Is it places.sqlite? Are you sure it's the most recent one from your old system? Note that this will replace your existing history (such as it is). If you ONLY want bookmarks, I'll post separately on that option.

First, I suggest setting Windows to show all file extensions and all hidden files and folders. These Microsoft support article have the steps:

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hide-file-name-extensions
• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hidden-files

In order to replace your existing places.sqlite file with the new one, you need to allow Firefox time to shut down and close up the related temp files. Otherwise, chaos might ensue.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
• (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup -- give it a good 15-30 seconds -- then rename places.sqlite to something like places.old. If you see other similarly named files like places.sqlite-shm and/or places.sqlite-wal, you can delete those.

Then you can copy the old places.sqlite into this folder.

Start Firefox back up again. Are you able to time travel back to your earlier history and bookmarks?

A Firefox profile stores all of your important data, such as your bookmarks, history, cookies, and passwords. This article explains how to copy the files to a new profile, lists important files in the profile and describes what information is stored in these files.

If you are having a problem with Firefox then sometimes, rather than trying to find and fix the exact cause of the problem, it is easier just to make a new Firefox profile and copy your most important data over to it. The Refresh Firefox feature will do this for you automatically.

Note: Because your preferences and extensions are often the causes of problems, this article does not explain how to copy these between profiles. Therefore, if you follow the steps in this article, you will have to reinstall your extensions and reconfigure your Firefox preferences afterward.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings

If you're only interested in bookmarks, that's a bit simpler.

Start on your XP drive and drill down into your old Windows user folder:

drive:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

If you don't see AppData, turn on viewing of hidden files and folders: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hidden-files.

Now... you might only have one semi-randomly-named folder under Profiles. In that case, click inside and check the bookmarkbackups folder for the most recent file. The file names contain a date and bookmark count, then gibberish. For your convenience, copy the file or two you want to try to restore to your Desktop or Documents folder. (If you have multiple profile folders, check each one the same way.)

Got them? Next, in Firefox, use the Restore feature, but you'll use "Choose File" and point it to your Desktop or Documents, wherever you coped that backup file. This restore will completely replace any bookmarks currently in your Firefox, which may be fine. However, if there's anything you really want to keep from your new Firefox bookmarks, you can add the option steps on the following list:

• (Optional) Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks

• Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer -- to access the backups on the desktop, use the "Choose file" command on the menu

• (Optional) Import Bookmarks from an HTML file

Success?

Make sure to remove existing places SQLite temp files: places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal

Greetings all, Thank you for your replies, but they did not help. I did not do a backup of my old bookmarks, so I can't restore them. They are, however, still in the file on the drive that has my XP install files still on it. Whenever I try to copy that file over to the new install folder, Firefox ignores it and creates new -shm and -wal files, which are then deleted when I close down Firefox. How do I make the new version recognize my old bookmarks file? Thanks.

RussBugge said

Whenever I try to copy that file over to the new install folder, Firefox ignores it and creates new -shm and -wal files, which are then deleted when I close down Firefox.

When you say Firefox ignores it, do you mean any of these:

• Firefox renames the copied in places.sqlite file to have "corrupt" in the name and generates a new places.sqlite file with default bookmarks and no history
• Firefox appears to use the file but Firefox doesn't show any old history/bookmarks in its user interface (or in the Library dialog -- Ctrl+Shift+b)
• Firefox still shows the same new history as though the places.sqlite file was not replaced at all

I guess B or C, I don't know the difference. I think the first time I tried this, it created the "corrupt" file, but I deleted that and replaced it and it hasn't come back. Thanks.

You only need to copy the main .sqlite files (bookmarks/history: places.sqlite and cookies: cookies.sqlite) and not the corresponding sqlite-shm and sqlite-wal temp files.

However make sure to remove existing sqlite-shm and sqlite-wal files when you copy or otherwise restore an SQLite file. Places.sqlite is quite a large file and there might be incompatibility issues, so normally it is better to use a JSON backup from the bookmarkbackups folder to restore the bookmarks.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

The old version I'm trying to copy doesn't have -shm or -wal files.

I cannot create a backup, because I can't get into the old XP executable.

The Places file I'm trying to copy is 10K; IDK if that's large or small.

Is that in KB (10 MB)?

That would be the correct size for a places.sqlite file.

Can you open that file with the SQLite Manager extension for inspection?

You can use the SQLite Manager extension in Firefox to inspect SQLite databases.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/sqlite-manager/

That isn't working, either. I downloaded and installed that addon, but it doesn't open the file.

Are you sure there are no .jsonlz4 files in the bookmarkbackups folder on your old drive? https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1111618#answer-848574