Firefox profile problem?


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i have 1.0.5 at work and 1.0.6 at home, both of them after install ran fine for a few hours then locked up and on restarrt had deleted my profile and forced me to make a new one.

Anyone else have this?

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It probably didn't delete your profile.

Did you get an error message saying something like 'that profile is in use, create another?'

Sometimes Firefox doesn't shut down properly and 'hangs' in the Task Manager. Close Firefox and then check the 'Processes' tab of the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del). If you find any instances of 'firefox.exe', select line and 'End Process' or right click and do same. Now you should be able to open Firefox again normally.

If you have created another profile you will need to access your Profile Manager to sort things out. Ensure Firefox is closed properly, click Start > Run > (type) firefox.exe -p (firefox[dot]exe[space]-p). Your Profile Manager will now open allowing you to Create, Rename and/or Delete profiles.

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Wow, that's serious.

I've just read in the CoU forums that FF 1.0.6 has a vulnerability already, but I can't see that being your problem as it happened for you in 1.0.5 & 1.0.6.

Not suggesting you don't know where the files are but just to ensure we're on the same wave length, your profiles are situated (Windows) Documents & Settings > *User Name* > Application Data > Mozilla > Firefox > Profiles > *User Profile* Your user profile will have a random 8 letter/digit combination followed by your profile name.

Also, if there is no profile for whatever reason, usually deletion, Firefox will create a default user profile. Have you at least got that?

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yes FF prompted me on reload to make a new profile, but it said that the default was in use so it forced me to create another on both machines.

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yes FF prompted me on reload to make a new profile, but it said that the default was in use so it forced me to create another on both machines.

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That is exactly what Firefox will do when it is still running in the Task Manager Extended64. Sometimes it happens after installing extensions and sometimes it will happen because of a conflict between extensions.

Close Firefox and check it has closed properly. (Ctrl+Alt+Del) Open the Task Manager and select the Processes Tab and scroll through the jobs for firefox.exe, there may be more than one instance, whatever, select each line and End Task.

I know I'm repeating myself but I'm positive that is what is happening to you.

If you are succesful in re-openeing Firefox again, follow the steps I gave earlier to access the Profile Manager.

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I had this not too long ago. Firefox crashed and when i restarted it, it asked me to make a profile. I went to the profiles dir but it was empty, I lost my current bookmarks and whole profile. Lucky i had backed up my bookmarks file on another drive a few days earlier, but like Extended64, I had to make a new profile, my old one was completly gone.

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I had this not too long ago. Firefox crashed and when i restarted it, it asked me to make a profile. I went to the profiles dir but it was empty, I lost my current bookmarks and whole profile. Lucky i had backed up my bookmarks file on another drive a few days earlier, but like Extended64, I had to make a new profile, my old one was completly gone.

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Did you try what I suggested about closing the firefox.exe process and re-opening Firefox?

Firefox does not delete profiles, humans do, there must be some common error going on here.

Some tips for protecting data:-

The Bookmarks Backup extension will back-up your bookmarks and other data (each time you close Firefox) into a folder of your own choice with the names - Sunday, Monday etc etc. There is also a bookmarks backup file in your profile folder - bookmarks.bak - bookmarks.html is the 'live' file.

Backup and Restore Firefox profiles with Moz Backup (works with Mozilla suite and Thunderbird too) or Backup Fox 0.7.3.

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Firefox does not delete profiles, humans do, there must be some common error going on here.

I'd have to argue with that. When it wouldn't load my profile after crashing i tried to goto where my profile is

C:\Documents and Settings\Ash\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

and that folder was empty. This is the folder that holds the subfolder for your profile, so I know my profile was gone. Also when I created a new one, it was placed in that same folder.

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I'd have to argue with that. When it wouldn't load my profile after crashing i tried to goto where my profile is

C:\Documents and Settings\Ash\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

and that folder was empty. This is the folder that holds the subfolder for your profile, so I know my profile was gone. Also when I created a new one, it was placed in that same folder.

Your newly created default profile would be placed in that folder. I have 8 profiles (for various reasons, mainly testing) and all profiles are situated in the same folder - Profiles. Is your newly created profile still there? If so, does it work?

Have you checked you are viewing with hidden File and Folder prefs turned off? (They shouldn't be hidden anyway but this isn't as straightforward as it should be).

My only realistic answer to this is to uninstall Firefox and wipe clean all the Application Data with it and do a clean install. It is up to you if you want to delete the residual program files as well but that will mean you will lose any search engines you may have installed. I always use a Reg Cleaner in between installations but again, that's up to you.

You can save a lot of your data as I see you are aware but if you need any more help or advice on what you can keep etc I'll be around for a while yet!

Hope things work out,

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