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Firefox Update wiped my cookies, tab groups, and settings

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  • Valiny farany nomen'i Pseudoryx

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So Firefox just wiped my cookies, my tabs, including my tab groups, and my settings in both about:preferences and about:config after an update. My history, passwords, and extensions are still intact, so it was not a true refresh. I can deal with the settings and cookies again, but my tab groups are nigh-unrecoverable. "Recently closed window" is greyed out, so that did not help either.

In the "Add Tab to Group -> Closed Groups", my old tab groups are still listed, but as far as I am aware there isn't support to access them yet.

I checked the root profile folder and, following the instructions from this thread, managed to fetch my tab groups from previous.jsonlz4 and recovery.jsonlz4.However, I could not for the life of me get mozlz4 to launch.

Additionally, I have an older backup of the same profile from 2 weeks earlier. This backup also confirms there was some unspecified data wipe, since it is 2GB more than the current profile folder.

With the available recovery data at hand, I have a couple of outcomes that I can live with.

  1. I can indiscriminately replace my current profile with the old backup and hope that when I restart Firefox will correct itself to match the current version.
  2. Someone could help/instruct me on which files to pinpoint to recover my site data/cookies/tab groups discriminately from all the files in the backup, so I don't have to fully replace the current profile.
  3. Someone could help me troubleshoot the guide outlined in the link above to figure out why mozlz4 is not working.

This has been driving me nuts over the past 24 hours and I honestly do feel like I'm a bit out of my depths. Any help is appreciated.

So Firefox just wiped my cookies, my tabs, including my tab groups, and my settings in both about:preferences and about:config after an update. My history, passwords, and extensions are still intact, so it was not a true refresh. I can deal with the settings and cookies again, but my tab groups are nigh-unrecoverable. "Recently closed window" is greyed out, so that did not help either. In the "Add Tab to Group -> Closed Groups", my old tab groups are still listed, but as far as I am aware there isn't support to access them yet. I checked the root profile folder and, following the instructions from [https://superuser.com/questions/1814031/how-to-restore-firefox-session-from-previous-jsonlz4 this thread], managed to fetch my tab groups from '''previous.jsonlz4''' and '''recovery.jsonlz4'''.However, I could not for the life of me get '''mozlz4''' to launch. Additionally, I have an older backup of the same profile from 2 weeks earlier. This backup also confirms there was some unspecified data wipe, since it is 2GB more than the current profile folder. With the available recovery data at hand, I have a couple of outcomes that I can live with. # I can indiscriminately replace my current profile with the old backup and hope that when I restart Firefox will correct itself to match the current version. # Someone could help/instruct me on which files to pinpoint to recover my site data/cookies/tab groups discriminately from all the files in the backup, so I don't have to fully replace the current profile. # Someone could help me troubleshoot the guide outlined in the link above to figure out why '''mozlz4''' is not working. This has been driving me nuts over the past 24 hours and I honestly do feel like I'm a bit out of my depths. Any help is appreciated.

All Replies (4)

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Hi

As a first step, this support article should help:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-user-data-missing-after-firefox-update

Helpful?

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Hi @Paul,

I'm aware of that article. My data was wiped from the existing active profile and I fully expect to dig up files manually.

Helpful?

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I’ve dealt with similar Firefox profile issues before. If mozlz4 isn’t launching, make sure you’re using the correct Python version and that the script has execution permissions. For tab groups, previous.jsonlz4 is usually the key file, and you can try using a tool like ‘Firefox Decrypt’ or ‘Tab Session Manager’ to extract the tabs without replacing the whole profile.

Helpful?

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Thanks. I will try to extract the tabs out at least.

The readme for mozlz4 did not mention a Python version. Where do I go to figure out if I have the correct version?

Helpful?

Mametraha fanontaniana

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