I-Firefox Community Forum

Hi,

On September 15, 2022 I created this thread here on Firefox Support Forum and now I finally have an answer to the question, but as we can see my thread was archived and I can't update anything, so I decided to create a new thread just to mark my previous question as solved and bring it an answer.

I contacted Mozilla Firefox developers and got a response: Firefox is no longer integrated with Gravatar. Considering this, I can tranquilly say there is no bug or problem with my account as I thought. It's a pity that Firefox no longer support Gravatar integration, and even if I use an old version I will face the same "issue" because the Gravatar integration was a online feature linked to the Firefox account*, not to the browser itself.

Info source: https://github.com/mozilla/fxa/issues/15665

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Admins can now archive and close this thread, I only ask to keep it online to help who may need this information in the future. Thanks.

• Actually I made a mistake when I wrote this, the Gravatar integration was an online feature linked to the Mozilla account, not Firefox. James explained the distinction on #4 post of the current thread.

Last edit: On January 31, 2023 I created this thread on r/firefox but no one answered precisely. This current thread here on Firefox Support Forum also solves what was asked on reddit. The thread created on January 31, 2023 and posted on r/firefox was archived as well, like what happened to my thread with the same theme here on Firefox Support Forum, then I also created a new thread on r/firefox to mark my question as solved.

According to this support page (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sync-custom-preferences#), setting ``services.sync.prefs.dangerously_allow_arbitrary`` to True will sync all my preferences.

I have set it to true on the two devices I want to sync (2 desktops, Windows and Ubuntu). However, the preferences are not synced. For example, ``browser.compactmode.show`` keeps its default value "False" on my Ubuntu installation, despite it having the modified value "True" on my Windows installation.

I have tried pressing "Sync now", and restarting the browsers - to no avail.

Could anyone tell me what am I doing wrong?

This all started when i wanted to use a user.js file for firefox.

I followed a youtube video to create a new profile to use the user script but I wanted to change the directory so I deleted it, made it anew and somehow the default profile file that i used was gone (I realised this only later). I think I had somehow overwritten it, but its weird because in my trashbin i did not find anything.

When asking me to login to sync I gave my password but it said it was wrong i realised I was using a vpn so i turned it off and then it worked, however then it asked me for a confirmation code from my email wich I also gave but it still refused saying it was wrong, which it wasn't!

After that I gave up and made a backup of my profiles and resetted my password still thinking I had my old profile file. My logins were gone and copying and pasting the login.json with the key4.db files from other profiles didnt give them back.

Luckily am still logged into my mobile app where i have my logins but there is now a warning sign to reconnect to resume syncronizing and Im afraid if i reconnect its going to delete my saved logins on the app instead of using them.

What do i do now? Is there a way to export all my data from the mobile app? Do I need to copy my logins one for one? Or can everything be resolved by reconnecting?

Yesterday, I noticed after I closed and re-opened Firefox, my browsing session was completely gone - all my tabs and windows, my entire browsing history, website sign-in status, all completely gone. I've been troubleshooting since then.

I've noticed that the 'sessionstore-backups' folder in my profile folder is missing. When I open Firefox, this folder is created and Firefox writes some data to it, but Firefox seems to delete the folder as soon as I quit Firefox. Firefox should not be doing this. My Firefox is configured to open previous windows and tabs, and is NOT configured to wipe any browsing data of any kind when it closes.

As a sanity check, I spun up a Windows Sandbox (briefly, it's a clean, isolated Windows environment) and installed Firefox there. I also enabled the option 'Open previous windows and tabs'. Firefox behaves normally - it re-opens the tabs/windows I had open when I quit Firefox. Great, that's what I expect. The trouble starts as soon as I sign in to sync. After signing in to sync, and letting the initial sync process complete, I open a couple of windows and tabs, then quit Firefox. Firefox begins nuking my browsing session again - the 'sessionstore-backups' folder is erased, and next time I start Firefox, all my windows and tabs are missing, and my browsing history is missing.

So, at this point, I'm assuming something in my synced data has become corrupt. I haven't installed any new extensions lately. I haven't changed any of Firefox's settings that would cause this to happen. The only thing I have done differently lately was enable Firefox Sync in LibreWolf and sign in to sync there. It seems like this session-nuking trouble started after I signed in to sync in LibreWolf. I assumed, since LibreWolf is a fork of Firefox, and because there were no warnings or indications the feature was incomplete/unstable/experimental/etc., that it would just work, that it wouldn't cause any issues. But it seems like it has caused issues. I checked LibreWolf's issues tracker for anything related to 'sync', but I didn't see anything noteworthy.

I've been using Firefox and Sync for numerous years without issue. This session-nuking thing started yesterday.

I use Firefox in a few places, and based on what I saw happen in my Windows Sandbox, this session-nuking issue is going to happen in every Firefox I'm signed in to as soon as it has a chance to sync. Obviously, I do not want this to happen.

