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I deleted my profile. Can I retrieve it?

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It appears that I've lost everything. Most important to me are my bookmarks and previous session tabs. I there a method to retrieve my profile or any of the files?

It appears that I've lost everything. Most important to me are my bookmarks and previous session tabs. I there a method to retrieve my profile or any of the files?

All Replies (12)

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Hello,

I am sorry to say as far as I know there is no way to get the profile back after deletion however if you try following these steps and see if your profile is still in the profile folder:

  1. Press the windows key
  2. Type '%appdata' then press the enter key
  3. Double-click the Mozilla folder.
  4. Double-click the FireFox folder.

Please let me know there is profiles in there.

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I used the Profile manager to accidentally delete the profile. The profile is no longer in the C:\Users\Steven\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles folder. Is there something else I can try to retrieve my bookmarks and session tabs?

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Can I ask... WHY you would want your old profile back? You now have a newer and better one. You may find that using Chrome would sort your problem.

Arrr.

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Hello,

I am sorry to say your profile is now gone then. I am sorry about this. If you would like to provide feedback about this feel free to do so: Click here to provide feedback

-Thomas

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Hmm, you could try one or both of these:

(1) Try an undelete program. These programs scour your disk for remnants of deleted files. Most successful if used immediately:

https://www.piriform.com/recuva

Note: Any files with names starting as follows could be helpful:

  • For bookmarks:
    • bookmarks-2016-07...
  • For tabs:
    • sessionstore.js
    • recovery.js
    • recovery.bak
    • previous.js
    • upgrade.js-2016...

Let us know what you find.

(2) Check old Windows "restore points" to see whether your profile was backed up there. This program should help, as it's difficult to do it with the built-in features of Windows:

http://nicbedford.co.uk/software/systemrestoreexplorer/

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Fatbeard said

Can I ask... WHY you would want your old profile back? You now have a newer and better one. You may find that using Chrome would sort your problem.

Hi Fatbeard, a new profile may be clean and shiny but if it doesn't have bookmarks and history you want/need, it probably isn't "better." Chrome can't migrate deleted data, so installing Chrome now isn't going to help in this situation.

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Fatbeard said

Can I ask... WHY you would want your old profile back? You now have a newer and better one.

Well maybe because not everybody is fine with losing their more important settings like Passwords and Bookmarks for instance.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data#w_what-information-is-stored-in-my-profile

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Arrr... bacause the crew are funny about loosing all their personal data at the whim of a browser that has a mind of its own, we store our profile ashore with the women.

In the meantime, yer profile be lost lad. My solution would be to drink alot of rum and get into a fight. Hope it works for ye! Arrrr.

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Fatbeard said

Arrr... bacause the crew are funny about loosing all their personal data at the whim of a browser that has a mind of its own, we store our profile ashore with the women. In the meantime, yer profile be lost lad. My solution would be to drink alot of rum and get into a fight. Hope it works for ye! Arrrr.

Arg ..., stow the loose cannon rolling across the deck.

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the-edmeister said

Fatbeard said
Arrr... bacause the crew are funny about loosing all their personal data at the whim of a browser that has a mind of its own, we store our profile ashore with the women. In the meantime, yer profile be lost lad. My solution would be to drink alot of rum and get into a fight. Hope it works for ye! Arrrr.

Arg ..., stow the loose cannon rolling across the deck.

+1 :-):-):-)

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jscher2000 said

Hmm, you could try one or both of these: (1) Try an undelete program. These programs scour your disk for remnants of deleted files. Most successful if used immediately: https://www.piriform.com/recuva Note: Any files with names starting as follows could be helpful:
  • For bookmarks:
    • bookmarks-2016-07...
  • For tabs:
    • sessionstore.js
    • recovery.js
    • recovery.bak
    • previous.js
    • upgrade.js-2016...
Let us know what you find. (2) Check old Windows "restore points" to see whether your profile was backed up there. This program should help, as it's difficult to do it with the built-in features of Windows: http://nicbedford.co.uk/software/systemrestoreexplorer/

I tried several undelete programs. They all found a few unimportant 2015 files and my current profile files. That was not helpful. The day before this mess, I upgraded to Windows 10 and backed-up many files but not any files related to Firefox browser. I have no restore points. Thank you for the suggestions.