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New Browser Update forcing profile creation and losing all data (TAKE TWO!)

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by Mike Kaply

macros48
macros48
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Good Morning, In my organization some years ago I pushed to have Firefox as our default browser and finally was accepted. It has been very good as we have over 10K employees using it. However this last week there has been a new release that forces you to create a new profile, one that is achieved all of you original settings and data are gone. We are a health care organization and cannot have this. I sent the fix (about:profiles) to our triage support department. However once the old profile is chosen and made the default. It will revert back to the new one each time you restart or the next day. I need a permanent fix, is there a way to update the old profile to the new version of Firefox? Shouldnt it stay the default once you make it so? I am getting inundated with calls over this, please send the fix asap.


AliceWyman • Top 25 Contributor • Moderator

Today at 11:30 AM Just to be clear, you tried the about:profiles fix in the Recover user data missing after Firefox update article ... but it will revert back to a new profile at every restart? (YES) In any case, since you are using Firefox in an organizational environment I'll move this to the Enterprise forum. (WHERE IS THIS AND HOW DO I GET TO IT?)

AliceWyman • Top 25 Contributor • Moderator

Today at 11:47 AM P.S. See also https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1267878 New clear profile every time after Firefox update and Dedicated profiles per Firefox installation ... which refers to Downgrade protection and starting Firefox with the --allow-downgrade command line option, when you have multiple versions of Firefox installed. (DID THIS)


NEED SOME REAL HELP HERE, NOT JUST LINKS TO STUFF I ALREADY TRIED. I APPRECIATE THE REPLY BUT SINCE YOU CLOSED THE TICKET AND MOVED IT, I CANNOT FIND IT NOR CAN I REPLY TO YOU. I HAD TO OPE A BRAND NEW TICKET.

Good Morning, In my organization some years ago I pushed to have Firefox as our default browser and finally was accepted. It has been very good as we have over 10K employees using it. However this last week there has been a new release that forces you to create a new profile, one that is achieved all of you original settings and data are gone. We are a health care organization and cannot have this. I sent the fix (about:profiles) to our triage support department. However once the old profile is chosen and made the default. It will revert back to the new one each time you restart or the next day. I need a permanent fix, is there a way to update the old profile to the new version of Firefox? Shouldnt it stay the default once you make it so? I am getting inundated with calls over this, please send the fix asap. AliceWyman • Top 25 Contributor • Moderator Today at 11:30 AM Just to be clear, you tried the about:profiles fix in the Recover user data missing after Firefox update article ... but it will revert back to a new profile at every restart? (YES) In any case, since you are using Firefox in an organizational environment I'll move this to the Enterprise forum. (WHERE IS THIS AND HOW DO I GET TO IT?) AliceWyman • Top 25 Contributor • Moderator Today at 11:47 AM P.S. See also https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1267878 New clear profile every time after Firefox update and Dedicated profiles per Firefox installation ... which refers to Downgrade protection and starting Firefox with the --allow-downgrade command line option, when you have multiple versions of Firefox installed. (DID THIS) NEED SOME REAL HELP HERE, NOT JUST LINKS TO STUFF I ALREADY TRIED. I APPRECIATE THE REPLY BUT SINCE YOU CLOSED THE TICKET AND MOVED IT, I CANNOT FIND IT NOR CAN I REPLY TO YOU. I HAD TO OPE A BRAND NEW TICKET.

All Replies (4)

macros48
macros48 Question owner
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Mike Kaply Mike Kaply 

   Moderator

Today at 2:11 PM

This sounds like either profile per install or downgrade protection.

Did somehow your new Firefox get installed into a different directory?

Are you on Windows and do you use enterprise policy?



    • OK you are replying to the old incident, this is not a new install. This is an existing install. I do not use the enterprise policy. This just started when i think Firefox did an update and so far there is about a dozen of us experiencing it. It is the default directory.
Mike Kaply
Mike Kaply
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The previous issue was not closed. I'm not sure why you opened a new one.

Can you please provide a screenshot of the exact message you are seeing?

We have not made any changes in Firefox recently that should cause this message to be displayed.

When Firefox is upgraded, it uses the same directory.

macros48
macros48 Question owner
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Hi Mike,

I reopened the case because it was closed by AliceWyman and put into the enterprise support which I did not know how to access? Anyway to the issue, which I am still dealing with, it seems to be a loop between the latest Firefox update and the application of the end users profile. I will add an attachment of the message we are receiving. What I am now doing is backing up the end users bookmarks, opening their profile folder and backing that up to a different location. Then I am uninstalling the version they have (which is current) then reinstalling the new version that I download from the Mozilla site. I may be successful with this but will know more tomorrow. I come in every morning and get a barrage of people emailing me screenshots and saying it is broken again, then I have to remote into each machine and change the profile as a workaround. I hope this helps you to understand what I am going through.

Mike Kaply
Mike Kaply
  • Moderator
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Are your profiles being shared between two versions of Firefox? What's happening here is that you're starting a profile with an earlier version of Firefox that has been used on a later version.

You can set an environment variable MOZ_LEGACY_PROFILES=1 to avoid this error or use GPO to set LegacyProfiles

https://github.com/mozilla/policy-templates/blob/master/README.md#legacyprofiles

Is the version you are downloading from the website somehow older than the one they are updated to?