Who are you, and what have you done with my bookmarks?

Hello all,

I apologize in advance if this has been covered in previous postings.

This morning I logged in as usual, and maneuvered all over the Net using my bookmarks etc. I have been using Firefox for some time-I would guess a year I am up to version 1.07. I did not make any modifications or changes.

This afternoon, I logged on and got the "Mozilla Firefox Startup" page instead of my normal homepage. No bookmarks(the folder reads empty), no navigation symbols on the Bookmarks toolbar, nada.

I checked my Thunderbird E-mail settings and they are OK.

What have I managed to do, and is there a fix?

V/R,

Mike

 

You are not giving any details about your operating system, so I will give this link from Ramona's Netscape Solutions .
Your bookmarks.html file should still be there. You may have a corruption of the file . Check this stuff, even if it does not mention Firefox.
There is, periodically a backup, as well as a daily backup. You should have at least a bookmarks.bak file. There should be no difference in size between the .bak and the .html files.

 

Westside,

Thanks for your quick reply. I apologize for not providing my Operating System info. I am using Windows XP.

I looked in the two places you recommend, and now I am a bit confused. I have two "Profiles" folders; one is under "Firefox ", and the other is under "Mozilla ". The "Firefox" Profiles folder has no files in it with a *.slt extension, and the "bookmarks.html" file is less that 1KB. The "Mozilla" Profiles folder has a *.slt file, and the "bookmarks.html" file there is about 150 KB.

I noticed that the Mozilla Profile information is in a folder named "Mozilla/Profiles/default ", and the Firefox profile information is in a file named "Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/default.rbv ".

Getting the "Mozilla Firefox Start Page"

(http://www.google.com/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official)

instead of my usual home page was a bit of a shock.

Hope this information helps a bit more. I will try what Ramona recommends, but the lack of the *slt file in my Firfox folder scares me a bit.

V/R,

Mike

 

Mike,

In addition to Westside's sage advice:

It appears for whatever reason, a new Firefox Profile folder has been created. Since there are two Profiles listed, then your Bookmarks are most likely still located in the profile you were using previously. Hopefully the Mozilla folder contains the original Profile.

Try to start Firefox using the original profile.

You can do so by right clicking on the Firefox Desktop shortcut
Select: Properties
Click on the Shortcut Tab
To the end of the Location field, add one space, then -p
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox\firefox.exe" -p
This will open the Profile Manager

Try opening the Mozilla/Profiles/default Profile, and hopefully it will contain the the original bookmarks.html file, as well as your Preferences.

If this is the original Profile with all the appropriate files, then in addition to the -p you have added to the Desktop Shortcut:
Add one space after -p then type the Profile name which contains the appropriate files.
It will be similar to: "C:\Program Files\firefox\firefox.exe" -p profilename

If this is not the original Profile, then open the bookmarks.html file, and check to see if it is current enough for you to use. You can use the "Import" feature in the Bookmarks Manager to import the file into the newly created Profile.

I would also strongly advise making frequent backups of your Profiles folder. In the event Windows should freeze, you experience a power outage, Firefox should create another new Profile, or should a reformat be necessary, you won't have to worry about losing any of your Firefox Profile data.
See: Preventive Browser Maintenance

 

All my Firefox profiles are of this type:mC:\Documents and Settings\user_name\ApplicationData\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\h7dmeq4v.Firefox1.07
I created a number of profiles with names other than default, and each one has the random alphanumeric description. The term .slt is not there, but only the random alphanumeric. In other words unlike Mozilla there is no "in-between" folder. In my case the shortcut does not include the random terms.

 

Ramona and Westside,

Thanks a big bunch for your patience and help on this. I greatly appreciate it. I'll try the stuff you all recommend.

V/R,

Mike

 

Mike,

Westside is absolutely correct, as to the random/salted preceding the extension. I'm wondering if perhaps you had Mozilla installed at one time, or Netscape? At any rate, I would try to start the other Profile which has the large Bookmarks file, and see if it will run...

If not, then take a look at the large Bookmarks file, and try importing it into the new Profile.