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

Will importing a firefox backup file from Windows 7 restore my bookmarks properly in Firefox installed on Linux system?

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 28 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

I am going to try changing my Windows 7 Home Premium computers to a Linux OS. I'm trying to find out if I take a Firefox backup file from the Win7 system and import it into Firefox installed on the Linux OS, will it work and restore all my bookmarks correctly? Will an html backup file work as well?

My plan is to save my desktop files and folders in Windows 7 to an external drive, then copy them over into the Linux OS. For Firefox all I want is my bookmarks from Firefox in Windows to import into Firefox installed on the Linux OS.

Linux OS I am thinking of trying are: Linux Mint-Cinnamon / Zorin core or ultimate / Manajro XFCE / Ubuntu

I am going to try changing my Windows 7 Home Premium computers to a Linux OS. I'm trying to find out if I take a Firefox backup file from the Win7 system and import it into Firefox installed on the Linux OS, will it work and restore all my bookmarks correctly? Will an html backup file work as well? My plan is to save my desktop files and folders in Windows 7 to an external drive, then copy them over into the Linux OS. For Firefox all I want is my bookmarks from Firefox in Windows to import into Firefox installed on the Linux OS. Linux OS I am thinking of trying are: Linux Mint-Cinnamon / Zorin core or ultimate / Manajro XFCE / Ubuntu

Modified by mbg19446

Chosen solution

Restoring a JSON backup and importing an HTML backup will work. You can also transfer places.sqlite to get the bookmarks and history. Transferring database files is usually safe, but some files (prefs.js, pkcs11.txt) contain absolute paths that break in Linux.


  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (passwords) and key4.db (58+) or key3.db (57 and older) (decryption key) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
    if you only have key3.db then make sure to remove an existing key4.db
  • cert9.db (58+) or cert8.db (57 and older) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
    if you only have cert8.db then make sure to remove an existing cert9.db
  • persdict.dat for words you added to the spelling checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

more options
more options

Thank you WestEnd I have read the help files however they don't say whether a Windows 7 FireFox backup file will restore to a Linux version of FireFox.

more options

Chosen Solution

Restoring a JSON backup and importing an HTML backup will work. You can also transfer places.sqlite to get the bookmarks and history. Transferring database files is usually safe, but some files (prefs.js, pkcs11.txt) contain absolute paths that break in Linux.


  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (passwords) and key4.db (58+) or key3.db (57 and older) (decryption key) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
    if you only have key3.db then make sure to remove an existing key4.db
  • cert9.db (58+) or cert8.db (57 and older) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
    if you only have cert8.db then make sure to remove an existing cert9.db
  • persdict.dat for words you added to the spelling checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)