The databases of those programs are different. Thus you can't just copy the files over.

Is your XP still operational? You can try this; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-set-sync-my-computer Sync your bookmarks, history, passwords, add-ons and open tabs with another copy of Firefox. Learn how to set up Sync.

Try doing a complete transplant rather than replacing individual files. For example:

Overview

These are the steps described in more detail below:

1. Create a new Firefox profile folder
2. Open the new profile folder and exit Firefox
3. Remove everything from that new profile folder
4. Copy in everything from the old profile folder

Create a New Profile

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 XPSettings, 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. Please ignore any tabs enticing you to connect to a Sync account or to activate extensions found on your system as we are going to flush these settings anyway.

Open the New Profile folder in Windows Explorer

Open the Troubleshooting Information page using either:

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

In the first table, click the "Open Folder" button. Firefox will launch your brand new profile folder in Windows Explorer.

Leaving that folder open, switch back to Firefox, and Exit using either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
• (menu bar) File > Exit

When Firefox closes, the profile folder should be front and center, or you can activate it using the Task bar.

Copy Old Data in Place of New

In that new profile folder you just popped open -- NOT the one from your other system -- select all the contents (you can use Ctrl+a) and delete (you can press the Delete key on the keyboard).

Leaving that window open, open or switch over to your old profile folder. At the main level you should see a folder named bookmarkbackups among other things.

Select everything (Ctrl+a) and Copy (either right-click > Copy or Ctrl+c).

Switch to the XPSettings profile folder in other window and Paste (either right-click > Paste or Ctrl+v). This may take a minute since some of the files are large.

Start Firefox

Firefox should start up in that "new" profile with the resurrected old profile data. Success?

I appreciate the help. I don't have a running version of XP. The profile info was on a hard drive that crashed but I was able to recover most of my data from.

Copying all the data over didn't work. I wonder if using an old version of firefox so I can use the information from the XP profile would be the best way but I don't know if you can have two different versions of firefox on the same computer.

Anyway I could import that info somehow to another browser then import it back to firefox?

Do you know someone that still has a working XP?

catfrog said

Copying all the data over didn't work.

What data made it over? For example, bookmarks, history, logins, add-ons...

jscher2000 Can your utilities read data from any version of Firefox?

FredMcD said

jscher2000 Can your utilities read data from any version of Firefox?

If you mean Firefox 52 and later, probably.

jscher2000 said

catfrog said

Copying all the data over didn't work.

What data made it over? For example, bookmarks, history, logins, add-ons...

Nothing. Firefox just doesn't see anything though its in the folder.

Let's try this; https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/bookbackreader.html

Once the page is open, try feeding the places.sqlite file inside.

The original, old XP file that is.

FredMcD said

Let's try this; https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/bookbackreader.html Once the page is open, try feeding the places.sqlite file inside.

Oh, sorry, this page reads the .jsonlz4 files from the bookmarkbackups folder; it doesn't directly read places.sqlite files.

FredMcD said

Let's try this; https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/bookbackreader.html Once the page is open, try feeding the places.sqlite file inside.

That was a huge help. "places.sqlite" didn't work but the bookmark backup file firefox auto created right before the hard drive crashed did. If I could find some way to get my passwords I would be set.

Thanks for taking time out of your day to respond.

You could try this program to extract your old logins.json + key3.db file. It doesn't work if you set a master password on your old system.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/passwordfox.html

jscher2000 said

You could try this program to extract your old logins.json + key3.db file. It doesn't work if you set a master password on your old system. http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/passwordfox.html

I see why you and fred are some of the top contributors. Your responses have been quick compared to what I expected and were highly informative.

That solved my password problem. Have a great day!

Glad we could help.

Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.{web link} I use an add-on that makes backups of my user profile, Just In Case. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the current Firefox.

Every now and then, open the profile folder and create a copy of the current profile as is to another location on your hard drive. This way you will have a backup.

If you do this each day, you will not lose much data. This should be done with Firefox Closed.

Note: In case you need to restore from these backups, you may need to overwrite old or corrupted files.