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•"Move the profile folder back to its original location. " How do I know where original location was?

  • 10 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by jteee15

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Somehow my Firefox profile folder got moved. I think it was because I stopped a FireFox update before it was completed. The error message "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." comes up. Going thru the online solutions, I found the location of the Profile folder, and I am supposed to "Move the profile folder back to its original location. " Well ... How do I know where original location of the profile folder was?

Somehow my Firefox profile folder got moved. I think it was because I stopped a FireFox update before it was completed. The error message "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." comes up. Going thru the online solutions, I found the location of the Profile folder, and I am supposed to "Move the profile folder back to its original location. " Well ... How do I know where original location of the profile folder was?

All Replies (10)

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You might try this link to see if it helps.

Where Firefox Stores...

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Thanks. I did go through that section already. But it does not tell one how to make the profile accessible to FireFox...just tells one how to find it.

I can find my Profile, however Firefox's original error message was that "Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It maybe missing or inaccessible". Having located my Profile, how do I know where to move it in order for FireFox to be able to load it ... how can I make it accessible to FireFox? Thank you.

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Where did you find your profile? Was it in "%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\"? What OS are you using? What version of Firefox are you using?

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Yes it was located in "%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\. Using Windows 7 as OS. I did update FireFox last week to latest version.

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When you Refresh/Reset Firefox then a new profile is created and some personal data (bookmarks, history, cookies, passwords, form data) is automatically imported. The current profile folder will be moved to an "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop. Installed extensions and other customizations (toolbars, prefs) that you have made are lost and need to be redone.

It is possible to recover data from the "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.

You can transfer these files from the Old Firefox Data folder on the desktop to recover specific data from your previous profile.

  • bookmarks/history: backups in the bookmarkbackups folder and possibly places.sqlite if you really need the history
  • other SQLite files like cookies.sqlite (cookies) and formhistory.sqlite (saved form data)
  • logins.json and key3.db for the passwords in the password manager
  • permissions.sqlite and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for the Permissions and Site Preferences
  • cert8.db for stored intermediate certificates
  • sessionstore.js for open tabs and pinned tabs and tab groups
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Thanks. I have read thru your suggested solution. Its great but in order to do this one must be in FireFox browser... which of course I am not because FireFox will not open, as it cannot access the profile files....ahem. I know...it is somewhat circular logic. Can I just delete all Firefox files on my PC and then upload a new instance of FireFox? I may lose some history, but that is not terribly important

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You can use the Profile Manager to create a new profile.

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Thanks v much and for your patience. Setting up new profile worked to get FireFox back up and running but lost all my data. Life is a series of tradeoffs.

Word to the wise... never interrupt a FireFox Update download when it is running ! Thanks again mate .

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If you have the "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop then you can recover data from that folder like I posted above. You can now use the button on the "Help > Troubleshooting Information" page to locate your current profile.


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Thanks. I will do that later this weekend. have to get busy on this Friday afternoon. Thanks 'bro... good stuff.