Firefox - restoring old profile...

User Help for Mozilla Firefox
Post Reply
Erik Shank
Posts: 4
Joined: May 8th, 2022, 1:26 pm

Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by Erik Shank »

Firefox problem here:

My Windows 10 computer had a blue screen & wouldn’t boot up as it normally would. I shut it off and then started it again. When I loaded Firefox (v. 99.0.1) it was like a new installation, no tabs, no nothing. Under history, there is an item that said “restore previous session” which I clicked on & there was my session. I kept doing that until I clicked on a link, forgetting that Firefox was my default browser, and so my real session dropped down to third, which of course, didn’t have an option to use. Panic city!

Profiles.ini reads now:
[Install308046B0AF4A39CB]
Default=Profiles/lslfe1wg.default
Locked=1

[Profile1]
Name=default-release
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/tkhw9urm.default-release

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/lslfe1wg.default
Default=1

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2

[InstallE7CF176E110C211B]
Default=Profiles/lslfe1wg.default
Locked=1

The profiles.ini from my April backup reads identically – how can that be?

Installs.ini:
[308046B0AF4A39CB]
Default=Profiles/lslfe1wg.default
Locked=1

[E7CF176E110C211B]
Default=Profiles/lslfe1wg.default
Locked=1

The installs.ini from April reads identically as well.

There are two profiles in AppDate/Roaming/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles: one is lslfe1wg.default and the other is tkhw9urm.default-release.
tkhw9urm.default-release has 77.8 MB (596 files, 458 folders)
Current lslfe1wg.default has 353 MB (868 files, 335 folders)
But April lslfe1wg.default has 601 MB (7330 files, 4952 folders)

If I do the command line for “Choose user profile” it has default & default-release to choose from. There is also an option to “create profile”. I have read that if I create a new profile & copy certain files from the current profile into the new profile, it will be like the old one that I really need.

Questions:
Since the profile I want was demoted to the third one, is there no way to get it back?

I know I can download the new Firefox & restore my April backup but I lose all the stuff that I did since then – is that my best option?

Thanks for your help…
User avatar
BruceAWittmeier
Posts: 3076
Joined: June 9th, 2008, 10:53 am
Location: Near 37.501685 -80.147967

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by BruceAWittmeier »

Shutdown Firefox.

Is this what you mean when you say "start firefox from the command line"?
If you select Start > and enter "Firefox -p" (without the quotes) in the box do you see the profile you want?

If you do click it once and select Start Firefox below the listbox. Firefox will start and use whichever one is selected when clicking a link in email.

Not sure what may happen but if you attempt to create a new profile with the same name (although hidden) it may work.

The real question is does the profile/directory you want still exist?
I often take a long windy road to my destination. Upon arrival, I wonder how I missed the shortcut.
Erik Shank
Posts: 4
Joined: May 8th, 2022, 1:26 pm

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by Erik Shank »

Well, that is the question, right? Neither of the profiles listed is the correct one, I am afraid. What I want to know is can I get the correct one back or did it somehow get erased by my inadvertent clicking of a link with FF still my default browser? Surely someone must know???
josegotme
Posts: 407
Joined: December 23rd, 2008, 11:43 am

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by josegotme »

Get Hekasoft backup. Restoring profiles is a breeze. https://hekasoft.com/hekasoft-backup-restore/
You can save it and restore as needed. Mine is in the cloud. You can do it for the future,but unless you have a backup of your computer there is not much you can do if it is lost
User avatar
xanthon
Posts: 405
Joined: December 17th, 2005, 11:55 pm

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by xanthon »

I have edited profiles.ini in a text editor (with the browser closed, of course).
User avatar
therube
Posts: 21703
Joined: March 10th, 2004, 9:59 pm
Location: Maryland USA

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by therube »

I'm not sure I'm following, but if you go to about:profiles, that will allow you to set your Default Profile.
Set the Profile you want as "default".
Quit, then on restart it should automatically load that Profile.
Fire 750, bring back 250.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball CopyURL+ FetchTextURL FlashGot NoScript
User avatar
jscher2000
Posts: 11742
Joined: December 19th, 2004, 12:26 am
Location: Silicon Valley, CA USA
Contact:

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by jscher2000 »

Do you have a tool that can do a file compare between the backup profile and the live profile and show what was deleted? There are not hundreds of major settings/data files, much less thousands.

You could try WinMerge is you don't have another one. Note: just for diagnosing what the deleted files are for discussion, not for trying to combine the data.

https://winmerge.org/
Erik Shank
Posts: 4
Joined: May 8th, 2022, 1:26 pm

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by Erik Shank »

Pepegot1: Too late but I will download it for future use.

Xanthon: If I knew what to change I would do that...

Therube: I know that but I think (?) that the profile I want is the third one which doesn't show in about:profiles

Jscher2000: Interesting program. Can you use it to compare like files, i.e., storage.sqlite for instance for differences?

Thanks to all..

Does anyone from Mozilla ever look at these questions? Someone who knows the ins & outs of Firefox? Sigh...
Erik Shank
Posts: 4
Joined: May 8th, 2022, 1:26 pm

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by Erik Shank »

Pepegot1, it seems none of the download links work at all on hekasoft... Using Chrome since Firefox is messed up.
User avatar
therube
Posts: 21703
Joined: March 10th, 2004, 9:59 pm
Location: Maryland USA

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by therube »

Can you use it to compare like files, i.e., storage.sqlite
You can, but it's not like the the good 'ol days where settings were (basically) stored in text files.
Does anyone from Mozilla ever look
No.
(They're well past the point of actually caring.)

Make copies of your Profiles (can't hurt).
Make another copy of your "3rd" Profile & put it somewhere, like say, /tmp/testprofile.
Then open that Profile using the -profile switch, so something like, firefox.bin (or whatever it is called), so:
/path-to/firefox.bin -profile /tmp/testprofile

FF should then open that "testprofile".
If that is what you are needing, then it is a matter of adding that Profile to Profile Manager such that it can be "found".
Fire 750, bring back 250.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball CopyURL+ FetchTextURL FlashGot NoScript
User avatar
jscher2000
Posts: 11742
Joined: December 19th, 2004, 12:26 am
Location: Silicon Valley, CA USA
Contact:

Re: Firefox - restoring old profile...

Post by jscher2000 »

Erik Shank wrote:Jscher2000: Interesting program. Can you use it to compare like files, i.e., storage.sqlite for instance for differences?
You can compare binary files, but unless WinMerge can read SQLite databases, it would not be useful.
Does anyone from Mozilla ever look at these questions? Someone who knows the ins & outs of Firefox? Sigh...
This is not a Mozilla site, this is an independent site. That doesn't mean no one will ever read it, but unlike a company site or r/Firefox over on Reddit, I don't think anyone is assigned to look at it.
Post Reply