"All Bookmarks are gone" - Bring them back!

soundrage · Post by **soundrage** » May 21st, 2005, 9:43 pm

twitch125 wrote:Didnt see this thread or would have posted this here originally:

Hello there, I am an avid Firefox user and would appreciate some help. I have read the other lost bookmark threads but no situations similiar to mine.

Same here.

I've reached the point with this that I'm giving up until they fix this problem. I'm a huge Firefox fan but this is an annoying problem.

Why can't they fix this problem? I hate like heck to use IE but it's never lost my bookmarks.

Out of curiosity is this a bug?

devomase · Post by **devomase** » May 22nd, 2005, 6:05 pm

I'm having the same problem as nmrivera. upgraded to 1.0.4 and lost bookmarks. My profile is still in the library spot, but I cannot discern how to open the profile manager. any ideas?

nmrivera · Post by **nmrivera** » May 22nd, 2005, 6:21 pm

Anonymous wrote:I'm having the same problem as nmrivera. upgraded to 1.0.4 and lost bookmarks. My profile is still in the library spot, but I cannot discern how to open the profile manager. any ideas?

Devomase,

Are you on a mac also? I've figured out how to fix my problem here's what I did.

First find your old bookmarks file. Mine was located here:
HD/Users/'my user name"/Library/ApplicationSupport/Firefox/Profiles/bookmarks.html

The File itself was called "bookmarks.html" I opened this file to make sure it was indeed the missing bookmarks. (It opened in a browser.)

Now that I knew where my bookmarks file was I opened up Firefox and clicked:
Bookmarks>Manage Bookmarks

The Manage Bookmarks screen popped up and then I clicked:
File>Import>From File
And selected the bookmarks.html file I had previously found.

I hope this helps.

spleek · Post by **spleek** » May 23rd, 2005, 9:41 pm

Konstantino, you have to go open up "My Computer" go to Tools>Folder Options. Go to the View tab, scroll down til u see - Hidden Files and Folders. mark the radio button says Show hidden files and folders. Then u'll be able to see the Application Data Folder.

metalbunny · Post by **metalbunny** » May 24th, 2005, 11:28 am

I had a BSOD stop error, Stop 0x94 - KERNEL_STACK_LOCKED_AT_EXIT, which according to MS is caused on NT4 by some program I've never heard of, nor have ever had installed on my computer (NFS M-something) - dunno if it's part of the Firefox install, but I couldn't find any reference to it in the registry. Rebooted, launched Firefox, and then all bookmarks were gone. I've had the older versions randomly create a new profile on startup, but never before dumping it and replacing it with nothing. Even the default bookmarks that comes with firefox are gone.

The profile thingie only works if the profile is still there, it doesn't work when the program screws up and trashes the profile... Why don't it tell me that the profile is bad before overwriting it with nothingness ?

Which problem did you experience... profile corruption/loss or only bookmark loss? Both

Did this happen after a Firefox crash? If Firefox crashing was what caused windows to crash, then yes, otherwise no.

Did your computer crash, or did this occur after a normal shut down? Windows crashed (a computer crash is a hardware failure, not software).

Was Firefox open when your computer crashed or was shut down? Yup

What operating system do you use (and which version)? Windows XP SP1

What is the filesystem of your hard drive(s)? NTFS 2.0

What version of Firefox/Firebird were you using when your bookmarks were lost or your profile was corrupted? 1.0.4

If you upgraded Firefox versions, did you create a new profile or upgrade using the old one? (if you don't know, chances are you upgraded, but please say that you are unsure) ... new install = replaced harddrive, installed everything from scratch

If you upgraded an old profile, what version of Firefox/Firebird did you originally use? n/a

Did you lose other files or settings in other applications (including non-Mozilla)? none that I've been able to find missing

Do you use or have you installed any bookmark-related extensions? nope, what is that anyway?

kennethkeen · Post by **kennethkeen** » May 24th, 2005, 2:20 pm

Excellent nmrivera!

You got it in just a couple of lines!
Quote:

First find your old bookmarks file. Mine was located here:
HD/Users/'my user name"/Library/ApplicationSupport/Firefox/Profiles/bookmarks.html

The File itself was called "bookmarks.html" I opened this file to make sure it was indeed the missing bookmarks. (It opened in a browser.)

Now that I knew where my bookmarks file was I opened up Firefox and clicked:
Bookmarks>Manage Bookmarks

The Manage Bookmarks screen popped up and then I clicked:
File>Import>From File
And selected the bookmarks.html file I had previously found.

end quote.

Now why dodn't some of those experts copy this to somewhere where everyone can find it?

Even put it there on the page they coax people to use the latest version in which bookmarks are lost! Then people will not loose time and money and patience and TRUST in the community which is there for ALL of us.

It reminds me of a nightmare where a large crowd of would-be first-aid people stand and watch one car after the other smash through a barrier in front of which is a large pool of oil....hanging around to help all the bleeding victims!

Sadly (and strangely...) the only bookmarks that could be found were those from software made by one company that I associate with <crinimals> internet explorer, for some reason their remains were as ready to access as the day they were made....Firefox work done in months of work in the dark days of winter are there in a big file 280kB which is not accessible...

Help yourself to help others!

Kenneth Keen

AnotherGuest. · Post by **AnotherGuest.** » May 24th, 2005, 3:24 pm

kennethkeen wrote:Now why dodn't some of those experts copy this to somewhere where everyone can find it?

If you check the links in the first message you will find this message, which actually does give you everything you need to know. In your case the information is right up there near the top, where is says "The Simple Solution". It even works for Mac. For those of you who have tougher problems I have also tried to provide a comprehensive approach that <i>will</i> find all bookmarks files.

There are also several other very informative links in the first message. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same simple problem, so you have to look around a little. We try, but so far no one has come up with a link that will only give you information on your kind of problem.

I really think some of you could solve your problem. You need to look again at the links provided.

Finally, for those of you who are willing to take a little time to document your problems carefully, I strongly urge you to read the guidelines and post <b>here.</b>

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 25th, 2005, 6:49 am

RE: lost bookmarks. XP, Mozilla 1.7.7: While browsing on the internet a family member received a message "something about the profile". He was unable to ignore the message so he "clicked something" and all the bookmarks disappeared. I searched for "bookmarks.html", "bookmarks.bak" and "bookmarks". All the 6 Mozilla bookmark files were empty or just had some default marks--the largest was 5KB. Then I paid $39.95 for technical support. They led me through all the folder searches and concluded that the file was "gone" and could not be found or restored. They were unable to find any other instances of the bookmark file just disappearing--although this forum is filled with instances. I will try to rebuild the bookmarks and then back them up with a name I document (and also leave family instructions to call me if it happens again so I can document something) but I am frustrated that I am out $39.95 and still on my own.

cbflyn · Post by **cbflyn** » May 25th, 2005, 7:18 am

Lost all my bookmarks and settings when I had to close by using Ctrl/Alt/Delete. My viewing of a V tour of home's locked me up. I am not a Techie so I uninstalled Firefox 1.04 and downloaded again. The first install added all of my bookmarks from IE. The second time I installed the bookmarks did not come over???? Maybe it was time to start over anyway. I have changed the look and added things so I actually like Firefox better now.

AnotherGuest. · Post by **AnotherGuest.** » May 25th, 2005, 7:47 am

Guest,
Most people do not know about the profile feature. It's rather disconcerting to be asked to create a new profile and find that the new profile does not have your bookmarks. But the old one does. Just to double-check, did you try this?

Just so you'll be ready the next time, be sure to make regular backup copies. You can do this with the Bookmarks Manager or with the Bookmark Backup extension.

Although there are many reports of bookmarks files "just disappearing", it's not entirely clear how many of these are valid. Quite a few of these simply involve a new profile. At least some of the others appear to be erroneous. There are also some reports that seem to hold up to considerable scrutiny. Unfortunately, there are relatively few of these that appear to be reliable and that provide sufficient detail to reconstruct what happened.

