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When I start Firefox, it shows only a new blank default profile, and not any of my existing profiles. How can I reconnect to my existing profiles?

Coalcracker60
Coalcracker60
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I don't get the dialog box asking which profile to open. the browser opens as though it were a new profile. There are no bookmarks, no history, plugins, addons, etc. When I look in my lcoal or roaming folders, the profiles are there, but for some reason, Firefox is ignoring them. How can I fix this without having to create new profiles and bookmark dozens of sites over again?

I don't get the dialog box asking which profile to open. the browser opens as though it were a new profile. There are no bookmarks, no history, plugins, addons, etc. When I look in my lcoal or roaming folders, the profiles are there, but for some reason, Firefox is ignoring them. How can I fix this without having to create new profiles and bookmark dozens of sites over again?

All Replies (4)

FredMcD
FredMcD
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https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox#Navigating_to_the_profile_folder

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles


Type about:profiles<enter> in the address bar. How many profiles are listed? How many should be there?

FireFoxSucks
FireFoxSucks
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This should have a clue I guess...

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles#w_backing-up-your-profile

... So I need to invoke Profile Manager from Ver 68, create a new blank profile, then Ctrl-Copy everything, and Paste into the blank profile???

But that seems to be the equivalent of what I did. Unless the "original" profile is Blessed in some un-documents manner...

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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@FireFoxSucks

Are these profiles listed in the profiles.ini file?

You can find the profiles.ini file in a hidden location:

  • Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\
    C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\
  • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/
  • Linux: ~/.mozilla/firefox/
FireFoxSucks
FireFoxSucks
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Not working: 

Open the Terminal application.

In the Terminal application, enter the following: /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -P ... -- no such file or directory. ... Note that I also tried using the changed filename which allows me to know which version is which: ... /Applications/Firefox 68-0-2.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -P ... also tried: /Applications/Firefox 68-0-2.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox 68-0-2-bin -P

Managed to do it with FF running via About:profiles and making it the default . WHY DIDN'T THEY SAY TO DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE ??? WHY DID THEY SAY THE ONLY WAY WAS TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT WITH THEIR 3RD PARTY?