NationStates Jolt Archive

For some reason, when I opened my Firefox browser this morning all of my settings were gone as well as all of my book marks, i have no idea why this is.:( So I am hoping that one of you kind people can help me out. :)

You’ve either opened FF in Safe Mode, deleted all your data in your FF directory (which is unlikely) or managed to open FF as a different user. FF can hold multiple user accounts. I believe there’s a thingamajig in the FF root directory that allows you to select which user to use, IYSWIM.

Close firefox completely. Start -> Run. Enter cmd in the box and press enter. At the command prompt run "firefox.exe -ProfileManager" without the quotation marks. See if your old profile is still there. If it is, select it and all you settings should be back.

More info. (http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/profile)

Format your hard drive. That will bring your bookmarks back.

Format your hard drive. That will bring your bookmarks back.
*nods*

Or set it on fire.

Alternatively follow Fass' technique. You decide.

Well I tried everything,except formatting my hard drive- I'd like to think I am not that dumb, and nothing worked. But thanks for the ideas :)

For some reason, when I opened my Firefox browser this morning all of my settings were gone as well as all of my book marks, i have no idea why this is.:( So I am hoping that one of you kind people can help me out. :)
what OS?

what OS?

Microsoft windows 2000...

Microsoft windows 2000...

sucky.

Fass is right though.

Microsoft windows 2000...

check the c: drive

Under Documents and Settings you should see a listing of folders, do you see one with your log in name?

if so, how many of them do you see?

if not, what folders are listed under your c: documents and settings. (not your MY DOCUMENTS and folders only.)

sucky.

yah yah i know:(

check the c: drive

Under Documents and Settings you should see a listing of folders, do you see one with your log in name?

if so, how many of them do you see?

if not, what folders are listed under your c: documents and settings. (not your MY DOCUMENTS and folders only.)
sorry about the big images
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o182/Antikythera_/scr1.jpg
heres my Doc and settings-> Administrator(me) folder
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o182/Antikythera_/scr2.jpg

on the second image.

what folders are listed in the same directory "Documents and Settings"
I see what looks like an All Users
and two more below it, one with an "An" and one with a "Fri"

now, I'm not familiar with FireFox, so I am assuming that all the bookmarks would be kept in the "Favorites" folder you see in your Administrator folder. open that folder and check to see if you see your bookmarks. check the "favorites" for each of the other 3 folders. if you do find it, and it's not in the ALL USERS folder, try move the contents of that "Favorites" folder to the "Favorites" folder in the ALL USERS folder and then reboot your pc.

on the second image.

what folders are listed in the same directory "Documents and Settings"
I see what looks like an All Users
and two more below it, one with an "An" and one with a "Fri"

now, I'm not familiar with FireFox, so I am assuming that all the bookmarks would be kept in the "Favorites" folder you see in your Administrator folder. open that folder and check to see if you see your bookmarks. check the "favorites" for each of the other 3 folders. if you do find it, and it's not in the ALL USERS folder, try move the contents of that "Favorites" folder to the "Favorites" folder in the ALL USERS folder and then reboot your pc.

After looking through all three "favorites", i can't find them...:(

After looking through all three "favorites", i can't find them...:(

:confused: there should be Four favorites, one in each folder in the D&S...

Administrator
All Users
An...
Fr...

anyone know where Firefox keeps the bookmarks?

you can try and check the c:\program files\(and see if there is a firefox folder in there.)

sorry about the big images
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o182/Antikythera_/scr1.jpg

http://i13.tinypic.com/44uzo5c.png

Sorry, I was linux centric and forgot that the Windows command prompt is crippled and sucks... don't enter "cmd" in the "Run" box, but enter "firefox -ProfileManager" without the quotation marks directly in it instead. Also notice that it's not "-ProgramManager" but "-ProfileManager."

:confused: there should be Four favorites, one in each folder in the D&S...

Administrator
All Users
An...
Fr...

anyone know where Firefox keeps the bookmarks?

you can try and check the c:\program files\(and see if there is a firefox folder in there.)

your correct there are four i dont know why i said three, anyway there still MIA.
in c:\program files\... there is a firefox folder i just looked through it thought and cant find them

anyone know where Firefox keeps the bookmarks?