Any bookmarks loss event will leave tracks in the file structure, including the file and folder creation dates. To get the crucial evidence, it's necessary to record the file structure. I'm out of time for now, but I'll be back to discuss that.

Meanwhile, all users please read up on profiles. Here's what Mozilla says about profiles: "Mozilla Firefox stores all your personal settings, such as bookmarks, passwords and extensions, in a profile. The profile is stored on your hard drive in a profile folder."

AntiStanky1231 · Post by **AntiStanky1231** » May 29th, 2005, 11:19 am

I think I have problem solved. I could not find a way to open the Profile Manager either to change BACK to the original settings (I removed the bug from the computer that I think may have caused the problem with Ad-Aware). You must find the profile information first. I found mine at: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox... where the profiles folder is visible there is a profiles.ini. I opened the *.ini file with notepad and found two entries. There was my original settings that I could not access that looked link this...

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/ina24nlp.default

Then there was another profile setting below that that was a little different but I recognized it as the alternate unwanted profile. I just deleted it (why I cannot show what it looked like). I saved the file and closed notepad. When I reopened Firefox my old profile had been restored!

Please be weary if you are going to try this method, I was swinging with my eyes closed and thankfully it worked. Make sure to backup your original profile incase anything happens to it.

Happy surfing!

iwgunter · Post by **iwgunter** » May 30th, 2005, 6:14 am

I had shed loads of bookmarks, opened Firefox and it didn't show any. So I have followed your instructions and it only shows 1 profile - default. No book marks under that!

Pretty annoyed - partly with myself for not backing up - with Firefax for not even giving a warning that i shouldn't shutdown the PC because an error has occured and my profile has been changed/lost!

AnotherGuest. · Post by **AnotherGuest.** » May 31st, 2005, 9:10 am

AntiStanky1231 wrote:I could not find a way to open the Profile Manager....

How can I put this gently? It's like me trying to find things in my sock drawer. Even if they are bright red, I have to get my wife to do it.

The very first message in this thread gives a very prominent link to how to run the Profile Manager. If you missed that, the link on profiles, in the paragraph just preceding your post, is just what you needed. Just look under "Create a new profile". You could also have checked the Firefox Help link that came with your Fx, and look in the FAQ for profiles.

I know it's no fun searching for computer help, but hang in there. What it takes is just a little more persistence.

Mahauko@hotmail.com · Post by **Mahauko@hotmail.com** » June 1st, 2005, 12:00 am

When I upgraded to 1.0.4 I lost all my settings as well. I'm on XP, but Filipp0's advice didn't work!
I don't know how to get my settings back! Please help!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » June 2nd, 2005, 2:12 am

AntiStanky1231 wrote:I think I have problem solved. I could not find a way to open the Profile Manager either to change BACK to the original settings (I removed the bug from the computer that I think may have caused the problem with Ad-Aware). You must find the profile information first. I found mine at: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox... where the profiles folder is visible there is a profiles.ini. I opened the *.ini file with notepad and found two entries. There was my original settings that I could not access that looked link this...

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/ina24nlp.default

Then there was another profile setting below that that was a little different but I recognized it as the alternate unwanted profile. I just deleted it (why I cannot show what it looked like). I saved the file and closed notepad. When I reopened Firefox my old profile had been restored!

Please be weary if you are going to try this method, I was swinging with my eyes closed and thankfully it worked. Make sure to backup your original profile incase anything happens to it.

Happy surfing!

Thanks mate, this worked for me, just surfing the net, had trouble with a form on a webpage that I needed to urgently complete, so I went to IE , got the form filled ok. Went back to mozilla, and first page asked me to create a profile, so followed the instructions, and a new page opened but no bookmarks!!!
So followed your tip and found my old bookmarks that opened in my new profile browser. so back to my style, I hope.
Thanks again, was getting a bit panicky, cos I have lots to get done right now, and those bookmarks were big!!!