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How do I move my Ubuntu (16.04.1) Firefox 48 profile to a Windows 10 Firefox 48.0.1 install?

samuel_200328
samuel_200328
more options

I need to switch back to Windows 10 for work purposes, but my laptop's hard-drive is small, so I can only really dedicate space to one OS. So I have to remove Ubuntu 16.04.1 and install Windows 10 (1607) on top of it. I've backed up all of my files from my Ubuntu install, but I can't get Firefox on Windows (Firefox 48.0.1) to recognize my Ubuntu Firefox profile.

What I did:

I navigated to C:\Users\samuel\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and deleted the default profile and in its place, I pasted my Ubuntu Firefox profile from ~/.mozilla/firefox there. The name of the profile is "wiciqvyd.default".

When I started up Firefox on Windows again, I got the error "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible".

How do I make Windows Firefox recognize my Ubuntu Firefox profile? Thank you.

I need to switch back to Windows 10 for work purposes, but my laptop's hard-drive is small, so I can only really dedicate space to one OS. So I have to remove Ubuntu 16.04.1 and install Windows 10 (1607) on top of it. I've backed up all of my files from my Ubuntu install, but I can't get Firefox on Windows (Firefox 48.0.1) to recognize my Ubuntu Firefox profile. What I did: I navigated to C:\Users\samuel\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and deleted the default profile and in its place, I pasted my Ubuntu Firefox profile from ~/.mozilla/firefox there. The name of the profile is "wiciqvyd.default". When I started up Firefox on Windows again, I got the error "Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible". How do I make Windows Firefox recognize my Ubuntu Firefox profile? Thank you.

Chosen solution

the-edmeister said

You either need the profiles.ini file from Ubuntu or you need to edit the profiles.ini file in Windows 10 to have the wiciqvyd.default Profile name. As it now sits, Firefox probably automatically created a new Profile when it couldn't find the Profile it expected to find.

I actually was copying the profiles.ini file into Windows 10, but it didn't work.

Anyway, I managed to get Firefox on Windows to recognize my Ubuntu profile!

It was all thanks to my Windows VM. I haven't officially erased Ubuntu yet, and was testing profile migration on a different Windows 10 laptop, and it wasn't working. But then I thought to try my Windows 10 VM on my Ubuntu install. I copied the profile from .mozilla into the AppData Mozilla Roaming folder and voila! It worked. Didn't even need to import the profiles.ini.

And then I copied the profile from the Windows 10 VM to the Windows 10 laptop, along with the profiles.ini file. And everything works! My Ubuntu profile has been successfully imported to the latest version of Windows 10.

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All Replies (2)

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
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You either need the profiles.ini file from Ubuntu or you need to edit the profiles.ini file in Windows 10 to have the wiciqvyd.default Profile name.

As it now sits, Firefox probably automatically created a new Profile when it couldn't find the Profile it expected to find.

samuel_200328
samuel_200328 Question owner
more options

Chosen Solution

the-edmeister said

You either need the profiles.ini file from Ubuntu or you need to edit the profiles.ini file in Windows 10 to have the wiciqvyd.default Profile name. As it now sits, Firefox probably automatically created a new Profile when it couldn't find the Profile it expected to find.

I actually was copying the profiles.ini file into Windows 10, but it didn't work.

Anyway, I managed to get Firefox on Windows to recognize my Ubuntu profile!

It was all thanks to my Windows VM. I haven't officially erased Ubuntu yet, and was testing profile migration on a different Windows 10 laptop, and it wasn't working. But then I thought to try my Windows 10 VM on my Ubuntu install. I copied the profile from .mozilla into the AppData Mozilla Roaming folder and voila! It worked. Didn't even need to import the profiles.ini.

And then I copied the profile from the Windows 10 VM to the Windows 10 laptop, along with the profiles.ini file. And everything works! My Ubuntu profile has been successfully imported to the latest version of Windows 10.