Closed Bug 284099 Opened 19 years ago Closed 16 years ago

bookmarks lost when upgrading Firefox

Categories

(Firefox :: Bookmarks & History, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Bookmarks & History
Version:
1.0 Branch
Platform:
x86
All
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
critical

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED INVALID

People

(Reporter: wildheart, Unassigned)

References

(
URL
)

Details

(Keywords: dataloss, Whiteboard: see comment 24 before adding comments) 

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; fi-FI; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; fi-FI; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1

The bookmarks.html got overwrtitten with a new one containing only the Personal
toolbar folder (in finnish "Kirjanmerkkipalkin kirjanmerkkikansio") after
upgrading Firefox. The original version of Firefox was 1.0 Finnish language
version, the upgrade version was 1.0.1 Finnish version.


Reproducible: Couldn't Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce:
This is about the sequence I executed

1. Install Firefox 1.0 Finnish language version as root to directory /opt/firefox
2. Use firefox for few months, add some extensions, save bookmarks, change
various settings
3. Stop firefox :)
4. Empty the directory where firefox was installed (in this case /opt/firefox)
5. Run firefox 1.0.1 installer with sudo: "sudo ./firefox-installer" and install
again to /opt/firefox
6. Launch firefox as normal user right after installation dialog disappears,
before installation has launched firefox
7. Choose to start the browser as Default User when the "profile chooser" appears.
8. Close the complaint dialog about profile being in use already and all firefox
windows
9. Restart firefox 

Actual Results:  
Bookmarks and bookmarks toolbar were empty. The bookmarks.html file only
contained the folder for Personal toolbar, but no bookmarks at all. 

Expected Results:  
Bookmarks should have remained untouched after upgrade.

The OS version was SuSE Linux Professional 9.2 with default KDE desktop.

The following Firefox extensions were installed: Adblock v.5 d2 nightly 39, FLST
0.8.1, ReloadEvery 0.5, TabScroller 0.6, LastTab 1.0.5,

Default theme was used.

I'm not sure if the problem is related to the actual upgrade or if launching the
browser right after installation dialog did something nasty. Anyway the
bookmarks are gone, but luckily everything else in the profile seems to be OK
including settings, extensions and home page. I tried to reproduce the bug as
another user but of course I was unable to reproduce it.

The bookmarks.html originally inlcuded links in several directories, few RSS
feeds and couple of bookmarklets.
Version: unspecified → 1.0 Branch
8. Close the complaint dialog about profile being in use already and all firefox
windows

The fact that this dialog appeared means that the previous firefox.exe. was not
cleanly shutdown and was still running when you launched the new version.

you're bookmarks still exist.  It's just that you're now running with a new
profile that doesn't contain them.

follow along to get your bookmarks back:
-ensure Firefox is NOT running; check application processes or reboot Windows to
be certain
Windows users:
-click the Windows -Start- button in the system tool tray
-click -Run-
-type in "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -ProfileManager
this will bring up the Profile Manager.
Linux users:
-cd to the directory where you installed Firefox
-type ./firefox -profilemanager that will launch the profile manager

-First, uncheck the box next to Don't ask at startup.  This will allow the
profile manager to open at startup as long as you have more than one profile listed.
-Next, select the profile named default(this should be the one with your missing
bookmarks) and click -Start Firefox-

note: you can shutdown Firefox and go back to the profile manager with a normal
launch of Firefox(not through run, but you can use run if you like to :-)). Once
there, notice you can create new profiles, rename exising ones or delete profiles.
OS: Linux → All
(In reply to comment #1)
I'm using Linux version of Firefox as you can see from the case description and
the bookmarks file really is gone forever. RIP. I know that there were other
firefox processes running when the dialog about profile being used appeared, but
still Firefox should not ever eat my bookmarks file. (NOTE: I know the location
of the bookmarks file and the file was for sure overwritten, with empty default
bookmarks.).

