What did you try so far?

Are you referring to this knowledge base article?

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/The+bookmarks+and+history+system+will+not+be+functional

Did you try to rename/delete all places.sqlite including possible places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal files?

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

cor-el,

I did all those things and it did not solve the problem. My bookmarks Library is empty and all attempts to recover it fails. I have had to recreate bookmarks in "Pocket" though I find it cumbersome to use.

Hi, clutching at straws a bit but try:

Hold down the Shift key when you start Firefox to start in Safe Mode. More - Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

If it works in Safe Mode, disable any theme or add-ons you have - Add-ons Manager (Ctrl+Shift+A) > Themes/Extensions and restart Firefox; then if it's OK, re-enable them one by one until you find the culprit. You may need to restart Firefox after enabling some add-ons.

Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings

Try a Clean Reinstall; this means you remove your Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. This process does not remove your Firefox profile data (such as bookmarks and passwords), since that information is stored in a different location. With Firefox closed, use another browser to download Firefox from https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/ and save the file to somewhere convenient on your computer.

Now delete the Firefox installation folder which should be in one of the following locations -

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox

You can now double click the file you previously downloaded to install Firefox.

Scribe,

Tried both suggestions and neither fixed the problem. Wondering if I should try to download an earlier version of Firefox to see if it only happens with the latest update. If that does not resolve the problem, I will continue to use Pocket to save my bookmarks while searching out a 3ed party program to use. I do not like the inability to store bookmarks under folders for more efficient storage and usage.

Thank you for your help. Truly sorry neither worked to fix this bug

PCLADY70

Just in case: have you shut down and restarted Windows since this problem began? That can help release file locks and resolve transient permission issues.

This won't help with adding bookmarks, but you can convert one of your bookmark backups to a page of clickable links for reference.

To find the backup files:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer. Then double-click into the bookmarkbackups folder.

To convert a backup file to HTML format, drag and drop a backup file onto this tool: https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/bookbackreader.html

jscher2000

I did it. Now need to know how to get the file into my Firefox Bookmarks Library.

PCLADY70

Hi pclady70, if you have an HTML-format bookmarks file you want to import, the steps are in this article:

Import Bookmarks from an HTML file

If it works, a new "Imported Bookmarks" folder usually appears at the bottom of the Bookmarks Menu.

jscher2000

I tried that after I created the HTML file. Did not work. At this point I am giving up. I keep getting the error message when I start up Firefox, even though I uninstalled Norton 360 and reinstalled a lone anti-virus program [which always worked fine with previous version of Firefox]. At this point I will deal with the tedium of using Pocket until I can buy a MAC to replace this PC laptop, thereby ditching Windows, which seems to be a culprit of more problems and glitches than is worth the hassle.

Thank you for trying to find solutions/workarounds for me to try.

PCLADY70

If you decide to try one more thing, that would be to create a new Firefox profile.

This takes about 3 minutes, plus the time to import old data.

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Click the Create a New Profile button, then click Next. Assign a name like Jan2018, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

After creating the profile, scroll down to it and click the Set as default profile button below that profile, then scroll back up and click the Restart normally button. (There are some other buttons, but please ignore them.)

Firefox should exit and then start up using the new profile, which will just look brand new. Do you still get the error message?

If this profile works well, you could move data over to it from your old profile a bit at a time. But if it has the same problem, it's probably easier to switch back.

When you are done with the experiment, open the about:profiles page again, click the Set as default profile button for your normal profile, then click the Restart normally button to get back to it.