This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Hierdie gesprek is in die argief. Vra asseblief 'n nuwe vraag as jy hulp nodig het.

places.sqlite always corrupting when opening Firefox

  • 12 antwoorde
  • 1 het hierdie probleem
  • 1 view
  • Laaste antwoord deur exclusive01

more options

Prior to today, occasionally I would need to restore from a Time Machine backup the files "places.sqlite", "places.sqlite-shm", and "places.sqlite-wal" into my default profile, because I would lose my bookmarks & history.

However, beginning this morning, that procedure did not work. Every time I open up Firefox, the "places.sqlite" file would corrupt immediately and no attempt at restoring (from any backup date/time) would fix the issue.

I am running Mac OS 11.7.2 (Big Sur) and Firefox 111.0.

This is VERY frustrating, because I rely heavily on my bookmarks and passwords.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Prior to today, occasionally I would need to restore from a Time Machine backup the files "places.sqlite", "places.sqlite-shm", and "places.sqlite-wal" into my default profile, because I would lose my bookmarks & history. However, beginning this morning, that procedure did not work. Every time I open up Firefox, the "places.sqlite" file would corrupt immediately and no attempt at restoring (from any backup date/time) would fix the issue. I am running Mac OS 11.7.2 (Big Sur) and Firefox 111.0. This is VERY frustrating, because I rely heavily on my bookmarks and passwords. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

Gekose oplossing

@cor-el It's the stupid new version, dude. I un-installed 111 and reinstalled 110 and disabled updates, plus --allow down-grade and it worked.

Already tried everything you said before posting this thread.

Thank you.

Lees dié antwoord in konteks 👍 0

All Replies (12)

more options

You would normally only have places.sqlite to restore and there wouldn't be places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal temp SQlite files present unless this backup got created when Firefox was running (i.e. you hadn't Exit/Quit Firefox).

Note that on Mac closing Firefox can be more complicated because you can close all open windows, but keep Firefox running with the menu bar visible or minimized in the Doc. Make sure to use "Quit Firefox" with all windows still open, especially if you want to use "Restore Previous Session".

more options

Really? No one has any ideas???

more options

Are those places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal temp files still present after you have closed Firefox ? You could try to start with a clean/fresh places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from a recent backup in the bookmarkbackups folder or create a backup yourself. You will lose the history this way.


Make sure to use "Quit Firefox" with all windows you may want to restore still open, especially if you want to use "Restore Previous Session" to ensure Firefox closes properly.

more options

I truly appreciate your input. Sadly, this didn't work. I removed any "places..." file and the bookmarkbackups folder and replaced them with fresh files from my back up that at one time were good.

Somehow, I think the problem may be with Firefox itself. Each time I open up the app, a "places.sqlite.corrupt" file is created and my old bookmarks are not present.

Maybe, I'll just uninstall Firefox and install a fresh copy.

more options

Well, that didn't work either...

more options

Same. I have had this issue for almost a year now. Every time Firefox was closed, it'd corrupt the places.sqlite file and rename it as places.sqlite.corrupt, which I'd just rename and it'd work. My PC is on 24/7, so I had to do it maybe once every 3 weeks or 3 months, but since the last update that happened a few hours ago, this doesn't work. Every time I open Firefox, it renames the old places.sqlite file to places.sqlite.corrupt and creates a new one and I lose all my history. Note that places.sqlite.corrupt is about 95MB, so it has all my history since 2015, and the new one is only 5mb. I have been loyal to Firefox since 2008, and they're making it so hard with stupid updates trying to become Chrome. We like you because you're not Chrome. You don't start slapping yourself just because someone else has reddish cheeks. Should I just switch to Chrome?

more options

It is not normal that you get a places.sqlite.corrupt file, so it is possible that other software prevents access to the file and forces Firefox to create a fresh file.

What security software do you have?


You can create a new profile as a quick test to see if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works, you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.

more options

Gekose oplossing

@cor-el It's the stupid new version, dude. I un-installed 111 and reinstalled 110 and disabled updates, plus --allow down-grade and it worked.

Already tried everything you said before posting this thread.

Thank you.

more options

Downgrading to 110 seemed to work. I don't think it saved any of my passwords, but at least my bookmarks have returned.

Thanks for all your help.

more options

Don't you have an old backup of your profile? I generally take a backup every 3-4 months of all the profiles of all browsers I use. I didn't know about --allow down-grade feature, otherwise I was happy with version 96 and would still be using it if I wasn't forced to update.

more options

I have restored my profile from a TimeMachine backup from early March of this year. It did not restore my passwords. Is there another file that stores the passwords?

Also, where is the "allow down-grade feature" option?

more options

No idea about that. I copy whole profile and paste it in D drive. I don't know where passes or any other infos are stored, I'm quite dumb. The only reason I know about places.sqlite is it's been happening to me since 2017 in some capacity and a lot after the version 96.

Windows key+ R, and in there paste "firefox --allow-downgrade" without quotes and run it. It will allow an older version of Firefox work with a profile made with a newer version of Firefox. Generally speaking, you can't run a profile made with 110 on 109 version, even though it's only one beta between them.