I am a technically oriented person and I know that it takes some serious work to
find the root cause for this bug, especially when it doesn't seem to be easily
reproducable. Still I think it's crucial to submit all bugs found, whether they
will be fixed or not. By the way, I got one email from a Windows Firefox user
who had suffered from a similar problem. Unfortunately he didn't leave a comment
here, even though I engouraged him to do so.
bug 205591 is Seamonkey version of this bug. Confirming this per coming duplicates.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Keywords: dataloss
Summary: bookmarks got lost when upgrading from Firefox 1.0 to 1.0.1 → bookmarks lost when upgrading Firefox
*** Bug 287903 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 254883 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I had the same problem just now when upgrading (using the firefox-installer)
from 1.0 to 1.0.4 on Ubuntu Linux. I still have a single profile, however the
bookmarks.html file has today's date and the time when firefox 1.0.4 was
installed. It is empty. I still have my old firefox install in /usr/lib/firefox
new one is in /usr/local/firefox-installer
Hmm, and there's only a single profile in ~/.mozilla/firefox?
I've found that I only do this when installing or running firefox first with the
sudo command to set up root's stuff.  Sudo does not establish root's
environment, and it screws with the user's environment.

Therefore, this bug can be closed for me.
*** Bug 294139 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 285868 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 294018 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 291715 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 297560 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 297196 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 298241 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
system: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050628
Firefox/1.0+

when importing bookmarks, in manage bookmarks left side is showing only folders,
but no bookmarks, and in the right side are no clickable bookmarks, but they are
there.

bookmarks are duplicated all folders not merged, so i have two bookmark toolbar
folders, and can't delete them to use right ones.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6

upgraded, but second time for data loss.. 80% of the bookmarks were lost, the
rest weren't even in order or in correct folders. 
Figured I didn't do anything wrong this time, somewhat glad it's a bug, yet so
much was lost..
also plugins stopped working, but it's irrelevant..
happens also on Linux with 1.06 installer in English language. All bookmarks
gone. Passwords deleted.
*** Bug 304099 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 304557 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 305793 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I didn't even upgrade.  My bookmarks just disappeared!!!  I had hundreds!!  How
do I get them back?  They are still loaded on my other computer.  Can I export
them from one computer to the other? Please give step by step directions, as I
am not a computer geek.  Thanks!

Donna
Hi, I had that problem and the geeks tend to ignore such things as beneath them.
You can import my old Favorites from Internet Explorer...horrible to think you
have to rely on that! when you import them save your bookmarks/favorites as a
file in your task bar so you can find them later. Good luck!
I'm sorry you lost your bookmarks. Bugzilla is, however, not a support center,
it's a development tool. Please, do not add further comments, to say that this
just  happened with you, or to ask for assistance with recovering the bookmarks.

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Lost_bookmarks for information about what you can
do in this case, or if you have any additional questions, post them on
MozillaZine forums.

Thanks.
URL: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Lost_bookmarks
Whiteboard: see comment 24 before adding comments
My loss of bookmarks was not due to a voluntary "upgrade" .. i shut down the 
computer one day , and next day at startup, the "new" program appeared without 
bookmarks.
the firefox program concept has more than "flaws" ..the persons that may be in 
charge of the changes as they are released have NO apparent awarness of us 
great "unwashed" technically challenged users that dont have a clue of how 
to "recover" or "backup" data that this system (as it is being done now) can 
lose during an "improvement"   dddon1
donjsjr@email.com: you are not helping. Please save such comments for the forums.

Your bug is different from this one anyways, so I'm not sure why you're posting
here.
*** Bug 307051 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I believe this problem is related to the common practice of initializing a
central copy of Mozilla in, say, /opt/firefox while logged in using sudo or su
root.  The environment is not entirely updated, so $HOME usually still points to
the ordinary user, whose bookmarks.html file gets overwritten by the default
template.

