Windows 10 will reach EOS (end of support) on October 14, 2025. For more information, see this article.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

After moving profile, not all addons work -- can't reinstall

  • 4 majibu
  • 2 wana tatizo hili
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by whitejay17

whitejay17
whitejay17
more options

I moved my FF profile from old computer running ubuntu to new one with opensuse. I used directions at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

Seems that most eveything transferred correctly except two addons: Session Manager & Pocket. Removed them both with intention to reinstall. I am unable to do so and am presented with the same error for both:

... could not be installed becaue Firefox cannot modify the needed file

There is more detail in the Error console (also same for both):

Warning: WARN addons.xpi: Failed to install: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520005 (NS_ERROR_FILE_DESTINATION_NOT_DIR) [nsIFile.create]" nsresult: "0x80520005 (NS_ERROR_FILE_DESTINATION_NOT_DIR)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/XPIProvider.jsm :: AI_startInstall :: line 5046" data: no] Source File: resource://gre/modules/XPIProvider.jsm Line: 5046

I moved my FF profile from old computer running ubuntu to new one with opensuse. I used directions at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles Seems that most eveything transferred correctly except two addons: Session Manager & Pocket. Removed them both with intention to reinstall. I am unable to do so and am presented with the same error for both: ... could not be installed becaue Firefox cannot modify the needed file There is more detail in the Error console (also same for both): Warning: WARN addons.xpi: Failed to install: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520005 (NS_ERROR_FILE_DESTINATION_NOT_DIR) [nsIFile.create]" nsresult: "0x80520005 (NS_ERROR_FILE_DESTINATION_NOT_DIR)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/XPIProvider.jsm :: AI_startInstall :: line 5046" data: no] Source File: resource://gre/modules/XPIProvider.jsm Line: 5046

All Replies (4)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
more options

You get this error if an extension needs to be unpacked to work properly. Firefox normally stores an extension as the XPI file in the extensions folder and changes the file part of the name to the GUID or email as listed in the install.rdf file under the ID section.

whitejay17
whitejay17 Mwenye swali
more options

Thanks for the reply, cor-el. However I'm unsure what I'm supposed to do with this information.

Some googling turned up that changing the value of extensions.alwaysUnpack to true in about:config may help but in my case it did not.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
more options

Can't you (re)install the extensions in the normal way from their pages on the Add-ons website?

whitejay17
whitejay17 Mwenye swali
more options

When attempting to install the normal way is exactly when I was getting the error messages I mentioned in the first post.

Anyway, I left out what I believe now is the critical detail: that the profile was moved from a partition that had to be rescued. It initially looked like all the data was saved but I've since discovered that a small percentage of the files on the disk were corrupted.

The corrupted files must have included those for Session Manager and Pocket as I've been able to reinstall them by manually "save link as" downloading the xpis and then renaming or unpacking the files. It still remains to be seen whether or not I can do a normal install with an addon I didn't already have.