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Profile compatability? ver 68.0.2 not using my old profile!

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  • Last reply by robey

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I let FireFox update to 68.0.2, I think the previous version was 66.0.2. Based on upgrade-jasonlz4, it was installed 2019 0529. A screen displayed some information that I did not save and cannot find again. It indicated that my previous profile information was inaccessible but not gone, it could be used by running a older version of FF and that now the profile info was stored on some Mozilla server and that I needed to create a account. This has been very disruptive. The only account I created was to be able to write this and the new FF seems to have created it’s profile in Firefox\Profiles. I have looked at the release notes for versions 66.0 thru 68.0.2 and don’t see anything about a new profile format or compatibility issues. I have Windows Explorer equivalent access to my restore points and see firefox.exe dated 6/10/2019 which differs from the upgrade file date but I could restore the system to that point.

So is it true that there is a profile compatibility issue and I need to use the old firefox to use the old profile? If so, why is it not mentioned in the release notes and if not why did the new FF create a new profile? I found a index of previous versions to DL (https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/) If I get a suitable version and use custom installation, will I be able to make it use my old profile?

I let FireFox update to 68.0.2, I think the previous version was 66.0.2. Based on upgrade-jasonlz4, it was installed 2019 0529. A screen displayed some information that I did not save and cannot find again. It indicated that my previous profile information was inaccessible but not gone, it could be used by running a older version of FF and that now the profile info was stored on some Mozilla server and that I needed to create a account. This has been very disruptive. The only account I created was to be able to write this and the new FF seems to have created it’s profile in Firefox\Profiles. I have looked at the release notes for versions 66.0 thru 68.0.2 and don’t see anything about a new profile format or compatibility issues. I have Windows Explorer equivalent access to my restore points and see firefox.exe dated 6/10/2019 which differs from the upgrade file date but I could restore the system to that point. So is it true that there is a profile compatibility issue and I need to use the old firefox to use the old profile? If so, why is it not mentioned in the release notes and if not why did the new FF create a new profile? I found a index of previous versions to DL (https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/) If I get a suitable version and use custom installation, will I be able to make it use my old profile?

Chosen solution

Go to about:profiles and check if your old profile is there. See Dedicated profiles per Firefox installation.

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Chosen Solution

Go to about:profiles and check if your old profile is there. See Dedicated profiles per Firefox installation.

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The old profile is there and apparently intact but the information that appeared on my screen when ver 68.0.2 started said I would have to use a old version of FF to use it but I can't find anything else that indicates a compatability problem. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles talks about changing the default profile in ver 67 and later without any mention of using or not using profiles from earlyer versions.

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I took a chance and DLd FF69.0 with custom install so I can find it. It had no problem seeing my old profile and using it when I made it default. This was 2 days of totally unnecessary work. When I first start a new installation a screen displays information that can never be seen again. Ver 69 does not say a OLD version of FF is needed to use the old profile but the statement in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data "Any previous profile data is saved and associated with the first Firefox installation that was opened after this change " is false. Instead a person is given a empty profile and has to figure it out, perhaps the FF68 opening statement says a old version of FF is needed for the old profile and perhaps it does not. The only way to know is DL it again which is ridiculous. Certainly the opening statement that the old profile can only be used in another Firefox installation is false.