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I have accessed my crashed Ubuntu version via live USB trial. Where am I supposed to find my former Firefox bookmarks and history files in order to copy and transfer them into a new installation?

4 Answers 4

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The easiest thing to do would be copying the Firefox profile folder over

~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox#Linux

The bookmarks are actually stored in bookmarks.html if you just want that.

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  • ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default should I insert this into terminal?
    – Andy
    Nov 17, 2012 at 19:53
  • 1
    @Andy the xxxxxxxx is a random string generated, you need to take a look at yours and take it from there;-)
    – Terry Wang
    Nov 17, 2012 at 23:25
  • I found the hidden folder mozilla on the previous version but I cannot access its contents due to the password protection in the previuos version. could you recommend any method of opening such a folder from the trial ubuntu on live USB or from a newly installed system?
    – Andy
    Nov 18, 2012 at 9:38
  • @Andy Can you explain "password protection"? Do you mean the bookmarks or the profile folder (or filesystem it resides)? If you know the password you set, try to run firefox -p /mount_point/home/user/.mozilla/xxxxxxxx.default and see if you can input the password and export the bookmarks.
    – Terry Wang
    Nov 18, 2012 at 12:03
  • thank you a lot I managed to restore my broken boot and access the system :)
    – Andy
    Nov 18, 2012 at 15:19
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If you have never used the firefox option Bookmarks->Show All Bookmarks-> Import and Backup -> Export Bookmarks to HTML, then you will never see a file, bookmarks.html. In such a case, you can probably copy over the history files stored in ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/bookmarkbackups/ where xxxxxxxx.default is a FF assigned directory. And then, don't forget to export the bookmarks to wherever you want them. It will be stored at /bookmarks.html

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    After copying across the most recent backup, I restarted firefox and opened the library. I clicked "import and backup" then on mouse over, the restore option showed the backup file. Select this and the bookmarks are imported into the browser.
    – dmkonlinux
    Aug 19, 2018 at 6:08
  • @dmkonlinux This should be the answer. Oct 14, 2018 at 11:01
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You can simply copy the old .mozilla folder into your home folder, after which you can select the appropriate backup through Import and BackupRestore within FireFox (or IceCat) under BookmarksShow All Bookmarks.

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If you haven't exported your bookmarks to a bookmark.html file, you can still replace your current bookmarks with your old ones :)

  • Click on Bookmarks->Manage Bookmarks or simply use Ctrl+Shift+O.
  • Select Import and Backup->Restore->Choose file
  • Navigate to your old .mozilla folder. make sure you right click Show Hidden Files
  • Keep the JSON preselected filter on and in one of the folders of under the firefox directory you should find a bookmarkbackups folder. Simply click on the latest .json file!

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