How can I get previous bookmarks back when no backup or restore files available?
Hello,
My Firefox bookmarks disappeared after System Restore due to the laptop not working properly. The laptop issue had something to do with "user profile service failed the logon". I was unavailable to login to my normal laptop account so I chose System Restore in safe mode, which allowed me to login okay.
But, even though the System Restore message said that the files would remain unchanged, all my files were gone except for the programs/software I installed. I got the document files back but my Firefox bookmarks are gone.
I have tried following the instructions online but I only see the default profile. I didn't backup the latest bookmarks and the 'Restore' option seems to contain only a few items that are from when the System Restore was completed.
Is there any way to get the old bookmarks back please?
Thank you in advance.
Chosen solution
Hi Mizu_Flower, thank you for testing that. Does Firefox eventually unfreeze after a minute or is it permanently locked up? Do you have an unusually large number of trademarks? The backup file has the number of items in the file name after the date.
Also, did you try removing your Places database, the file that stores bookmarks and history together, before restoring/importing? The steps for that are listed in this article: Fix "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional" error message.
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (13)
System restore might not work with Firefox and other programs. It can some times fix the issue but not often.
If a folder is on your desktop called OldFirefoxProfile then possibly.
Should Always :
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/export-firefox-bookmarks-to-backup-or-transfer
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
Not sure if you have been using this/files :
Never work with original files.
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
If can not get your bookmarks out as they were before then the answer is no.
Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.
Modified by Shadow110
I'm not sure what kind of restore you did. Was Firefox removed or was it still there afterwards, just without your valuable data? Did Windows create a folder named
C:\Windows.old
(That might only be in newer versions of Windows.)
Firefox data is stored under the AppData path which is hidden, so in order to search for files, first set Windows to show hidden files and folders:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files
Then try searching your entire C drive for bookmarkbackups which is a folder found in your profile. Hopefully that will turn up something.
It is possible that a new restore point got created to be able to undo the restore. In that case you can try to browse the files with this utility.
- System Restore Explorer: http://nicbedford.co.uk/software/systemrestoreexplorer/
Thank you all for the suggestions. It seems I was still unable to recover the old bookmarks.
Mizu_Flower said
It seems I was still unable to recover the old bookmarks.
Could you update us on what you found or didn't find? Or any error messages Firefox gives you?
UPDATE
Hello,
I tried the option suggested about changing the settings for "... Windows to show hidden files and folders". After some time and searched the C drive again, the old bookmarks reappeared in the 'bookmarkbackups' folder.
However, when I tried to restore one bookmark file from this folder, an error appears saying: "Unable to process the backup file". The files end with "... ==.jsonlz4 "
Can anyone offer further assistance with this please?
Modified by Mizu_Flower
Hi Mizu_Flower, could you try converting your .jsonlz4 file using my page here (click the Check/Repair JSON button to see whether a common kind of corruption is identified):
https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/bookbackreader.html
You can try converting to both the JSON and HTML formats to see whether either of those works better.
- For JSON: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer (use "Choose File" to open the .json file)
- For HTML: Import Bookmarks from an HTML file
Any progress?
Hello, I tried the website mentioned and think the .jsonlz4 is converted to json anf html. However I then tried restoring the file via: Import from html and Restore from file But on both options the process freezes with "not responding" appearance.
Chosen Solution
Hi Mizu_Flower, thank you for testing that. Does Firefox eventually unfreeze after a minute or is it permanently locked up? Do you have an unusually large number of trademarks? The backup file has the number of items in the file name after the date.
Also, did you try removing your Places database, the file that stores bookmarks and history together, before restoring/importing? The steps for that are listed in this article: Fix "The bookmarks and history system will not be functional" error message.
Hello,
It would remain frozen for a while, with no change to the bookmarks.
However. The website article you mentioned now helped and was able to restore the old bookmarks! I tried "Part 2 – Create the database" stage, and renamed all the places.sqlite files by adding .old to the end of these file names. Then restored the bookmarks as normal, using the old bookmark file that were hidden.
The old bookmarks have all been restored, but the description box of each bookmark were all emptied for some reason. So, the information I saved in them are gone probably.
However, its okay that atleast the bookmarks are restored.
Anyways.. Thank you for the advises with the original issue. Much appreciated. Bless you
Thank you for the advises with the original issue. Much appreciated. God bless you
Sorry to hear you lost the description information. That should have been in the backup.
UPDATE
Hello,
I checked the bookmark description informations today, and weirdly somehow - I dont know exactly how - the description informations have returned. :)
If I remember correctly, I think the firefox did its update routine a few days ago. Thats one possible guess as to how the lost/deleted information was restored.
Anyways, I thought I'll provide this update about the change for other users.
The issue is, I think, completely resolved now :)
Thank you and Kind regards.