Possible Firefox Sync bookmark data loss after adding new device
Subject: Firefox Sync appears to have erased all bookmarks after setting up a new Windows installation
Hello Mozilla Support,
I believe I have encountered a Firefox Sync issue that resulted in the loss of my entire bookmarks collection.
Here is exactly what happened:
I have been using Firefox Sync for several years without any issues. This was not my first Windows reinstallation. I have restored Firefox through Sync multiple times before. Firefox Sync had always synchronized bookmarks, passwords, history, extensions and open tabs correctly across my Windows PC and Android phone. I had approximately 350 bookmarks, organized into folders. Timeline Yesterday I performed a clean installation of Windows 11. I installed Firefox 152.0.5 (64-bit). I signed into my existing Firefox Account. I did not immediately enable Sync, so nothing was synchronized at that point. Today I enabled Sync and waited for the synchronization to complete. Passwords synchronized successfully. Browsing history synchronized successfully (it took a little longer). Extensions were restored successfully. Bookmarks never appeared.
Immediately after noticing this, I checked Firefox on my Android phone.
At first, one of the bookmark folders still showed that it contained more than 300 items (I saw the item count), but when I opened the folder it was completely empty. After synchronization finished, all bookmarks disappeared from both devices.
Additional information Browsing history is still present. Saved passwords are still present. Extensions are still present. Open tabs synchronization continues to work. Bookmark synchronization is enabled. I am signed into the correct Firefox Account. The second local Firefox profile is empty. The automatic bookmark backup now contains only the current state (7 items), indicating that the original backup has already been overwritten. The current profile contains both places.sqlite and places.sqlite-wal. The only Sync error log is related to a temporary DNS lookup failure (NS_ERROR_UNKNOWN_HOST) and contains no bookmark synchronization errors.
Because history, passwords and extensions synchronized correctly, this does not appear to be an account or authentication problem.
What concerns me most is that I briefly saw the bookmark folder still reporting over 300 items on Android before it became empty. This makes me suspect that something went wrong during bookmark synchronization rather than the bookmarks simply never existing on the server.
Could you please advise:
Is there any server-side recovery or investigation that can be performed for Firefox Sync bookmark data? Are there any diagnostic logs that I can provide? Is this a known issue with Firefox Sync after connecting a newly installed device?
I would greatly appreciate any assistance, as this bookmark collection had been accumulated over many years.
I have a Sync error log available: error-sync-1783454370913.txt
It only contains a DNS error related to tabs synchronization: NS_ERROR_UNKNOWN_HOST
There are no bookmark-related errors in the log.
Thank you.
การตอบกลับทั้งหมด (2)
Hi
It appears from your question that you are using Firefox Sync as a backup service. While it may be handy in some cases (such as transferring your data to a new device), we do not recommend relying on Sync for backup purposes.
If you have a copy of your Firefox profile for desktop Firefox, you should be able to recover your bookmarks and other data. To restore bookmarks, see this article. For instructions on recovering all of your data, see Restore bookmarks, passwords and data from an old Firefox profile.
If you have your data in Firefox on a mobile device, please follow these instructions to connect it to Sync and copy the data.
Be aware! Resetting your Mozilla account password without a recovery key will erase your data from Mozilla servers. Make sure to generate a recovery key in advance and safely store it.
Hope this will help you resolve your issue!
Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of my old Firefox profile because I performed a clean Windows installation.
However, I don't think this is simply a backup issue.
I have been using Firefox Sync successfully for years across Windows and Android, and I have restored my Firefox profile after Windows reinstallations multiple times without any problems.
In this case:
Passwords synchronized successfully. Browsing history synchronized successfully. Extensions synchronized successfully. Only bookmarks disappeared.
The bookmarks also disappeared from my Android phone immediately after synchronization.
One detail seems particularly unusual: when I first checked my Android device, one bookmark folder still displayed a count of more than 300 items, but opening the folder showed it was empty. A short time later, all bookmark folders became empty.
I also checked:
bookmark sync is enabled; I am signed into the correct Mozilla account; there are no old bookmarks in another Firefox profile; the only automatic bookmark backup now contains just 7 items; the Sync error log contains only a temporary DNS error and nothing related to bookmarks.
Could this indicate a Firefox Sync issue rather than simply missing local data?
Is there any way to determine whether the bookmark collection on the Sync server was overwritten or corrupted during synchronization?
If this looks like a Firefox Sync bug, could you please advise whether I should file a Bugzilla report instead?
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