User Profile Box on restart after update
Last night Firefox insisted that it be updated and so I allowed the update on my somewhat antiquated laptop. It's the laptop that my wife uses and because she's far from tech-friendly, things need to be simple and basic. She didn't want to update it because everything was fine for the limited browsing that she uses the laptop for but for the sake of doing as we're told, we let it happen.
When the laptop restarted and we went to open Firefox, a damned User Profile Box appeared - one that's got me scratching my head and cursing. What the hell is it? Choose User Profile Then inside the box; Create Profile Rename Profile Delete Profile She doesn't have a 'profile' - what the hell is it anyway? Why should we make this change - what's it in aid of?
Whatever, we opted to click on Rename Profile and found that the existing profile was 'User', so I renamed it with her name - and then started Firefox. A blank Firefox page appeared - with no favourites; no log-ins; no records - NOTHING. Preferences? NONE. What on earth has happened? She had a selection of physiotherapy exercises in her favourites - WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY? THEY WERE VITAL FOR HER HEALTH AND NOW THEY'RE GONE. Just what the hell is going on? Why do we need to go through all this - where have all her records gone?
Ok - I searched the internet for an answer. I then found a similar case from back in 2015 - and the member (because it was on this forum) came to the conclusion that it was best to use Chrome instead - and I reckon that's what my wife will have to do. If this change can't be undone and if her saved information can't be accessed (and EASILY - not via a string of convoluted instructions that neither she nor I will understand) then you've just lost another customer. Answers please - and simple ones, not a long guide through the mess that's inside Firefox.
All Replies (5)
We have complained a lot about things like this happening.
First, Firefox creates a profile for every user account on the computer. This is so that user A may have separate options, setup, bookmarks . . . . from other users. This is also for privacy reasons as only user A can access user A's data.
Look on your desktop. Do you see a folder called; Old Firefox? Look inside. Look for the folder with the latest creation date.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox#Navigating_to_the_profile_folder
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
Type about:profiles<enter> in the address bar.
How many profiles are listed?
How many should be there?
Also, open the profile folder in your file explorer.
Thank you Fred, for your (hopefully) helpful advice and information. One problem at this end though - I'm accessing this all on my PC whereas the problems are in the laptop in the other room. At present that means me running from room to room as I try to connect your links - and do also bear in mind that when you go to any one of the links you've provided, it then opens to a whole plethora of advice, instructions and directions. It's not just a straightforward "open, read the info and do it" situation so I'm still working on finding the right solution. Her old laptop is also so slow that I'd lose my mind if I were to use it to access your help. In the meanwhile I've created a whole new Firefox identity for my wife and personalized a new Firefox home page, along with a big selection of my saved favorites. That at least is keeping her happy - but those exercises (which were sent to us in long-deleted emails) can't yet be found and that's probably the most annoying part of this update. More in due course to keep you informed of my progress in searching through your links.
Okay, step one:
FredMcD said
Look on your desktop. Do you see a folder called; Old Firefox? Look inside. Look for the folder with the latest creation date.