Why isn't my bookmark restore file type recognized?
I'm trying to restore my bookmarks after reinstalling Windows 10. They were saved in a windows.old file on my Passport. I used the Import and Backup button, selected Restore, and choose my file. It's a json file. It then gave me an error message "unsupported file type."
BTW, the file ends in .jsonlz45dd510a6. It's not recognized as a json file, so I had choose 'all files" and then highlighted it to select it, and received the above error message. I then tried making a copy but omitting the letters and numbers after .jason, and tried using that, but got an error message "unable to process the backup file."
Okulungisiwe ngu justchris63
All Replies (16)
The file extension is .jsonlz4 .
If I change it to .jsonlz4 I still get the error message "unable to process the backup file."
Any luck with this tool ?
No. It says "failed JSON parsing: SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected character at line 1 column 1 of the JSON data".
hi dr,
Access the Feature
Firefox has a built-in export tool that's accessible from the bookmarks Library.
To access the Library, click the “Firefox” button and then select “Bookmarks” or press “Ctrl-Shift-B.” To open the
Export Bookmarks File window, select “Import and Backup” above
the right panel and then select “Export Bookmarks to HTML."
Transfer the Bookmarks
Mozilla names the HTML file “bookmarks.html” and provides you with standard file-saving options.
Pick a storage location and then click “Save.” After creating the copy,
plug your external drive into the secondary computer or download the file onto
the computer from online storage, then use the Library’s Import and Backup menu again to import it.
Select “Import Bookmarks from HTML," locate the file and click “Open.”
IIRC, the importing from json backups and export-as-json have not worked in years. Had you tried copying the old FF profile over to your user files in the new Windows installation? There are different ways to activate the profile as a new profile in the existing FF installation, but deleting all of the Mozilla / Firefox folders from your Windows user profile (and possibly uninstalling FF) and then copying the old profile over (and reinstalling FF) should work.
justchris63 said
No. It says "failed JSON parsing: SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected character at line 1 column 1 of the JSON data".
What does the data in the box look like after the page decompresses it?
A JSON-format bookmark backup usually starts with something like this (in readable characters):
{"guid":"root_____
What's in your file?
The file is bookmarks-2019-11-20_2189_mWup1fRxr37mQD8f4y+KkA==.jsonlz4_LAST
The file contains my Firefox bookmarks.
This is a screen shot after decompression:
Dinushi Dhananjani,
It could not export any of the json files as html files because it could not recognize them (as html files?), so I copied and renamed the most recent backup json file as an html file and was able to export it. When I imported it, it just made second copies of all my current bookmarks, not the extensive number of bookmarks from the old backup, even though it was the backup file, just renamed as an html file.
crankygoat,
Where do I find the old profile, and what are its files called?
Hi justchris63, your file shows a lot of nulls (00) at the end, which is a bad sign. The mechanism Windows uses to track the precise start and end of files may have failed you in this case.
How about the start of the file (if you scroll back to the top of the box)?
Do you have any other old bookmark backup files that don't show that type of corruption?
The OP already posted that there is an error at the start of the file (line 1 column 1), so it is likely that the complete file only contains null bytes.
Quote: No. It says "failed JSON parsing: SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected character at line 1 column 1 of the JSON data".
jscher2000,
All of the files in the backup folder show that same type of corruption. I have no other folders.
Is this the only backup -- did the refresh create a Windows.old folder directly on the C drive?
If that is all we have, could you also take a look at the places.sqlite file(s) at the main level of your profile folder(s). You can load the file into an online viewer to see whether it can read any of the tables. For example:
https://inloop.github.io/sqlite-viewer/
The moz_bookmarks table requires the moz_places table for the URLs, so both need to be in good shape to get anything from the file.
Yes it's the only backup -- its from an external Passport drive dedicated to backups. The C drive was wiped when I had to reinstall Windows 10.
What "refresh" are you referring to?
Since the backup the new bookmarks I've added are in readable files, but I'm trying to reload my bookmarks from the prior to the Windows 10 re installation from the backup on the Passport device.
I just tried viewing one of the old bookmarks backup files in the viewer you just referred me to and it says: "error: file is encrypted or is not a database".
Okulungisiwe ngu justchris63
justchris63 said
I just tried viewing one of the old bookmarks backup files in the viewer you just referred me to and it says: "error: file is encrypted or is not a database".
The viewer is for .sqlite files, if you have an old places.sqlite file.