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Firefox profile cannot be found - tried all fixes I could find in this forum and I still can't open the browser

amygriz
amygriz
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I'm running Windows 10 on a brand-new machine. Installed Firefox and it seemed to be working initially. Now I'm getting that "profile cannot be found or may have moved" message.

I have tried:

1. Uninstalling and re-installing Firefox several times 2. Opening the Profile creator using "Run" (nothing happens, or I get an error message) 3. Opening AppData folder, deleting the default file in "Profiles" folder 4. Moving my old profile into the "Profiles" folder within the AppData folder 5. Deleting the entire "Mozilla" folder in AppData folder


FWIW, I've tried to install both Midori and Opera and get all sorts of javascript errors. The only browser I can run right now is Chrome.

Any other fixes I can try?

I'm running Windows 10 on a brand-new machine. Installed Firefox and it seemed to be working initially. Now I'm getting that "profile cannot be found or may have moved" message. I have tried: 1. Uninstalling and re-installing Firefox several times 2. Opening the Profile creator using "Run" (nothing happens, or I get an error message) 3. Opening AppData folder, deleting the default file in "Profiles" folder 4. Moving my old profile into the "Profiles" folder within the AppData folder 5. Deleting the entire "Mozilla" folder in AppData folder FWIW, I've tried to install both Midori and Opera and get all sorts of javascript errors. The only browser I can run right now is Chrome. Any other fixes I can try?

All Replies (2)

LiMiT
LiMiT
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Make sure the path in the profiles.ini file points to the correct location of your profile (in the %APPDATA% folder).

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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amygriz said

I have tried:
  1. Uninstalling and re-installing Firefox several times
  2. Opening the Profile creator using "Run" (nothing happens, or I get an error message)
  3. Opening AppData folder, deleting the default file in "Profiles" folder
  4. Moving my old profile into the "Profiles" folder within the AppData folder
  5. Deleting the entire "Mozilla" folder in AppData folder

This message indicates that Firefox found the profiles.ini file and could not find the default profile listed in that file. I'm not sure what is left under AppData at this point, but hopefully if you want to recover your data you didn't permanently delete the folder and you can recover them from the Recycle Bin.

What I suggest is:

(1) Rename the "Firefox" folder:

(A) You can use this shortcut to open the Mozilla folder (paste into the system search box or Run dialog and press Enter to load it in Windows Explorer): 

%APPDATA%\Mozilla

(B) Right-click Firefox and rename to FirefoxOLD

(2) Shut down Windows and start it up again, then start Firefox

Ideally, Firefox will re-create that folder with default settings. If it does not do that, you could re-run the installer.

Any progress?

Once you have a new profile running, we can suggest steps to move key data files from your old profile to the new one.

(Or if you want to read ahead: Recovering important data from an old profile)