How to recover lost bookmarks after a factory reset?
I performed a factory reset on my laptop and saved all of my files to a external hard drive, but I forgot to save my bookmarks. After I reset my computer to it's factory settings and loaded up Mozilla Firefox I realized that all of my bookmarks were gone. What can I do to recover them? How can I get them back easily? Is there a trick? A program to use?
தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது
Thanks for the replies, but neither of them were helpful. I said I performed a factory reset which causes any bookmark restore dates to be reset.
The following is what fixed my problem:
- Download, Install, and Run a file recovery program like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, and do a full scan of your (C:) hard drive
- Locate a backup of the file "Places.sqlite" (The file which contains the entire library of one's bookmarks)
- Recover and save that file to a flash drive
- Go to: Computer (C:) > Users > YourName > AppData > Roaming > Mozilla > Firefox > Profiles -- There should be a profile folder visible there (Example: x00000.default)
- Go into that profile folder and delete all the files with "places.sqlite" in the file name (should be 1-3 files).
- Insert the backup you saved of "places.sqlite" into the profile folder
- Run Mozilla Firefox, and press Ctrl + Shift + B.
There shouldn't be any real problems with this solution for others trying it. If anything fails to work it's because the instructions weren't followed correctly, or there is just no backup file of the bookmarks to recover. Everything that you need is saved in the "places.sqlite" file and Mozilla will read it upon start up of the browser and automatically reveal any bookmarks that were backed up onto that file at the time the backup was created, so its crucial you recover that file.
Hopefully this helps others, because I had to find this solution on my own.
-D3NNI5
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (3)
Hello,
Firefox automatically creates backups of your bookmarks, which can be helpful if your bookmarks are lost or missing. To recover them, follow the instructions below.
- Click the Bookmarks button
and select Show All Bookmarks.
- At the top of the Library window, click on Import and Backup and select Restore.
- Click the date of the bookmark backup you want to recover.
- In the new window that appears, click OK.
- Your bookmarks from the selected date should now be restored.
For more information, see the Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer article. For other solutions, see the Recover lost or missing Bookmarks article.
If you didn't backup your old Windows account and also do not have a C:\Windows.old folder then your old personal data is likely lost after doing a factory reset of Windows on your computer.
For preventing such dataloss in the future, see:
தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது
Thanks for the replies, but neither of them were helpful. I said I performed a factory reset which causes any bookmark restore dates to be reset.
The following is what fixed my problem:
- Download, Install, and Run a file recovery program like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, and do a full scan of your (C:) hard drive
- Locate a backup of the file "Places.sqlite" (The file which contains the entire library of one's bookmarks)
- Recover and save that file to a flash drive
- Go to: Computer (C:) > Users > YourName > AppData > Roaming > Mozilla > Firefox > Profiles -- There should be a profile folder visible there (Example: x00000.default)
- Go into that profile folder and delete all the files with "places.sqlite" in the file name (should be 1-3 files).
- Insert the backup you saved of "places.sqlite" into the profile folder
- Run Mozilla Firefox, and press Ctrl + Shift + B.
There shouldn't be any real problems with this solution for others trying it. If anything fails to work it's because the instructions weren't followed correctly, or there is just no backup file of the bookmarks to recover. Everything that you need is saved in the "places.sqlite" file and Mozilla will read it upon start up of the browser and automatically reveal any bookmarks that were backed up onto that file at the time the backup was created, so its crucial you recover that file.
Hopefully this helps others, because I had to find this solution on my own.
-D3NNI5