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I installed windows 7 from XP and needed to reinstall Firefox. However, I lost all the favorites list. Is there a way I can reclaim the previous 'favorites ' l

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Installed Windows 7 professional customized as required form XP. All Favorites were lost in Firefox and had to reinstall Firefox. Explorers maintained the Favorite list I had on explorer - entirely different than Firefox. Checked programs, created separately by 7 to include the XP file. The Favorites listing is not relevant to the list lost on the Firefox reinstall. Question: Is there any way I can recoup the original Favorites listing lost upon the 7 install, or is it 'gone with the wind'?

Installed Windows 7 professional customized as required form XP. All Favorites were lost in Firefox and had to reinstall Firefox. Explorers maintained the Favorite list I had on explorer - entirely different than Firefox. Checked programs, created separately by 7 to include the XP file. The Favorites listing is not relevant to the list lost on the Firefox reinstall. Question: Is there any way I can recoup the original Favorites listing lost upon the 7 install, or is it 'gone with the wind'?

Chosen solution

I haven't read about what happens in an XP-to-7 installation. Can you find this folder on your system:

C:\Windows.old

If so, can you find either of these:

  • C:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings\your-user-name
  • C:\Windows.old\Users\your-user-name

If so, your old Firefox data may well be in there. To explore further, it would be helpful to set Windows to show hidden files and folders. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hidden-files

Then look for either:

  • C:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings\your-user-name\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
  • C:\Windows.old\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Here you may find one or more semi-randomly named folders. The one with the most recently updated contents probably is the one you want to restore from.

Bookmarks Only

Drill down into the old bookmarkbackups folder and copy the two most recent backups to a convenient location such as the desktop.

The Restore feature will replace the default Firefox bookmarks (and anything you just added since the Reset) with the older set of bookmarks. If you need to preserve newly added bookmarks, use the export feature first, before the Restore, and then the Import feature afterwards. The following articles have the details:

Success?

Complete Restoration

This post has my suggested procedure for resurrecting your entire old profile in your new installation of Firefox. Please note the use of copy instead of move throughout the process. This allows you to try again if it fails somewhere along the way.

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1024189#answer-638319

Any luck?

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Chosen Solution

I haven't read about what happens in an XP-to-7 installation. Can you find this folder on your system:

C:\Windows.old

If so, can you find either of these:

  • C:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings\your-user-name
  • C:\Windows.old\Users\your-user-name

If so, your old Firefox data may well be in there. To explore further, it would be helpful to set Windows to show hidden files and folders. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hidden-files

Then look for either:

  • C:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings\your-user-name\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
  • C:\Windows.old\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Here you may find one or more semi-randomly named folders. The one with the most recently updated contents probably is the one you want to restore from.

Bookmarks Only

Drill down into the old bookmarkbackups folder and copy the two most recent backups to a convenient location such as the desktop.

The Restore feature will replace the default Firefox bookmarks (and anything you just added since the Reset) with the older set of bookmarks. If you need to preserve newly added bookmarks, use the export feature first, before the Restore, and then the Import feature afterwards. The following articles have the details:

Success?

Complete Restoration

This post has my suggested procedure for resurrecting your entire old profile in your new installation of Firefox. Please note the use of copy instead of move throughout the process. This allows you to try again if it fails somewhere along the way.

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1024189#answer-638319

Any luck?