In previous versions of Firefox there was an addon called FavIcon Reloader that could do this for you. This worked up until version 48. Unfortunately, there isn't a way to automatically update the FavIcon for new releases of Firefox using e10s. The only way now, I'm aware of, is to visit the website.

I appreciate the response, but visiting the website doesn't refresh the favicon, every single one is empty currently.

This support request might be related. Check it out and let us know what you find.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1145126

Try launching Firefox in Safe Mode and see if you can get them to appear.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode#w_how-to-start-firefox-in-safe-mode

Thanks for finding that for me.

Tried in safe mode, no change.

According to that solution, I don't have a chrome folder, so it doesn't seem to be an issue.

If you have any other tricks up your sleeve, that would be great. Thanks for your help so far!

Next we can check to see if your favicons are being saved properly in the places.sqlite database file.

Probably best not modify the contents of this database, and probably best to close Firefox beforehand

1. Download and install http://sqlitebrowser.org/ for win64
2. Launch DB Browser
3. Click Open Database
4. Copy/paste %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ into the file name box and hit enter
5. Open the directory listed there
6. Select and open places.sqlite
7. Click the 'Browse Data' tab
8. Select moz_favicons from the table dropdown
9. Select one of the 'Blob' entries under the 'data' column
10. Change the 'Mode' drop down on the top right from text to image and see any images appear when you click the cells listed in the 'data' column

Let me know if you get something like what I've attached.

I left out a step, I updated it above

Do you at least get the favicon on the tab bar if you open a bookmark in a tab?

You can check the browser.chrome prefs on the about:config page and make sure they have the default value.

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

Fiz, I followed your steps and I don't have a single entry under moz_favicons. Screenshot attached.

Cor-el, I do get favicons in the left of the tab when the tab is open, has no effect on bookmarks.

Cor-el, the browser.chorme prefs are all default

Quick comment. Maybe we have been misunderstanding the problem you see.

In fact I note on this Linux ESR install Fx49 Fx45.9 I have default favicons in the bookmarks library and the bookmark dropdown menu, but favicons on the left of the browser tabs.

moz_favicons shouldn't be empty.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/places-maintenance/

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file

If the Places Maintenance extension can't repair the places.sqlite database then remove all places.sqlite file(s) in the Firefox profile folder to make Firefox rebuild the places.sqlite database from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

• keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_process_the_backup_file_-_Firefox

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

• Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Directory:
  Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

The above post solved it. I still have to visit the websites to force the favicon to load, but I have confirmed with SQLitebwoser that the favicons are loading properly now.

I noticed that the favicons don't load if the bookmark URL isn't exact. For example, one of my bookmarks didn't have the www. but it still took me to the page. I didn't get the favicon to load until I edited the bookmark to include the www. This was also true for nuances such as http:// vs https://. If you know of any ways to force the favicons to load without visiting the websites and/or without changing the previously mentioned nuances in the bookmarks, that would be great (but obviously I'm just happy that it works).

Thank you cor-el (and the rest who piched in) for your prompt and courteous support. I just moved over to Firefox and this really encourages me to stick with it.

EDIT: To be more specific, I had to delete/rename places.sqlite to get it to work again.

Glad it worked, & thanks for posting back, but the solution is a bit drastic because that causes you to lose the History Firefox stores.

That may not seem important in some instances, but the History helps you get the suggestions in the addressbar that match somewhere you visited previously. So if you have a site you want to find again but it was not bookmarked, the addressbar will now no longer be able to propose it as a suggestion. See also

• Address bar autocomplete suggestions in Firefox
  • And for anyone typing in to the addressbar look at the section _changing-results-on-the-fly

Renaming profile files instead of deleting them can be a good idea as it allows you a chance to use them again if things do not work out as expected.

Fiz said

Next we can check to see if your favicons are being saved properly in the places.sqlite database file. Probably best not modify the contents of this database, and probably best to close Firefox beforehand

1. Download and install http://sqlitebrowser.org/ for win64
2. Launch DB Browser
3. Click Open Database
4. Copy/paste %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ into the file name box and hit enter
5. Open the directory listed there
6. Select and open places.sqlite
7. Click the 'Browse Data' tab
8. Select moz_favicons from the table dropdown
9. Select one of the 'Blob' entries under the 'data' column
10. Change the 'Mode' drop down on the top right from text to image and see any images appear when you click the cells listed in the 'data' column

Let me know if you get something like what I've attached.

In step 5 there were four directories, I picked the most recent. Step 9 I do not see a 'Blob' entry. Did I take a wrong turn?

Firefox 55+ no longer stores favicons in places.sqlite, but uses favicons.sqlite

Try turning ON remember history in Firefox settings. It worked for me, but i should also add that i did refresh firefox first which didn't initially help, but i'm unsure if that step was needed or not.

In Firefox 56 on Windows I was able to refresh just a specific bookmark favicon by using sqlite3 (sqlite-tools) to modify favicons.sqlite directly. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/46789939/8789816