Fixing Firefox Profile Problem

Help: Firefox Lost My Profile

When I tried to open Firefox yesterday, I was greeted with a dialog box requesting that I choose a profile. When I tried to select the one and only default profile, Firefox wouldn't or couldn't open it. I created a second profile and Firefox opened, but of course without all of the  customization I had done to it. Not wanting to reinvent my personal Firefox, I decided to poke around in the Profile directory and I came up with a simple way to restore my old profile, which I will share with you now.

Follow these steps to restore your profile:

1. When you encounter the dialog box requesting a profile, create your second profile and give it any name. Click OK and a plain vanilla version of Firefox opens.
2. Make sure you close Firefox and Thunderbird.
3. Navigate to your Firefox profiles folder. This is buried in your profile folder in Windows XP. My path looks as follows:
   C:\Documents and Settings\Ron\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
4. You should see two profile folders. Right-click each one and select Properties and determine which one was created today (the plain vanilla version) and which is your old, trusty profile. The profile you want should have an older Created date.
5. Double-click the older folder to open it. This is important. Make sure it's the older folder.
6. Press Ctrl-A to select all of the content in your old folder and Ctrl-C to copy all of it.
7. Navigate to the new profile. When the folder is open, press Ctrl-V to paste the contents of your old profile into your new one.
8. Note that if Firefox or Thunderbird is open, you will get an error message before all the files are copied. Close both programs. If you continue to get an error message claiming one is still open, press Ctrl-Alt-Del to access the Windows Task Manager. Click the Processes tab. Click the Image Name column to sort alphabetically by name, then scroll down and see if Firefox or or Thunderbird are in the list. If either one is, select it and click End Process. You should now be able to paste the entire contents of your old folder into your new profile.
9. When you are done, open Firefox and your old settings should be restored.

4/19 Update: See my addendum on this issue for additional information.

10/5/06 Update: See new Firefox problem where profile gets hosed.

Comments

[Jo]

Strange, this happened to me as well (yesterday), but only I did not update my Firefox browser yet...

[Sriram Rajan]

I believe I have a simpler solution.

1. Press Ctrl, Alt, Del keys together to open the task manager.

2. In the "Process" tab locate firefox and kill it.

3. Re-start Firefox.

This worked for me.. From my sys admin experience, I believe that a lock file created by Firefox is causing the problem.

If this doesn't work search for for "parent.lock" file in the \Documents and Settings\Sriram\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and then to the profiles folder and DELETE the same. You can only perform this if Firefox is not running. If so , follow steps 1-3 and try again.

[UrbanDEV™]

There is also another way to fix this, If CTRL+ALT+DEL does not work, and you already created a new profile and want to return to the old one.

If you go to:
C:\Documents and Settings\*USER*\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox

And look in the "Profiles" directory, you will see 2 profiles, one will be larger in size (MB), generally this is the one you were using originally. When you save extensions, settings, bookmarks, etc. it makes your profile folder larger in filesize.

Now, in:
C:\Documents and Settings\*USER*\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox

There is a file called 'profiles.ini', open this in notepad.

The content will look something like this:

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/sti85hq2.default
Default=1

[Profile1]
Name=Default User
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/7kog4fba.Default User

Profile0 is the original profile created when you installed firefox.

Profile1 is the profile that was made after firefox crashed, which it is now loading from.

Change
[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

To
[General]
StartWithLastProfile=0

*NOTE* Firefox must be closed while editing this file.

Now restart firefox, it may ask what profile you would like to user, select default.

This worked for me, so I am asauming it will work for you too.

Admin - UrbanDEV.net

[Brooks Parker]

I have tried all of these fixes and I still cannot get this thing to work. I hibernated my Dell D610 and when I resumed an hour later, I started to get the errors and I cannot find the parent.lock files and yes, I have unchecked hide files and folders and unchecked the box that hides files, so I am just stuck, I can't use my old profile.

Help!!

Brooks

[Mark]

I found that a second profile folder had somehow been created and that my old Bookmarks file was renamed from bookmarks.html to bookmarks.bak.

I deleted bookmarks.html, renamed the .bak file .html, then moved it to the other profile.

Only then did I get my bookmarks back, but other preferences remained lost.

[Jonathan Biddle]

Just to say that the CNTL + ALT + DEL trick worked a treat for me. This has happened to me alot. Any clues why?

[Ron Miller]

First of all, make sure that you have the latest version of Firefox. I found it didn't happen anymore after I installed an upgrade.

As for why it happens, I have a suspicion it happens when Firefox crashes. You think it's completely shut down, but it is actually still running in the background, so Firefox asks for another profile to compensate for the fact it's still running.

[cristina]

worked like a charm. thank you so much, ron.

[Sumeet Sandhu]

I attempted to use your guide to fixing this problem however I realised that I don't actually have a route that follows C:\Documents and Settings\(USER ACCOUNT)\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

I haven't got an Application Data folder anywhere in the My Documents and Settings folder.. I've checked in every folder of every account etc. any suggestions? much appreciated if you could email me with a solution!

[Lauren]

This works, after reading comments. Thanks so much. I actually deleted my new profile and followed the CTRL + ALT + DEL.

You really do need to show hidden files or you will scratch your head wondering why these folders don't exist for you. I had set my old computer to show hidden files and system files, but not yet on the new.

This happened to me after upgrading Semantec. I just wanted to add that you have to click on the default profile and start again, after CTRL + ALT + DEL'ing, it will work. Don't think you're blocked and going in circles.

Thanks, everyone.

People, link to this, so it stays high on Google. ;-)

[Sandra]

I want to thank you so very much for all of this. I thought I was pretty much screwed after i made the mistake of creating a second default profile. I thought i had lost everything my boyfriend had bookmarked over the years ! Anyway, everything's back to normal, and it's all thanks to this site.

And to those who try to find "Applications Data," you will have absolutely no luck doing so. Open up another browser, like Internet Explorer, and manually use the path C:\Documents and Settings\*USER*\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox. From there you should be able to fix everything.

___
Hi Sandra:

Thanks for the comment.

FYI, Application Data is sometimes marked as a hidden folder. If you do not see Application Data, do the following:

* Open Windows Explorer
* Click Tools > Folder Options > View
* Scroll down to Hidden Files and Folders
* Make sure the Show Hidden Files and Folders radio button is selected.

Ron

[Jeff F.]

Ron:
Huge, huge help. Everything worked like a charm and my Firefox is back up and running with all my previous customizations. Where do I send the check?

[Ron]

Glad you found it helpful, Jeff. That's why I posted it.

RM

[Jammers]

awesome, thanks alot! I've backed up my stuff now.

My problem in the end turned out to be that I couldn't get back to the 'choose profile' menu.

Go and run "firefox.exe -profilemanager" to bring it up in case someone has the same problem!

__
Thanks for the comment and the additional information.

RM

[bea]

running firefox.exe -profilemanager was THE easiest solution...it worked like a beauty for me!

remember to exit firefox, though, when you run it. and to get to your original profile, double click on it. :)

good luck!

[Nikki]

Hi Ron,

You're a star!! Thought I'd lost the lot.

Thanks so much!

[RiTarDid]

Okay, so I've worked with firefox a while and used all of the above methods in the past, this time I'm stumped...
My wife's firefox loads her bookmarks from her profile, but nothing else. No themes, no extensions, no toolbar customizations. I've started a new profile and copied everything across, deleted old profiles, corrected the "profiles.ini" file and no luck. I've re-installed the app and asked her to set it all up again, same result when she starts firefox. FYI: my profile on the same computer has had no issues, even when re-installing firefox. I put my profile back where it belongs and mine worked just fine. Any help (please)?

__

I have to say I'm stumped too.You may want to try conducting a search and see what other ideas are out there.

Do you know what happened (or what she was doing) when she lost the profile? Are you sure, you building the profile from the correct directory (and not an old Mozilla directory or an old installation of Firefox)?

Beyond that, I'm not sure what to tell you.

Wish I could be more help, but thanks for writing, and please post to the blog if you discover the solution.

Thanks,
RM

[Jeremy Henley]

I HAVE A MAJOR PROBLEM. i had firefox before so but it started to mess up by saying Mozilla Firefox Not Responding ( i have vista Home premium) so i deleted it got most of files on my computer. its not on my computer programs uninstall/change/repair. so i thought i just go on the mozilla website and download it again everytime i try to get it again my computer says-

"Error file for writing:
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\xpicleanerup.exe
Click Retry to try again, or Cancel installation."

when i press retry the same message comes up again. CAN U PLEASE HELP ME FIREFOX for me was the best browser next to internet explorer 7

[Enemy of Average]

Thankyou for this fix tip!!!

It was driving me insane!

[abdul]

oo my goddddd...........
thanks dude..
from many days this problem is f**king a lottt......
Now i resolved my problem..:)

regards,
www.elechub.com