Copying old profive to new install does not work. Nothing appears.
I am building a new machine. Old was XP Pro, new is Win 7 Pro 64. I am trying to preserve bookmarks and other things and move to the new system. I have the old profile on an external drive. I tried replacing the new profile with the old one. FF just ignored the old file and built a new one. This led me to believe that the name of the profile is unique to the installation. Removed the old profile and copied the contents of the old profile into the new profile. FF still does not see the old information. How do I get theis to work?
All Replies (7)
Try copying only essential data. See Recover important data from an old profile
So you are saying that simply copying the directories and files in the profile will not work? You must go through FF?
A separate question - what is, is. If that is true, why was that done that way?
I don't have all the details of what you tried, but instead of spending time going through minor details , copying only the essential data is a quick and easy fix.
What minor details are you talking about. I did a copy of the contents of the profile. One action. All files moved. That by definition includes the quick and easy essential files. It sees nothing.
Those do not seem to be anything I would term "minor details". What is it that keeps FF from using the contents. Is there some sort of embedded checksums? What is the point of moving just some of the data. Why will that help.
In Recover important data from an old profile which Chris_Ilias mentioned earlier, there is a section called 'Your important data and their files', which lists the various files in the profile folder and their functions (e.g. places.sqlite for bookmarks and history, cookies.sqlite for cookies). Try to copy and replace only those files you need into your new profile folder.
See [[Profiles|#How_to_find_your_profile|Profiles:How to find your profile]]
"Application Data" in XP/Win2K and "AppData" in Vista/Windows 7 are hidden folders, use %APPDATA% in the File name field. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders
Go to: Control Panel > Folder Options > "View" tab > under "Hidden files and folders", select "Show hidden files and folders". You may want to un-check the box "Hide extensions for known file types" to see the file extensions of all files.
XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\ Vista/Windows 7: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
Are you absolutely certain that you copied those files into the correct folder?
Help > Troubleshooting Information, under Application Basics hit the Open Containing Folder where it says Profile Directory and verify that the active Profile folder is the same folder that you copied those files into.