Also spoke to Windows Support and was told to call Mozilla Firefox Technical Support.

If you see a message about a phone number support, do not use it. It is FAKE !
This is the official support forum and we do not supply support by phone.

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.

Thanks FredMcD for links. I couldn't find a folder called Old Firefox, however I've been able to resolve my issue. Found all of the bookmarks with a file extension: .json. All restored. Also, thank you for the prompt reply as the support request was urgent. Much appreciated. Have a great day mate!

Glad to help. Safe Surfing.

This is absolute CRAP! I also lost all my bookmarks that took me YEARS to compile.......... All my personal stuff and banking info is GONE! Why do an update if all it does is cause heartache for your customers? Makes no sense to me! NONE!

I do have a new folder on my desktop that says "Old Firefox Data", but don't know what to do with it.

The only file in there is from Nov 15 2017. When I open that up, I see many more file folders....... No idea how to get my bookmarks back!!!

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

This is shit

All my bookmarks gone with the latest update.

WHY WHY WHY

Desktop Old Firefox Data is from 2017 - Way out of date

Not happy

It allows to import bookmarks from all the other browsers but not the previous version of firefox - how stupid

All my business links and logons gone.

Will be changing to something else

Feel like I should charge them the 2-3 hours its going to take to get all the bookmarks back

Ended up finding the backup under

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

there were 2 folders one with the latest date ( pbrr79ry.default-release ) I assume is current the Second ( vho0uvd.default-1488068127228 ) has a folder ( bookmarkbackups ) with a current backup

Pete

Ended up finding the backup

Mine was in this directory

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\pbrr79ry.default-release\bookmarkbackups

The profiles directory had 2 folders. One I assume is the current profile info and has latest date The second is the above folder that had backups that were up to date before the update

Pete

That was very good work. Well Done. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem as this can help others with similar problems.

This is shit All my bookmarks gone with the latest update. WHY WHY WHY Desktop Old Firefox Data is from 2017 - Way out of date Not happy It allows to import bookmarks from all the other browsers but not the previous version of firefox - how stupid All my business links and logons gone. Will be changing to something else Feel like I should charge them the 2-3 hours its going to take to get all the bookmarks back

Well, Pete posted this:

• • • QUOTE***

Ended up finding the backup under

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

there were 2 folders one with the latest date ( pbrr79ry.default-release ) I assume is current the Second ( vho0uvd.default-1488068127228 ) has a folder ( bookmarkbackups ) with a current backup

Pete

• • • UNQUOTE***

That ought to be clear enough if you are familiar with how make your current profile point to the profile you were using before the Firefox update broke things.

Recently I was sent email in reply to a post of mine that was censored (Twitter Rules apply, I guess) which went just short of trying to tear me a new one because the sender did not see the question I was asking, namely, "Why does every patch or update to Firefox wipe the settings, bookmarks, configuration, and add-ons in such a way that they are difficult to restore if one is lucky enough to know how easily a simple mistake (such as changing one's Firefox account login password that one forgot because it had not been used all that often and resetting it had never caused significant problems before.)

So, to be very clear, why have releases of Firefox since around April(?) 2020 been designed to wipe all user configurations by default and make every user who wants to restore the settings used before the update go through a process that is a real PITA, to say the very least? Does anyone like that sort of "start over" policy?

The main problem (there are several bad ones now, when there were very few a couple of years ago) with the last three or four versions of Firefox is that it resets the user's FF installation to "factory settings" whenever the browser is updated or patched -- true upgrades seem to be more rare these days.

I have yet to see a plausible explanation why the user's settings (everything that is wiped away to some location that requires the user to remember the Firefox login passwordfor Sync and (probably) a master password. Even if the user recalls both of those, someone blatantly decided to make it difficult for users to restore their old settings, when that should be a one or two click task at most. Any setting, bookmark, add-on, etc. that does not automatically get restored should throw an error message that explains at least roughly what went wrong and why (e.g., the AdsOff addon failed to load because it relies on Firefox (no longer supporting some particular functionality that has been removed for the following reason: [some vague excuse about security usually works here].

Can you think of any quality product that is some sort of utility or appliancethat has lots of settings, customizations, and modifications the user can select, make, or install that just throws them away willy-nilly whenever said product is fixed or updated, even possibly improved.

Bven Microsoft strives to make sure that new releases of Office, Visual Studio, etc. are as seamless to the user as possible. I have worked on systems where the primary application programming language as well as the operating system itself were "under development" during almost all non-business hours. They were DEVELOPMENT systems that were run in "last stable configuration" during working hours. Current releases of FF have been far more user hostile.

Again, what is the excuse for not just simply giving users the option to run a newly updated release of FF, click an obvious button to restore all the non-factory spec settings, addons, configurations, bookmarks, etc. they were using the previous day, then click the "Yes, I am damn sure I want to at least try to keep as many things the way I last had them set up!" button.

Interestingly enough, although I quit playing WoW about a month ago, Blizzard also had a "revert to default game UI -- no addons, a lot of settings undone, etc. policy built into updates (not so much with patches) -- and as the popularity of WoW was tanking, the WoW devs have since made it possible to at least see all the addons one had, active or not, and try to load the custom set one last used. That has been true even during the changes required for a major new release.

There were warnings about how horribly wrong keeping ones addons and old settings might make things go, but I cheerfully ignored them and found it much, quicker, easier, and less painful to just disable addons that had not caught up to the newest WoW patch, tweak the settings of addons that still worked so they did so correctly again, and dealing with more subtle glitches that showed up over the next few sessions of game play.

I cannot think of a good, plausible technical reason that Firefox updates and patches have to wipe or reset all user customizations and make them a royal PITA to restore unless it is a desire to really piss off users.

The real problem with Firefox's "password vault" for username-password combinations a user decides to let it save is that it is POORLY DESIGNED. Human beings make mistakes. People forget things. People lose things (such as the sticky note under the keyboard where they write, in very tiny letters, all of their important logon info). That is after they forgot that the first place any knowledgeable person looks for someone else's password cheat sheet is under the their computer keyboard or very near whatever device they normally use to access the internet.

I have a simple solution for those like me who no longer trust Mozilla to provide a secure password vault that allows users to be human enough to forget things such as passwords. Ideally, the password vault should not be part of Firefox in the first place, but rather one of the many on the market that will work with multiple browsers or no browser at all. it makes me very suspicious that Firefox users are pushed hard to Sync other devices where they use Firefox. There are several free password vault programs which run independently of Web browsers or other application software yet generally spot when and where a stored username and especially a password needs to be filled in, then make it easy to do so with a click.

There is no need to use Firefox Sync. Anything I want to keep synced I can do wherever I have a computer with an Ethernet connection to the internet via a LAN I trust (more than a WiFi connection, anyway). Why does Mozilla hype Sync so much when it also spreads problems if something goes awry?

Just to be sure: is there a valid technical reason why FF has to be reset to default configuration every time it is patched, updated, or upgraded(?). Firefox was arguably my favorite Web browser of all time, until a year or two ago. Were the devs who lost their jobs due to downsizing the sort who could take whatever challenges are involved in making the user experience of going through a new release of Firefox in stride without getting all stressed out about it?

Sadly, the most experienced, highly-trained, or talented developers often seem to be the first to be let go when organization downsizing is a must. They generally have the best (if not golden) "parachutes" and often have no trouble ignoring NCAs if they are let go through no fault of their own (except maybe being so good they expect high pay). I wonder how many of the best and brightest of the people laid off at Mozilla have ended up with nice jobs at Google or one of its many affiliates?

How wonderful things would be if Mozilla Firefox or some other fork off Firefox were to keep *fox browsers as a group holing onto 5% or more of the browser market a year from now. I have strong opinions about Web browsers and know for a fact that IE can be completely disabled in Windows 8.n and probably earlier versions of Windows. I have my newest laptop running Windows 10 (mostly because I almost have to know it if I want certain kinds of consulting or network/system administration positions.

It will be a sad day when browsers from Apple, Google, or Microsoft become the only Web standard browsers that sites and companies will even bother to support. At least Firefox works reasonably well everywhere I want to buy something or pay a bill online. If I am never effectively forced to use a Web browser from those three giant tech companies, it will be too soon.

As I am finishing this brief message, I note that Waterfox is asking me to enter a master password. If it will only Sync with Firefox, it will never be synced at the browser level. I try not to repeart mistakes. I must have started to set up Sync by mistake. No worries. There is nothing related to Waterfox on this temp computer that I cannot do without. Syncing devices via Ethernet connection to a LAN is much more secure. Yes, I have Ethernet adapters for my mobile devices because there are lots of visible WiFi routers/hotspots broadcasting their names at my computer all day, every day.

Regards, Mark