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Sync is not working between old laptop and new despite account working fine

  • 5 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 31 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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My old laptop has my account working fine. I tried to login using my new laptop and it will not show any of my synced content.

On the old laptop , it shows all my bookmarks which is what I really need but then using all the same details to log in to the new laptop with all the right information, there is nothing that the sync brings up. There is no error to display and no content that comes up. Almost as if there is nothing to sync. I have synced from the old laptop again but it has not done anything at all.

So, password is fine, account details is fine, sync from old laptop is fine, uninstalled/reinstalled firefox done...

My old laptop has my account working fine. I tried to login using my new laptop and it will not show any of my synced content. On the old laptop , it shows all my bookmarks which is what I really need but then using all the same details to log in to the new laptop with all the right information, there is nothing that the sync brings up. There is no error to display and no content that comes up. Almost as if there is nothing to sync. I have synced from the old laptop again but it has not done anything at all. So, password is fine, account details is fine, sync from old laptop is fine, uninstalled/reinstalled firefox done...

All Replies (5)

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Since you still have access to your old computer you can consider to use an USB stick to transfer your personal data.


You can copy files like these with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to recover specific data. Note that you should be cautious with copying SQLite database files if you previously had problems.

  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved form data
  • logins.json and key3.db (decryption key) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
  • cert8.db and possibly cert_override.txt for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words you added to the spelling checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other Site Preferences
  • sessionstore.js for open tabs and pinned tabs

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

See also:

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Is there any easier way?

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Hi, an easier way for bookmarks only: Plug a USB flash drive into your old machine, then in Firefox, open bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > Import and Backup > Export Bookmarks to HTML. Or > Backup, but note that Backup will overwrite any existing bookmarks when you restore them. Now save to the flash drive.

You can now plug the flash drive into your new machine and open bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > Import and Backup > Import Bookmarks from HTML. Or > Restore (from Backup), and navigate to the flash drive.

If your question is resolved by this or another answer, please take a minute to let us know. Thank you!.

Modified by Scribe

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I did not get to my old laptop in time before it blew up. I have the hard drive working as an external hard drive now. I have gone in to the users and then firefox and bookmarks but there is nothing.... I am shocked because here was a lot of bookmarks. Why didn't the sync just work as it was supposed to in the beginning? It should have shown everything I had on my account which is the whole reason that you have an account!

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