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I get a message that I miss a profile, when I start Firefox (or Thunderbird) Even after a complete clean installation

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Rob van Dijk
Rob van Dijk
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I am re-installing Windows10 Pro for a clean install. I made a backup of my profiles of Firefox and Thunderbird, both in AppData Local and Roaming. After reinstallation of Firefox and Thunderbird, I deleted the new profiles and recovered the old ones. Now I get a message that I'm missing a profile. I still get it after deleting the apps and doing a clean install. What can I do?

I am re-installing Windows10 Pro for a clean install. I made a backup of my profiles of Firefox and Thunderbird, both in AppData Local and Roaming. After reinstallation of Firefox and Thunderbird, I deleted the new profiles and recovered the old ones. Now I get a message that I'm missing a profile. I still get it after deleting the apps and doing a clean install. What can I do?

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Dropa
Dropa
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You should follow the correct Firefox FAQ to backup the profile and bookmark and logins. Just copying the folders will not work and will corrupt the settings or not work. How did you backup and recover them if you didn't use the Firefox FAQ method to backup the data?

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
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Rob van Dijk said
After reinstallation of Firefox and Thunderbird, I deleted the new profiles and recovered the old ones.

Have you tried un-deleting the profiles created during program installation (I think this involves opening the Recycle Bin and restoring the deleted folders)? That would be a useful first step because then Firefox and Thunderbird at least will be able to start. Then the next task will be to coax Firefox and Thunderbird to use your old profile (with all your data) instead of the new one (that doesn't have your data).

For Firefox, here is how I suggest doing the next step. You might need to start a new thread on the Thunderbird forum for steps to use in that program.

(1) Make sure you pasted the profile folder from AppData\Roaming in

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

(2) Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

(3) Click the "Create a New Profile" button, then click Next. In that dialog:

  • Enter a new profile name like Migrated (etc.) and Firefox should show a proposed folder name with a new random part.
  • Click the "Choose Folder..." button and select the old profile folder you want to use so that Firefox picks up the full old name {if Firefox does not automatically show the contents of the AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles folder, point Firefox to that folder}
  • Back in Firefox, click the Done button

(4) After creating the new profile, test by scrolling down to it and clicking the Launch profile in new browser button.

Did it work?

If so, you're done.

If not, you can close that window without affecting your regular Firefox profile and change back to the profile you started with before this post. Click the Set as Default Profile button below that profile.

cor-el
cor-el
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Note that you need a matching profiles.ini that registers the restored profile. You can do this by starting the Profile Manager and use the "Choose Folder" button to browse to that profile. See "Profile was moved or renamed":