a little different than the usual 'there is an upgrade available' type of message, but I had no reason to believe that it wasn't an upgrade.
I don't know what version I'd run before; it's gone!
I see only ONE profile, so I'm assuming that my previous is gone. HOWEVER, I do see indications of my old bookmarks in C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\edqkxw1t.default\bookmarkbackups\bookmarks-2013-08-13.json
Does that mean that that IS my old profile?
Chosen Solution
Yes, that looks like your Firefox profile folder.
Do you have a profiles.ini file in C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\
If this file is there then can you list its content?
Note that Windows may be hiding the .ini file extension, so you may only see a profiles file in addition of the Profiles folder that stores the profile folder.
Same thing's just happened to me. I updated yesterday, so it was up to date. I open Firefox a few minute ago and it asks me to import stuff. I say no, only to find I appear to have a fresh installation, and all my bookmarks and extensions are gone. Not impressed in the slightest.
You get the import wizard when the profiles.ini is missing.
Do you still have profile folders?
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
The "Application Data" folder in XP/Win2K and the "AppData" folder in Windows Vista and Windows 7 and later versions are hidden folders.
The only profiles.ini I have was created yesterday evening. Anything that was there prior is now gone, barring a cfg file called cshelper (in my profile folder) that was created July 17th. I'm lost as to what happened. Very odd.