Can't restore old data
Recently I was having the "toolbarbutton id= uitourtooltipclose" error when trying to start up firefox so as a fix I did a refresh through the uninstaller and ever since then I can't recover my old firefox data. I've copied over my old data and replaced files when it's asked me to but no matter what when I start firefox again no changes have happened and my old data isn't restored. I can't sign back in to my firefox account either because I've forgotten the password and for some reason my email won't receive the password reset email. Is there any other way to restore my old firefox data aside from copying and replacing current files since that's not working for me. Making a new profile and copying the old firefox data into the new profile doesn't work either. I'm using windows 10 firefox 82.0.2
All Replies (4)
In your Old Firefox Data folder, if you check inside and look in the bookmarkbackups folder, you should find several files with the creation date coded into the name. Do those dates look like they are from the time that you want to restore? Of all the types of data in the profile, at least those could be restored. See:
Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer
On the Restore menu, click Choose File, then point Firefox to Old Firefox Data and click down to the file you want to restore.
Yes the dates are from a time that I'd like to restore and I just checked the Mozilla Firefox folder and the bookmarkbackups folder has the same contents as my old firefox data's content but still nothing on the actual browser. I'm not sure why the files will correctly copy over and overwrite files but when I open firefox no change happens. I mainly would just like my passwords recovered as there's sites I hardly ever visit and forgot the passwords to but firefox has them saved.
You can only restore data from a Sync account if you know the password of this Firefox account, so since you indicate that you do not remember the password you won't be able to follow that path.
You can copy certain files with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to transfer or recover personal data. Note that best is to avoid copying a full profile folder.
- bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
- favicons: favicons.sqlite
- bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
- cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
- formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
- logins.json (encrypted logins;32+) and key4.db (decryption key;58+) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
key3.db support ended in 73+; to use key3.db in 58-72, make sure to remove key4.db - cert9.db (58+) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
- persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
- permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
- sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)
You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.
- Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
chunkx2chunk said
Yes the dates are from a time that I'd like to restore and I just checked the Mozilla Firefox folder and the bookmarkbackups folder has the same contents as my old firefox data's content but still nothing on the actual browser.
My suggestion was to restore the backup.
If you already copy/pasted the files from the old bookmarkbackups folder to the bookmarkbackups folder in your currently live profile, then Firefox should list them on the Restore menu. Can you see them all there?