What can I do to determine what the issue is? What can I do to check if something in my synced data has become corrupted? What can I do to reverse it? I'm not opposed to completely wiping/resetting my synced data, but I'd rather not if I don't have to. The only thing I would lose sleep over is my bookmarks, but I know I can export them. Are there any debug logs I can enable/look at? Anything I should look for in Event Viewer?

Thanks.

I set up a new installation of Firefox on a different computer and sync'd my account to it. This resulted in losing all of the multi-account container settings on my primary computer. Is there a way to restore these settings? I do have another computer that I have not used since syncing the new one, if that helps.

What could I have done differently to avoid this (possibly on my new device)? Thanks

Well done Firefox team.

I got a notification this morning telling me I could update Firefox to the latest version and I had nothing urgent so I did.

Imagine my suprise when all my bookmarks, my passwords and logins appeared to have disappeared. Well, not just "appeared", since I can't find them anywhere on my machine right now.

I've been using Sync for years and when I finally managed to connect (because apparently the password I had been using was wrong ? But did FF tell me ? No ...), I discovered nothing had been saved. Ever.

A really nice morning.

Hello, this is josh, I have a dedicated website for my business and I use Firefox Brower. The problem i'm facing right now is the website isn't loading properly in the Firefox. Website isn't showing image and proper site. However, when i try to open the site in the other browser, it looks fine. what should I do, you please guide me.

My workplace bans Firefox. It is not possible to install it in any way on any computer. I still use Firefox on all of my personal devices, and heavily utilize the Firefox Sync to keep my Bookmarks in sync across devices. I need to be able to access my Firefox Bookmarks somehow from my work computer, so I can at least retrieve recently bookmarked items.

I am able to log in to my Firefox Account https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/account/ and see my Firefox account details, but this does not include any of my Sync data.

How can I access the contents of my Sync data? I do not even need it to be integrated into another browser, I just need to be able to access it somehow from a computer that is not able to have Firefox installed.

There is a similar question here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1255784 which provides a non-functional non-answer which is not appropriate and does not work.

Both devices are recognized in my account. After running Sync, the history from the desktop is on the mobile but the bookmarks are not. Desktop is running Firefox snap v. 121 on Ubuntu 22.04. Mobile is running Firefox app v. 121 on Android 10. I have a copy of the sync.log but it's really long. Can attach if needed.

I have Firefox Sync enabled in my Firefox browser on a few computers. When I logged in to Firefox Sync initially, it did sync-up my new computer with all of the saved bookmarks and history. I am not sure if any of my logins were saved). When I go to websites and login, I am prompted with the dialog to save my credentials, and I say ok, save. But the logins are not remembered. And in my about:logins page shows "no logins found". I don't care about retrieving any old logins, I just want to be able to save new ones and get the default behavior of saving logins working again.

A while ago I made a Firefox account with my Yahoo email address as the primary email, and my Outlook email address as the secondary email. Eventually I realized that I didn't need my Yahoo email account anymore, so I deleted it, forgetting that it was being used as the primary email for my Firefox account. Now I can't remove my Outlook email from my Firefox account without verifying my Yahoo email account, and I can't even delete the Firefox account since it was made under the Yahoo email account as a primary email address.

Now I can't use my Outlook email address to create a new Firefox account either.

I got a new device and had to sign in and sync everything. When firefox asked about syncing I didn't realize it was asking about using the edge bookmarks to sync with. I tried to cancel but it was too late. Can I undo/remove firefox syncing to edge? Does this mean any changes in Edge will automatically change firefox now? I do not want edge bookmarks/settings. I want to get my old firefox settings back. If it matters: Windows 10 home on one device, Windows 11 on another. All browsers up-to-date.

Hiya good citizens of the internet 👋

Please help me recover my bookmarks 🥺

I've gone through every single support article on this topic and tried everything suggested and still no luck. This is my hail mary.

How I got here I needed to do a full wipe and reinstal of my macOS; this was conducted with the help of the Genuis bar. Upon reinstalling Firefox, I signed into my account and my bookmarks are all gone, records of them empty.

I should also note that nothing else ported over. No passwords, no browser extensions. Nada. The passowrds and extensions aren't a big deal. I use a 3rd-party password manager and can easily re-download the handful of extensions/widgets. But I heavily relied on bookmarks for both frequently visited sites and ones rarely-used which I knew were important for future reference. And I cannot remember 80% of them...

