Ugh, system restore.

So you were able to install and run Firefox 86.0 but it doesn't find any of your old data?

Before further troubleshooting, I recommend doing a regular shutdown and restart of Windows to release file locks, complete any pending updates, and try to get things as normal as possible.

Profile Manager Page

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

This page should list at least one profile and could list many. (Each profile has two folders and one or more buttons. Do not use any Remove buttons!)

The profile that Firefox is currently using will have this:

This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted.

Do you have any other profiles listed on this page? If so, you can check whether it is the one you were using recently by clicking its Launch profile in new browser button.

If it isn't what you want, simply close that new window.

If it IS what you want, back on the about:profiles page, click the Set as default profile button for that profile so Firefox uses it automatically at the next startup.

If about:profiles doesn't have what you need, it's worth checking on disk.

The "Profiles" Folder

Set Windows to show hidden files and folders: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files

Then look in

C:\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

Are there additional folders here that could have old data in them? One way to see how long and how recently they were in use is to check the bookmarkbackups folder where the creation date is in the file names.

If there is no current data, Windows might have a copy of your Firefox profile folder. The best way to dig for that is using a third party utility program, and NOT using Windows System Restore feature directly, as that can cause more data loss.

Exploring Restore Points Safely

Download and run one of these two programs:

• ShadowExplorer: http://www.shadowexplorer.com/
• Shadow Copy View: https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shadow_copy_view.html

Within the most recent restore point shown in the program, you can explore along this path to see whether you can find a shadow copy of your profile:

\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\your-profile

You can export relevant files to a convenient location such as a new folder on your your currently live desktop. Those might include:

• logins.json + key4.db for saved logins
• places.sqlite + favicons.sqlite for bookmarks and history
• see also: Recovering important data from an old profile

Anything promising in there?

Thank you for your superb help. I was able to use the only other profile listed besides the one I ended up with after system restore. I have used the restore many times before but it never lost all of my settings like this. I only went back 3 days as the restore point. I'm grateful for all you folks that take the time to lead us lower tiered users to solutions for our lack of knowledge sometimes. Thanks again, Fasteel1