Hello Dinushi Can you please tell us more how this happened? is this happened after the last update ?

Hi Dinushi, while we wait to hear more about the circumstances leading up to your data loss, could you take a look at the possible recovery options in this article: Recover lost or missing Bookmarks.

Hundreds of bookmarks COMPLETELY GONE! I shut down my computer. When I re-opened it I was required to sign up for FIrefox. All my setting, auto password sign-ins, AND ALL MY BOOK MARKS ARE GONE!!!!!!! Recover lost or missing bookmarks suggestion from above completely useless.

If you lost personal data then it is possible that a new default-release profile folder has been created. See "Determine if Firefox has created a new profile":

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-lost-or-missing-bookmarks

You can open the about:profiles page via the location bar to check whether multiple profiles are present and what profile Firefox currently is using.

• Do NOT click any Remove button on this page.
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles

Firefox 67 and later can use a dedicated profile for each of the Firefox update channels and will lock the profile, so it can only be used by Firefox in a specific installation folder. For Release versions this profile would be a xxxxxxxx.default-release profile, profiles used in older Firefox versions usually used a xxxxxxxx.default profile (a refresh adds a time stamp).

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/dedicated-profiles-firefox-installation

Same thing here, windows 7 updated last night, 12/10/19 and blew the entire thing out of the water, bookmarks, passwords, the entire mozilla profile gone, and I mean everything. I went to recovery, it pulls up a bookmark that I can recover from 6 years ago. Pretty much forced to go back to Chrome just to try to pick up the pieces.

Hi ckramer400, did you find any additional profiles on the about:profiles screen that you could check?

What do you mean by this --

I went to recovery, ...

I don't recommend using the Windows "System Restore" feature because it can worsen data loss (at least for non-Microsoft programs).

Thank you for your time sir. Indeed, about:profiles was the first place i went too. What I saw was a brand new Mozilla install with today's date. Re: recovery, I meant bookmark recovery/import.

Whatever happened, it's probably my own fault?, for using a local profile vs. logging into Mozilla every time. I use Mozilla on another windows box so it's possible I can log back into that machine, log into Mozilla and sync the profile from that box back onto this one somehow? Still, these are all windows 7 boxes, they will just take turns blowing the profiles away as they are booted and logged into next time.

Edit: It's been about two years since I switched from Chrome to Firefox, I just imported that old profile information back up into Firefox, and I'll just have to rebuild what was lost as the journey continues, I'll go with new beginnings on this one vs. oh no it's all gone.

Hi ckramer400, before connecting the two Firefoxes, I encourage you to make a local backup up of your profile folder on the "good" system. This would save you in the worst case scenario that the good system synchronizes to match the bad one.

It's not typical to lose an entire profile without a trace. If you haven't already, please do a normal system shutdown and restart of Windows. This works around file lock and incomplete privilege issues that sometimes arise after a system update.

After that, if you don't get your data back, we can suggest where to look on disk for a possibly "orphaned" profile folder. For that exploration, it helps to set Windows to show hidden files and folders:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files

The you can paste this in the Windows 7 Start menu search box to jump to the Firefox data folder and see whether there are any additional profile folders not mentioned on the about:profiles page:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Ok, I did restart the box again, and it picked up the old profile, restored desktop, etc., how odd, and whatever (small effort) I did with trying to rebuild/start over, it is long gone. And, yes, I did back it up first thing! Go Microsoft, go.

I did as suggested and there was only one profile. Been using Firefox for years with no problems. Opened up Microsoft Edge to see if they were there and they were not. Don't say Edge did it, this was the first time I have opened Edge in over 2 years. The last time I did open Edge my Books were there.

Hi y250virago, if you haven't already, please do a normal shutdown and restart of Windows 10 to free up file locks and complete any pending updates.

Any improvement after restart?

I don't know how Edge bookmarks are stored; are they separate from Internet Explorer Favorites (the Windows Favorites folder)?

Microsoft Edge bookmarks are stored in EDB database.

• Bug 1226556 - Fix Microsoft Edge bookmark import now that they are stored in EDB database

i updated o 72.1 32big and lost all my booksmarks...5years worth and all my browswer security i just install a week ago... i have always use Firefox...even when simialr things happen...but since i have to start all over again and spend even more money...I will try Chrome for the first time even if it does spy on me

I updated to the latest version last night. I turned computer on today, and it wouldn't allow me to get on the internet. Firefox wouldn't open up. I turned off the computer and back on several times, and I reset the internet connection. NOTHING WORKED!! I had to reinstall the firefox. And now I lost all of my bookmarks of 250 plus. How can I get them all back!! Some are going back 5-10 years!!!

Please help me!!!! And I am not sure if I have a backup either!

Hi 4animallover, this article describes how to check for automatic backups made by Firefox:

Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer

This is a more general article about lost bookmarks that covers more ground:

Recover lost or missing Bookmarks

Please pay special attention to the last section about a new profile.

Does anything there help?

No I had to a file restore on it. and i was able to restore it, and got it all back. I haven't a clue what the hell I did. But whatever I did, it worked... and already transferred it all to my new computer. so this doesn't happen again.

I'm not sure where else to put this, as I have never had a problem like this before. I logged in this morning and had no bookmarks, with a red banner announcing "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox's files is in use by another application." The only new thing that I had installed this week was the firefox-recommended addon to limit Facebook's reach, which caused problems so I disabled it. Everything was fine after that until this morning. I tried to restore. I even copied my bookmarks backup to another folder and tried to manually select that file to restore bookmarks. Each time, it says that it is "unable to process backup file." None of the troubleshooting recommendations worked. Firefox has not crafted a secondary profile for me, for example. I took the desperate step of downloading Edge, which can import and process these bookmarks just fine, but this is not a desirable solution. And no, Firefox was not able to then handily import my Edge bookmarks. It claimed to have done so, but then showed nothing.

Hi simonjadis, I'm sorry to hear about this problem. There is a help article for that error message: Fix "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional" error message.

This usually indicates a problem with places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite where other software on your computer keeps a handle on these files that prevent Firefox from locking the file (share settings).

You can boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support to see if that has effect in case security software is causing problems.

• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/
• https://www.7tutorials.com/4-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-10

none of this is helpful, like many others on this page, ALL OF MY OLD BOOKMARKS ARE GONE AND NOWHERE TO BE FOUND !!!!!!!!!