Hi kooky, Sorry you are having problems. Obviously that sort of mess should not happen.

• I wonder if you have been using Firefox sync ?
  ( As promoted at https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/sync/ )

First of all manually backup the full Firefox profile|s of each machine. (There could be more than one profile per machine if you have multiple accounts)

• Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles
  For now just back them up.

Next if you use Firefox Sync turn off the option to sync bookmarks.

• see How do I choose what information to sync on Firefox?_what-types-of-information-can-i-share-across-my-devices

If you would reply to this post, and say how you got on with making the backups I or someone else will explain the next steps. Please note to keep the backup profiles somewhere safe and outside Firefox's program or Profile paths. As you proceed please work with copies of the backup profiles or their files not the original backups, otherwise you may lose further information.

As for the bookmarks there are a few files involved, and Firefox uses a fairly elegant system (recently revamped) to try to retain some unique automated backups, but if trying to restore bookmarks it is prudent to manually backup the bookmarks, (edit or better still the ) database file places.sqlite first.

• See Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer_manual-backup
• Recovering important data from an old profile_bookmarks-downloads-and-browsing-history

Otherwise there will be problems if incorrect or corrupted backups are used to restore the database.

Once the backups are safely made it may be worth trying the previous versions that Windows has saved. Remember those procedures overwrite files and folders so make sure you only try it on targets that are safely backed up elsewhere..

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/previous-versions-files-faq#1TC=windows-7

I also note you appear to be on Firefox 37 so you need to update that

• Update Firefox to the latest release

Notes to self: I can't immediately think of anything other than Malware|Hacking or Firefox Sync that would cause this sort of issue. Perhaps it is time to consider providing warnings in our support documentation of the dangers of Syncing Bookmarks.

The file name of a compressed .jsonlz4 includes how many bookmarks are in the file.

• bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.json

You can try an older backup if the latest backups aren't working.

Thanks John for the detailed response, however I am not tech SAVVY and have no idea what you're speaking of. I have never used f/fox sync and dont even know what it is, and how can I back up a profile of "nothing" my f/fox is empty everything is gone and I dont know how to back anything up anyway.Sorry I'm not much help but neither is this bloody predicament. kooky

Hi kooky, I will try to take things slowly and in stages.

Computers ? Can you confirm that you have three Firefox devices and they all seem to have lost passwords and bookmarks. You appear to have posted from a Windows 7 computer. Are all three devices Windows Computers ?

Bookmarks Please do not at the moment try any further attempts at restoring any bookmarks. You did mention attempting to restore bookmarks, how did you try to do that ? and what instructions did you follow ?

Refresh Attempts Have you been making attempts toReset or Refresh Firefox ? Firefox keeps offering that option, without always explaining its disadvantage. Even saying that it is not supposed to lose passwords or bookmarks.

• Have you any folder on the desktop named old profile or something similar.

If you have please say so, and do not get rid of the folder.

Profiles You will have a Firefox profile. Firefox will not work without one. Firefox sometimes creates new ones if it loses track of the correct one.

Detective Work You will need to do this with each computer, but for now just do it with the one you are posting from and using Firefox on.

First let's see which profile folder Firefox is using. This is easy because with a few clicks Firefox does the work for you.

• Use Menu Button (Three bar icon) -> Help ( (?) icon) -> Troubleshooting Information ->
  _edit" [Show Folder]
• See Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data_how-do-i-find-my-profile <-- Blue text is a clickable link

Make a careful note of the folders name and location. Please post back to confirm you did that successfully

Next you need to look for any other profiles. Do you have folders on the Windows Desktop that I was asking about before ?

Finally you need to look for any other profiles or bookmark related files. Do two separate searches of the whole computer looking for all instances of the file

1. places.sqlite
2. profiles.ini

1. places.sqlite is a database of bookmarks. It is also an indicator of a profile, because every Firefox profile will contain this file.
2. profiles.ini This is a file Firefox uses to keep track of profiles. You could have more than one of these files. Most installations will ounly have one, (or one per OS account.)

• Please report how many files places.sqlite you find and what their locations are.
• How many profiles.ini did you find. Try to open the file, I guess notepad may open the file. Do NOT change it or even try to save it again, but copy and paste its content into your reply. It is only a short text file, and it may offer clues to what happened.

Tips This article explains how to search for files, including searching the whole computer

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/find-file-folder#1TC=windows-7

These explains about hidden files

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders
  • http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-see-hidden-files-in-windows/#win7

Note many articles contain links usually blue that are clickable. You may not be used to using notepad this could help

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/notepad-faq#1TC=windows-7

(Edit added Show Folder)

Hi John, thankyou for such a detailed reply. Fortunately I noticed an icon on my desktop called Old Firefox Data and by drilling down into that Bingo up come a file called Bookmarks from which I was able to reimport them. I lost all the passwords but they;re probably in a different file somewhere,at least this made the task easier, I have rekindled my love affair with the Fox and really appreciate what you were prepared to do to help. kooky

Good to hear that.

I have no time right now but will post back later to help with the passwords. Keep hold of that folder on the desktop.

Post back again in a couple of days to remind me if I don't get back to you.

How's it going ? Do you still need to get the paswords back  ?

You can copy the logins.json and key3.db files from the "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop to the current profile folder to get the names and passwords.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile