I had some issues with my work laptop the other day and all my settings for my applications had been lost. Damn I thought, I’ve lost all my bookmarks and firefox settings. However I had backed up my profile a few days before but wasn’t sure how to move it to my new computer seamlessly.
After a bit of googling and trial & error, I found the following way to work the best:
1. Exit Firefox
2. Start -> Run -> type ‘%APPDATA%’
3. Select Mozilla -> Firefox -> Profiles
4. Copy profile folder (XXXXXXX.default) and paste it to desired location (eg. C:\Firefox\Profiles)
5. Start -> Run -> type ‘firefox.exe -ProfileManager’
6. Click ‘Create Profile’
7. Click ‘Choose Folder’
8. Select the newly copied folder (eg. C:\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXX.default)
9. Now select the newly created profile and click ‘Start Firefox’ — check that all your cookies etc are there
10. Surf the net!
I have another suggestion:
For Firefox 3.x and below:
1. Go to bookmarks>organize bookmarks>import and backup>export html
2. You will be able to save your bookmarks as html file.
3. copy this file to another pc
4. using other pc follow step 1 but this time instead of export html choose import html (you will be asked for file location where you saved the html you copied.
For Firefox 5.x/6.x not sure for 4.x
1. Go to bookmarks (hit “alt” or enable menu bar)
2. choose show all bookmarks>import and back-up>export html
3. You will be able to save your bookmarks as html file.
4. copy this file to another pc
5. using other pc follow step 2 but this time instead of export html choose import html (you will be asked for file location where you saved the html you copied.
I have another suggestion if you want to copy your bookmarks only:
For Firefox 3.x and below:
1. Go to bookmarks>organize bookmarks>import and backup>export html
2. You will be able to save your bookmarks as html file.
3. copy this file to another pc
4. using other pc follow step 1 but this time instead of export html choose import html (you will be asked for file location where you saved the html you copied.
For Firefox 5.x/6.x not sure for 4.x
1. Go to bookmarks (hit “alt” or enable menu bar)
2. choose show all bookmarks>import and back-up>export html
3. You will be able to save your bookmarks as html file.
4. copy this file to another pc
5. using other pc follow step 2 but this time instead of export html choose import html (you will be asked for file location where you saved the html you copied.
Dear Moderator,
Please delete my first reply, it may only cause confusion. The second reply maybe more suited to other queries such as how to copy my bookmarks to another pc.
regards,
Homer
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re a life saver. It worked!!!
Thank you.
You inspired me to a new and different approach. -ProfileManager would not work for me.
I copied the profile folder of my previous profile (elsewhere in Application Data). I made a copy of the profile folder used by current Firefox (as a backup), emptied the folder. I copied the content of the previous profile folder and pasted it in the current profile folder.
My XP computer recently died, I replaced it with a Windows 8 64 bit machine.
I want to move my Firefox profile information from the XP machine’s HD to the new version of Firefox I loaded on the new machine.
The old machine is dead, I cannot copy any files using it, I have that HD connected to the new computer with a USB cable.
The only comments I’ve found deal with Windows 7 and folders not on my new machine – yes I am looking at all folders including hidden.
Any ideas?
Nate, I don’t have a W8 machine handy, but try looking here in Firefox:
Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder