Maybe check this pref:

• browser.newtabpage.pinned

browser.newtabpage.pinned has the values of the pages that I added back after Firefox wiped out everything when it updated. It does not have the 2 that I added to havePinned. services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.newtabpage.pinned is set to true.

I tried copying the value from browser.newtabpage.pinned and setting browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts.havePinned to the same value but it didn't do anything.

Mine disappeared on one of my synced computers. I am not able to add any pinned topsites on this computer. I am running 70.0 64bit on windows.

I also checked browser.newtabpage.pinned and it has all the sites that should appear, but again, nothing shows. Also, this computer syncs with another, and the other computer firefox with the same version is showing the topsites correctly.

tinutuva said

I tried copying the value from browser.newtabpage.pinned and setting browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts.havePinned to the same value but it didn't do anything.

I don't think that's a useful setting for customization. It appears that it is only for pinning search engines, such as the default value, "amazon". According to the source code site:

"improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts.havePinned", { title: "A comma-delimited list of search shortcuts that have previously been pinned", value: "", }

I don't know whether adding a search engines to this preference does anything, or it is only updated by Firefox when a search engine is pinned to Top Sites using some other method.

spare1 said

I also checked browser.newtabpage.pinned and it has all the sites that should appear, but again, nothing shows. Also, this computer syncs with another, and the other computer firefox with the same version is showing the topsites correctly.

Could you check this test page to see whether there is a problem with storage on your Firefox?

https://firefox-storage-test.glitch.me/

the firefox-storage-test said all was good. Still not top-sites on that computer.

I ran https://firefox-storage-test.glitch.me/ and received the following:

Overview: Storage is working. This is the same version (70) as the last time you loaded this page. Specific Subsystem Statuses:

LocalStorage

   Good: Totally Working. (fullyOperational)

QuotaManager

   Good: Totally Working. (fullyOperational)

IndexedDB

   Good: Totally Working. (fullyOperational)

Cache API

   Good: Totally Working. (fullyOperational)

It said "This is the same version (70) as the last time you loaded this page." That only means that nothing changed since AFTER the update to version 70.0, so AFTER topsites stopped loading.

All pinned top sites should be present in browser.newtabpage.pinned, other prefs won't affect what URL are seen in the top site section Tiles that aren't pinned have a null value in the browser.newtabpage.pinned list.

The browser.newtabpage.pinned list contains the 10 sites that I re-added after the update to v. 70.0 wiped out all my topsites in the format [{"url":"https://outlook.live.com/mail/inbox"},...,].

With Options settings "Homepage and new windows" and "New tabs" set to "Blank Page" no topsites show up on a new page or a new tab.

I changed "New tabs" to "Firefox Home (Default)" and the topsites showed up on a new tab bt not a new page.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recover-user-data-missing-after-firefox-update

Nice idea except the only profile it showed is the one in use, all previous profiles are mysteriously missing. If they are still on my computer I don't know how to locate, identify the one I want, and restore it.

Quote: the topsites showed up on a new tab but not a new page

What do you mean with a 'new page'?

Opening a new browser, either from a shortcut or ctrl-n.

I don't get any topsite regardless. My bookmarks were NOT affected. I just have no topsites when i start the browser, or create a new tab.

Hey spare1, I went to Options -> Home -> New Windows and Tabs and set "New tabs" to "Firefox Home (Default)" and the topsites show up now when I open a new tab. They don't show up on the first page when I open firefox, but I just realized that they didn't before either, I always had to open a new tab to get them.

You can set the startup page to the Firefox Home page in case it is currently set to a blank page or to a website.

• browser.startup.page
• [0:blank; 1:home page; 2: last visited page; 3:restore previous session]

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox

Hey tinutuva, i tried that already, that didn't even work for me, I have cycled through all the 'New windows and Tabs' settings to no avail. Thankfully, this is on my upstairs computer, and not my main computer, or i'd be pacing the floor. I use topsites all the time now.