What else I've tried other than what's suggested in help article:

• Because I did not check to confirm which Firefox profile I've been signed into for ages and ages before doing the reset, I thought maybe I had just signed into the wrong one. I proceeded to try every other email address I have, including two from my old workplace. None of the other 5 emails had profiles created. I know this because it prompted the sign up userflow; create a password, etc.
• But I also know for a fact that the bookmarks were saved as part of a profile because I used the profile sync feature to auto-port all my bookmarks when I first got this Macbook a year and a bit ago.
• The folders where bookmark backup info is stored locally are empty... Clearly, it wasn't stored in my icloud documents (that's on me for not double-checking)
• I checked my other device (mobile phone) to see if I had firefox downloaded and was signed into the same account as the original, with the bookmarks still visible. Of course I didn't. I only use Safari on my phone 😭

""Grasping at straws: the only other things I can think of""

• Is there some way of linking my MAC address with my IP address and using those to triangulate the correct profile?
• Because my computer got wiped and nothing is saved locally, my only hope is that my bookmarks are floating around the ether. If so, I just need to figure out how to find them.

Any and all help/suggestions are massively appreciated!!

Thanks in advance,

Lauren

Full scenario: Computer had some issues, so I set up Windows Backup/Restore to a point just before resetting it, saving that data to an external drive. Then, I reset Windows, choosing the option that lets you keep your files (most of them it looks like) while it reinstalls everything else.

I knew it'd wipe Firefox and I'd need to reinstall it, but when I synced my account, it didn't have logs. The logs are archives of various chats on a website I used to talk to friends. I know those used to be accessible through Firefox's directory under Program Files by checking the data saved for that website (something I had to do once before to remove corrupted logs), but that data obviously wouldn't be there now.

I should've considered this beforehand but I had no idea that data for different websites might not be included in a sync. It does have files for Firefox but I decided not to touch them, since I'd already synced and I didn't know if reverting to that Backup might break Firefox somehow. Or worse, cause me to lose MORE data.

Question now is, what's the chance those might be in that backup I saved? More specifically, data stored about websites I visited.

I see instructions for sync' to a phone, how do I initially (connect) sync to my desktop from my laptop?

When I sync my bookmarks, how does is know which computer is the primary (the one that I want to duplicate changes from)?

For example, I added new bookmarks and revised some old ones on my laptop and did not have the sync on my desktop at the same time. Now, if I sync my laptop to my desktop, how does it know which device is my primary (in this case my laptop) where I made all the changes?

My goal is to revise all the bookmarks currently on my desktop to reflect all the changes I made to them on my laptop. I'd like to do it without duplicates or displaying old desktop residual bookmarks that I deleted and/or modified on the laptop prior to sync to the desktop.

In this case, should I delete my bookmarks from my desktop and then sync to my laptop so as to seamlessly & efficiently have my bookmarks toolbar on the laptop look the same on the desktop?

Thank you for your help here! Christopher

Hi. I want to sync with my work pc (it used to work just fine but when I synced to a newer third pc- successfully- it just stopped). When i try to sign in on the work pc it asks me for the primary password which it then FAILS to recognise to allow me to proceed! What's going on? I can't even log onto sites with saved passwords anymore. Any help appreciated.

So, my old computer recently broke, but I luckily recovered all my files. I was re-downloading Firefox onto this computer, but my bookmarks and add-ons and stuff won't sync. When I searched for the solution to this, I saw someone having a similar-ish problem (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1403774#answer-1563248), but they just said they had to wait awhile for it to sync. Now, I have a couple questions that I can't seem to get the answer to:

1. How long does it take to sync my data? How long did that person have to wait?

2. What if it never syncs and that person just got lucky? Is there some sort of alternate way to fix this faster?

I'd really appreciate help on this topic, but I'm not the best with computers. If anyone has had this problem, and figured it out, please let me know! I had a lot of bookmarks and a good amount of add-ons, I really would like to not lose those.

Hello,

I have not had any problems with Firefox sync and passwords until recently. I used to use Firefox on desktop, on an iPad, and on an android, with no issues accessing my passwords. Recently I replaced my android phone with an iPhone, and after signing onto Firefox sync on said iPhone, the list of my passwords was accessible on the iPhone, but when i used it for auto-fill, it would only load the username, but not the password. This caused no issue with Firefox sync on desktop or iPad however, so I just let it be. However, after 3 months of no issue, when I open both my iPad and desktop today, all my old passwords are gone, and replaced with the few passwords I directly saved with Firefox on my iPhone.

i have tried restoring my old Firefox profile using backup software to access older files, but I am unable to regain my passwords this way. I have tried using profile data from several date ranges and that has not helped either. The issue seems to lie with Firefox sync with iOS, but I am at an absolute loss on how to resolve this, so any help at all would be much appreciated.

When you check the image, you can see two "HOME" entries. This is an issue I discovered after uninstalling and reinstalling the Firefox browser and using Sync.

HOME is my PC, and this image was screenshot on my laptop.

Additionally, the Sync for these HOME entries is not functioning properly. I tested this by opening several sites, and while Sync works well from my smartphone to my PC, it doesn't sync properly from my PC to my laptop.

Does anyone know how to solve this problem? I tried rebooting my PC, but it didn't work out.