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If I delete and then reinstall Firefox, will all the history come back completely safe or will some of it be lost?

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  • Last reply by FredMcD

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I deleted Firefox from my Windows PC and then reinstalled it. I noticed that some of my history came back when I reinstalled it, but do the entire history comeback complete, safe, and uncompromised or will some of it be lost due to installing and reinstalling?

I deleted Firefox from my Windows PC and then reinstalled it. I noticed that some of my history came back when I reinstalled it, but do the entire history comeback complete, safe, and uncompromised or will some of it be lost due to installing and reinstalling?

All Replies (8)

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Note: Firefox comes in three or more folders on all computers. They are;

Maintenance: (Programs Folder) <Windows Only> Firefox itself: (Programs Folder) And two folders in the profile of each user on the computer for each Firefox profile for that user.

If you remove the Firefox folder, the user profiles would not be affected.

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FredMcD said

Note: Firefox comes in three or more folders on all computers. They are; Maintenance: (Programs Folder) <Windows Only> Firefox itself: (Programs Folder) And two folders in the profile of each user on the computer for each Firefox profile for that user. If you remove the Firefox folder, the user profiles would not be affected.

How do I know that the folders are from the Firefox that I deleted or from the Firefox that I reinstalled?

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Reinstalling Firefox doesn't affect your personal data stored in the profile folder.

Firefox uses two locations for the Firefox profile folder, so make sure to look in the correct location. Location used for the main profile that keeps your personal data (Root Directory on about:profiles).

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\

Location used for the disk cache and other temporary files (Local Directory on about:profiles).

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\

See also:

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Firefox creates a shortcut to the last used profile. Whatever version of the browser that is running uses the profile the shortcut is pointing to.

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FredMcD said

Firefox creates a shortcut to the last used profile. Whatever version of the browser that is running uses the profile the shortcut is pointing to.

So should I be worried that the history that I found in the Firefox that I installed is not safe and is incomplete and compromised?

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Please explain the problem in detail.

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FredMcD said

Please explain the problem in detail.

Like I said, I deleted Firefox from my Windows PC and then reinstalled it. When I reinstalled it I found some of some sites in my history from before I deleted Firefox. I want to know if entire history that comeback is complete, safe, and uncompromised or if some sites have been deleted from the history permanently and didn't return when I reinstalled Firefox.

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FredMcD said

If you remove the Firefox folder, the user profiles would not be affected.