C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.random_number\bookmarks.html

The latest versions of firefox even have a backup folder for them in C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.random_number\bookmarkbackups

ah ok now iam feeling like a bit of an idiot:p
alrighty..
when i go to the Profile manager box i only have the default...i never made a profile. but i don't see why this would eradicate my bookmarks and settings

C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.random_number\bookmarks.html

The latest versions of firefox even have a backup folder for them in C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.random_number\bookmarkbackups

ah ok now iam feeling like a bit of an idiot:p
alrighty..
when i go to the Profile manager box i only have the default...i never made a profile. but i don't see why this would eradicate my bookmarks and settings
sometimes the profile gets corrupted and so it creates another profile... with it's default settings. hense why i was questioning the other two... An... Fr...

try fass's idea again, otherwise, check the backup location and if it's there, copy them to where it's suppose to be.

another thing to try is search your harddrive for the Firefox shortcuts (don't know what they would be saved as.) if that doesn't work, I'm out of ideas.

well i found my list of Stumble Upon Favorites...it something:(
Well thanks for all of your help and ideas guys:fluffle:

This sort of thing happened to me once with Netscape. I started looking around and found a trouble shooting forum where I learned the problem was misaligned electrons in my hard drive. I found out that to fix the problem I had to go into the netscape directory and look for the backup file with my bookmarks but it was a slightly older list than the one I lost so some of the links in the list were lost. To prevent this from happening again I had to shut down my computer, carefully remove the harddrive, and run a very strong magnet back and forth over it several times to realign the electrons. Misaligned electrons can cause a lot of files to become corrupted or lost.

Its not going to help you now.. but for future reference foxmarks (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2410/) rocks.

You can access your bookmarks from anywhere.. and if you ever have the same thing happen again you can just get them back.

Of course I am not 100% sure about the privacy angle.. but what the hey.. they are only bookmarks :)

This sort of thing happened to me once with Netscape. I started looking around and found a trouble shooting forum where I learned the problem was misaligned electrons in my hard drive. I found out that to fix the problem I had to go into the netscape directory and look for the backup file with my bookmarks but it was a slightly older list than the one I lost so some of the links in the list were lost. To prevent this from happening again I had to shut down my computer, carefully remove the harddrive, and run a very strong magnet back and forth over it several times to realign the electrons. Misaligned electrons can cause a lot of files to become corrupted or lost.

You are an evil evil man :eek:

This sort of thing happened to me once with Netscape. I started looking around and found a trouble shooting forum where I learned the problem was misaligned electrons in my hard drive. I found out that to fix the problem I had to go into the netscape directory and look for the backup file with my bookmarks but it was a slightly older list than the one I lost so some of the links in the list were lost. To prevent this from happening again I had to shut down my computer, carefully remove the harddrive, and run a very strong magnet back and forth over it several times to realign the electrons. Misaligned electrons can cause a lot of files to become corrupted or lost.
:rolleyes:
don't forget to open the harddrive and thoroghly wash those platters... they can get filthy... especially with all the viruses and spyware out there. :p

:rolleyes:
don't forget to open the harddrive and thoroghly wash those platters... they can get filthy... especially with all the viruses and spyware out there. :p

:p :p :p

yah makes you wonder why they even bother putting your new hard drives in those fancy baggies that protect against static electricity and the like
:D :p

You'd be suprised at how often that or some technobable advice whose solution eventually leads to the destruction of the computer actually works.

I had the same kind of thing happen to me before. There's a good chance your stuff is still there somewhere.

:confused: there should be Four favorites, one in each folder in the D&S...

Administrator
All Users
An...
Fr...

anyone know where Firefox keeps the bookmarks?

you can try and check the c:\program files\(and see if there is a firefox folder in there.)
FireFox saves all bookmarks as one .html file. In the FireFox profile folder!

In Win98 each FF profile is saved at:

C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*Each profile ID name

When you find the right profile folder, look for a file named "bookmarks.html" If you see anything called something like "bookmarks-1.html" etc. Open it like you would any other link or file and see if your bookmarks are there. If so, save a copy somewhere and either try to rename it "bookmarks.html" or just bookmark the file itself. (It will open as a normal web page, with all of the urls set up as a list of links with site name/info.)