macOS Sonoma is 14.x so you can easily use the current Firefox versions including Firefox 129.0.1 on https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release

Your settings are in a separate Profile place and not in the program folder. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

Did you transfer stuff including Firefox from a old Mac to the current Mac? as the older Firefox 115 ESR channel is being served to those with the eol macOS 10.12, 10.13, 10.14 as Firefox 116.0 and later requires macOS 10.15 (ten.fifteen) or later to run.

It is the older Firefox 115 ESR that will have last update of 115.15.0esr in early September unless Mozilla decides to extend support for some more updates as it would help the Windows 7, 8, 8.1 users also. Firefox 128 ESR will be the current ESR version.

Thanks for your quick reply, James.

I used the utility provided by Apple to transfer everything from the old Mac with Mojave to the new Mac with Sonoma.

If I hear you correctly, it might not be urgent to "switch over" to Firefox 129. I am not in a rush, unless waiting could cause problems.

I do understand that settings (and I assume bookmarks) are stored, as you mentioned, in a Profile file. If I were to install Firefox 129, would it pickup my current profile by default? If not what would I need to do?

If and when I decide to install version 129, do I have to de-install 115?

Thanks.

Does anyone have answers to my questions above, repeated below:

- is there a need and a benefit for moving now from the ESR version I currently have, to Firefox 129? - If I were to move from ESR to Firefox 129, does this mean an installation of Firefox 129 and if so, would Firefox 129 use my current Profile? - may I assume that with the installation of Firefox 129 all the info in my Profile (settings, bookmarks, etc.) would be preserved? - if I installed version 129, would I end up having two versions of Firefox and would I have to de-install ESR to avoid confusion?

I do hope that someone has answers to my simple questions and can help. Thank you.

I have been trying to get answers to the questions above for more than a month. I would find it hard to believe that nobody on this forum can address them. If I am to continue to use Firefox, I need help with answers.

Is there any other place where one can get some support for Firefox, if not here?

Thanks.

Hey Sue,

I would recommend you use both. This way in case one of them goes boom, you have the other as backup. You see on this forum how many users lose their data because they're only using 1 browser. You can run sync to get your data in sync between the two. see screenshot of the versions I'm running. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-set-sync-my-computer# https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-choose-what-information-sync-firefox#

Thanks for the quick reply.

The sync link assumes that one is syncing between different devices. Is this what you meant when you suggested using more than 1 browser? I am not using any other device with a browser.

I keep hoping that someone on this forum who is familiar with Firefox can address my questions. I'd like to end up with the "right" browser version without losing data in my profile or bookmarks, etc. Isn't this possible? I really didn't care to use this ESR version, but I ended up with it as during an upgrade this was installed.

If this is the only place to get support for Firefox then I am in big trouble.

Sue, I do not use ESR and so unfortunately cannot answer your specific questions.

What you can do however before attempting any installs of the standard version of Firefox,is:

1. backup your local ESR profile folder on the hard drive to a safe location
2. manually export bookmarks from within Firefox itself
3. manually export passwords from within Firefox itself

You can now try installing standard Firefox knowing that your data is safe.

If the standard version does not pick up the original ESR profile, then there are ways to change the profile folder that the new standard Firefox is using back to the original ESR profile.

As for whether an ESR profile is compatible with standard Firefox, I can't help there either unfortunately.

But even if the ESR profile as a whole ends up not working correctly, then you can create a new profile in standard Firefox and attempt to import data from original to new profile, manually.

This can be done by copying specific files from the backup folder that you created in step 1, to the new profile folder. And / or by importing the files that you earlier manually exported within ESR Firefox in steps 2 and 3, into standard Firefox.

For example, to transfer bookmarks you could copy the file "places.sqlite" from the backup of the original profile folder to the newly created one. If that doesn't work then you could instead open the Firefox library and use its import function with the file that you manually exported in step 2.

Again, the best case scenario is that the entire ESR profile folder will just work in Standard Firefox, but if it doesn't, then you hopefully should be able to get the most important data transferred individually into a newly created standard profile,

Here are links to explain how to do some of the things mentioned above.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them See the section "Manual backup" for how to export bookmarks to a file, and the "Restoring from backups" section for how to later import bookmarks from this file.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/export-login-data-firefox This link explains how to export passwords to a file, but note that this file is plaintext and can be read by anyone with access to your system. So you might wish to skip this and hope that the passwords are either already there in standard Firefox, or can be transferred by copying the relevant profile folder files. If you do do this, then to later import from this file select "Import from a File…" from the menu where you previously selected "Export Passwords…".

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile This link explains or references explanations of how to: backup your ESR profile folder on your hard drive; create a new profile in standard Firefox, if necessary; locate the new standard profile folder on the hard drive, and what individual files to copy from the ESR backup to it, again if necessary.

EDIT to add links that explain how to set the newly installed standard Firefox to use the data from the original ESR profile, if it is not already doing so.

First try the steps here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-user-data-missing-after-firefox-update

If that doesn't work, then try this link instead: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

Thanks a lot TechHorse for taking the time to send me all of this helpful info.

I will try to do what you suggested. I am a non-technical user, so I am sure it will take me time to struggle through this.

I am wondering if installing the 129 version will automatically de-install the ESR version or if I end up with 2 versions, which one will come up by default. If you know, please let me know. I just hope that I will not end up in the middle of nowhere with a messed up installation and configuration and no help.

I am shocked that there is no person on this whole forum (moderators or technical people using this forum, etc.) who could address my simple questions. That's very disappointing. Having a product that is not supported is a deterrent for usage. Luckily one is not relegated to one browser, but then if people switch to another one that is easier to use and supported, that undermines the product and the work of its developers.

Sue, unfortunately I do not know whether the standard install will uninstall ESR. I suspect that most users will only use one edition of Firefox, and that this sort of migration is relatively rare.

I can tell you from experience that installing the 64-bit version of Firefox did not auto uninstall the 32-bit version, and other people have talked about installing the developer edition of Firefox alongside the standard version. So it seems likely that installing standard will not auto uninstall other non-standard editions.

If however you were to install the standard version into the same folder as ESR, then that would certainly see ESR getting overwritten.

Unless if someone else can answer your questions directly, here's what I would do to replace ESR Firefox with standard Firefox.

First I would ensure that my user data is copied to a safe separate location by creating a backup of my entire profile folder, as well as exporting bookmarks within Firefox itself (steps 1 and 2 in the previous post).

I personally would not carry out step 3 (export passwords) as I would be concerned about them being so easily readable. I would take a chance that the pre-existing profile files relating to passwords will transfer correctly.

Then I would uninstall ESR Firefox, ensuring that any 'remove profiles and personal information' options are unchecked, so that they will remain after the uninstall.

Next I would install standard Firefox. At this point I would know that there is only one version of Firefox on the computer, and that there is no scope for confusion as to which is running or is the default.

Hopefully standard Firefox will start with the original ESR profile, but if it doesn't then I would manually set it to use the original profile data (I see that I did not link to an explanation of how to do this in the previous post, so later on I will go back and add it at the bottom).

Once standard Firefox is running with the original ESR profile, the next question is as to whether they are compatible. I do not know for a fact, but hopefully they will be fine.

After all, ESR Firefox is basically a partially downdated version of standard, and standard has mechanisms for updating / dealing with user profiles that are originally from an older version of standard.

But if the original profile just isn't working correctly, then it is now time to create a fresh new standard profile, and copy individual files from the initially-created ESR backup folder to it.

Again, the specified section in the link given previously explains which individual files contain specific data. For example, I would want my bookmarks and so would copy "places.sqlite". I would also want my passwords and so would copy both "logins.json" and "key4.db".

The above is what I would do, anyway.

But remember, keep that backup copy of the original ESR profile folder and its files safe and intact, as well as any additionally exported bookmarks or password files that were made.

Thanks again. Much appreciated.

Maybe someone else chimes in to provide some additional clarification/address my original questions. It is somewhat unreasonable to assume that a non-technical user like me can execute the steps for finding, restoring, etc. some files in the profile, etc.

If nobody else on this forum or from those who develop Firefox has answers, I will follow what you suggested and if things do not work as expected, I will just switch to another browser that doesn't require the complicated steps one has to follow with Firefox.