What to do before updating firefox to keep previous bookmarks, preferences untouchable?
Can you guys provide instructions like X Steps before updating Firefox, in a clear way, not with a bunch of text, for old people like me to follow? I had Firefox nice and neat, the LMDE updated it and now it is like a fresh program. I tried to recover my profile, but it did not work - got an error message. So, it would be nice to easily find an article (just about what do do before upgrading) guiding the user to handle profiles before updating/upgrading. Please make these instructions available (easy way) before the disaster happens. Thanks a lot. Sabim
Chosen solution
These add-ons can be a great help by backing up and restoring Firefox
FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) {web link} FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions, history, passwords, and more. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your saved files individually into installable .xpi files. It will also make backup of files that you choose.
OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences
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sabim wrote:
now it is like a fresh program.
- Click the ≡ Menu Button, then the Power Symbol to exit Firefox.
- Start the Terminal application.
- In the Terminal window, type the following, then press Enter (note the P is uppercase):
- firefox -P
- The profile manager should start. If you have multiple profiles, switch to a different one to check if it has your personal data like bookmarks.
sabim wrote:
I tried to recover my profile, but it did not work - got an error message.
What exact steps did you take to recover your profile folder, and what was the error message you received?
If you want a simple and user-friendly way to backup your profile data, the FEBE add-on is probably the best way to do that. Bear in mind this would mean restoring your data would be dependent on a third-party extension working correctly.
To backup your profile manually,
- Type about:support into the address bar and press Enter.
- Click the Show Folder button. This opens a file manager window with your profile folder.
- Exit Firefox.
- Create a copy of the entire folder in a safe location, like your Documents folder or equivalent.
- If you need to restore something from the backup, the following article describes which files in the profile folder correspond to which data. Only restore files while Firefox is closed.
Hi Gingerbread Man, Thank you for your answer. The Profile manager shows only one profile (default). I tried to copy the profile from the old ./mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini to the new one but did not make notes about the what the text said. Silly me. Next time I will try to be more alert.
I will follow your 5 steps to backup the profile manually. However, I wish the users could see a kind of warning about the updating procedure before actually clicking on OK. Cheers, Sabim
Chosen Solution
These add-ons can be a great help by backing up and restoring Firefox
FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) {web link} FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions, history, passwords, and more. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your saved files individually into installable .xpi files. It will also make backup of files that you choose.
OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences
Thank you FredMcD. I already installed FEBE and I will make sure I use it before upgrading FF. Cheers, Sabim
Note that Firefox 32 and later will use the logins.json file to store the names and passwords, so make sure that this file is included in the backup once updated to Firefox 32.