I-Firefox Community Forum

How do I copy files such as the 'bookmarkbackups' files from the Profiles folder?

As seen in the prtscr I get an error message when I try to copy any file from Profiles folder. Firefox is closed and I am admin and trying to copy the file as an adminstrator.

I read article at: [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/.../firefox-backup?as=u&utm_source=inproduct#w_create-a-firefox-backup-file]

But in my up-to-date (or updated) FireFox, the restore backup by file option is appearing BUT enable backup or backup to file option is NOT appearing (screenshot attached).

If I go to the profile folder, exit firefox then copy and paste the folder to a backup location. The attempted backup fails. Something about permissions as I recall. I have tried many things unsuccessfully. Something has changed that does not allow for the backup of profile folders. Adding a backup option to the profile manager would be nice. I noticed some people have found work-arounds but I need a straight-forward procedure for backing up my folders. No work-arounds please, just a simple procedure. May I ask for help with this issue?

My Profile Folders can't be backed up. Messages I receive while attempting a backup state that permissions are required to backup certain files. I'm working in an administrator account so that shouldn't be an issue and I use to backup my Profile Folders without an issue.

Is there anyplace that shows how to use what the new release says on the 146.0. I got the message below when viewing new options in 146.0, but going to settings, sync just wants me to sign in and do a cloud backup.

Doesn't sound like what is in message below that I got after updating to 146.0. From what I found looking around, you are suppose to go to setting, sync, click on backup and choose location. There is no option backup, just an option to sign on. Below is message I got when checking what is in update 146.0:

Windows 10 users can now automatically protect their passwords, bookmarks, and more by turning on backup in Firefox. Your browsing data is saved daily on your device and can be encrypted with a password When you set up a fresh install of Firefox on any operating system for a new device or your current one, you can restore from this backup and pick up right where you left off. This feature is currently available on Windows devices and will be coming to other operating systems soon.

Roughly every 2 weeks I backup important files to a external hard drive.

One of the things I always backup is my Firefox profile. I have been doing this for years without any problems.

I 7zip my profile and copy it to the hard drive.

I tried to do this yesterday (July 25 2025), and was getting access denied messages for files in the profile. So I tried to simply copy the profile. Same thing access denied.

I cleared the history, used wise disk cleaner, rebooted my machine and tried again. Same thing access denied when trying to backup or copy the profile.

I am assuming that this is happening since 141 because I updated Firefox since the last time I backed up my profile, and never had a problem previously.

Could anyone have an idea what the problem is? Thank you for your time.

I have a problem in that bookmarks seem to have completely stopped working for me. I am not an expert in today's IT though a very long time ago I was. I am 81 and have incurable cancer and am confined to my home in a chair. I use FF many hours a day and I have a very structured set of tens of thousands of bookmarks. I use FF on a Windows 7 laptop. I am a contributor to Mozilla. A couple of days ago I noticed that I could not save new bookmarks. I then checked and found that I could not backup my bookmarks as either json or html. I reinstalled FF but these problems are still there. Today I have tried looking at your support information. I looked at your troubleshooting information. I copied raw data to the clipboard and out it into a MS Word file. I put FF into troubleshoot mode. I cleared the startup cache, after which I could add new bookmarks but not save any backups. I then refreshed FF and of course I then lost the first draft of this message . The refresh took quite a long time to complete, but it did. Afterwards I can still not use bookmarks. If I add a subfolder into them, I complete the process, the subfolder is added, but if I then sort the fold so that the subfolder is in place, nothing happens. If I go through the motions of backing them up, nothing happens. I see the following options open to me: 1 Buy a Windows 11 laptop, which I’m not keen on, and run FF on that. I have a windows 10 desktop available in another room, but I have no wish to be on the slippery downslope to eternally paying Microsoft for my computing. 2 Try and revert to an earlier version of Firefox. 3 Move to another browser, though for this and option 1, how to migrate my current set of bookmarks is an outstanding issue. I would greatly appreciate advice on how to get a functioning Firefox version back on my laptop. Yours, Jon

After a problem with his Internet connection, a friend is now unable to open Firefox. At first the message was that ‘… this tag has crashed.’ Now the message is that it cannot find something with a .dll at the end. I suggested to simply uninstall and then reinstall Firefox, which would also ensure that he has the latest version. However, he has no backup of his bookmarks.

I was, therefore, wondering whether it is possible to access the bookmarks somewhere else on the computer, in order to back them up before the uninstall/reinstall procedure.

Many thanks.

I perform backups to both HTML and JSON every day from Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks in Firefox Windows. I noticed some bookmarks missing yesterday and so i went to restore from the HTML first. It did NOT restore all bookmarks that I had on my Bookmarks Toolbar. I then tried using the JSON file. Same problem.

Does that export to HTML or JSON not backup everything?

Hello:

I am trying to create a csv file of my passwords to import to Microsoft Edge from FF. I went through these steps in Firefox:

Settings>General>Import>Select Passwords from CSV...

...and then it takes me to browse my computer for a CSV file that I have YET to create. I don't think this is how you create such a file.

I'm not sure how to import my passwords to create a CSV file so I can put them into MS Edge. When I tried importing my password (and all my other data) inside of Edge via Edge, it only brought in 235 passwords from Firefox where I have 422. So I would assume if I used and imported my passwords to Edge via a CSV file instead that all my passwords would populate in Edge not roughly half of them.

Could you please tell me how to create a password CSV file in Firefox to use in Edge?

Many thanks in adabce