It should not be too difficult to fix.  Just check whether bookmarks.html
already exists and if so leave it alone.  If the file format changes, convert
the existing file or back it up so it can be imported with some other tool.
Assignee: vladimir+bm → nobody
I have Firefox installed on my Laptop and use it in preference to Internet Explorer. However, I have been very frustrated by this problem and the potential solution for me keeps me going back to IE which I do not want to do. I have lost all my bookmarks twice on 2 seperate occasions. On both instances it appears to me that Firefox is going through some automatic update when this occurs. What makes matters worse is that with IE all of my shortcuts are stored in my profile within Windows so I always have a backup...not so with Firefox...can you help me so I dont have to go back to Microsoft IE
*** Bug 340528 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 299251 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 340514 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 342888 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 310850 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 343109 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 343442 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Only solice that it IS a bug. All bookmarks gone with update of FireFox. Will this be fixed?
Same thing happened to me when FF automatically upgraded to Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.8.0.5) Gecko/20060723 Firefox/1.5.0.5
*** Bug 346791 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 347115 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 347490 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 348035 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 348818 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 349211 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Can you change the branch to 1.5.0.x, since this problem still exist? If I would have known about this bug I would disable auto update and backed up my bookmarks.  I lost all my bookmarks on auto updating to 1.5.0.6
*** Bug 350125 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
sorry for bugspam, long-overdue mass reassign of ancient QA contact bugs, filter on "beltznerLovesGoats" to get rid of this mass change
QA Contact: mconnor → bookmarks
*** Bug 351734 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 351892 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 351894 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 352176 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
All my 250 Bookmarks LOST! This happened while upgrading from 1.5.0.6 to 1.5.0.7! The update was automatic. And everytime i start firefox, i have to maximize it! the bookmarks toolbar reappears and is totally empty!

I can't believe nobody has taken up this bug as yet! What's happening up there guys!? And any idea how i can get my bookmarks back? IF AT ALL I CAN!
Sterex - bugzilla has several links in different places to get you to the support pages, as well, the link in the url field of this bug explains how to restore your bookmarks as does comment 24 which the whiteboard asks you to read before commenting.

FWIW it wasn't the update itself that did this, it was when you restarted your pc (if you didn't restart your pc, please reply and correct me).  There are plans for  trying to reduce this issue, although we are still trying to isolate if there is something specific about the update process that makes it more likely for this to happen if you restart your pc before applying a downloaded update.
(In reply to comment #53)
> Sterex - bugzilla has several links in different places to get you to the
> support pages, as well, the link in the url field of this bug explains how to
> restore your bookmarks as does comment 24 which the whiteboard asks you to read
> before commenting.
> 
> FWIW it wasn't the update itself that did this, it was when you restarted your
> pc (if you didn't restart your pc, please reply and correct me).  There are
> plans for  trying to reduce this issue, although we are still trying to isolate
> if there is something specific about the update process that makes it more
> likely for this to happen if you restart your pc before applying a downloaded
> update.
> 

Yea I guess you are right. After I installed the update, Firefox worked fine. It was only after the restart that i lost the bookmarks. Even then, that does not solve the problem right?

There is one more thing to add to it. Everytime i start Firefox now, it has to be maximized (it does not remember its last window size) and the bookmarks toolbar appears from nowhere and is empty. Even if i disable the toolbar, it comes back the next time i start Firefox.

Wasn't that update supposed to be a security update!? Or did Mozilla find Terrorist Website Links in my Bookmarks!?? LOL!
*** Bug 353925 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
This isn't a support forum.  I'd be happy to help you in irc.mozilla.org in #firefox if you can't find your answers from the links already provided.
*** Bug 354042 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 354488 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 356019 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 348480 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Depends on: 319196
No longer depends on: 319196
TO WHOM IT CONCERNS:  THIS IS NOT A BUG ... perhaps it is a neat way that MS has found to scare users away from using the "free" system .. too bad there are not any programers that realize that this is a DAMN important problem ... in my experience, i DIDN"T  "upgrade" ... one morning they were all  gone!!
an automatic improvement!!! listen up!!  MOST USERS DON"T KNOW ANY PROGRAMMING .. they only use the net for info and communications SOOOOOoooo .... if you can:    step in an fix the problem !!   dddon
This is a bug, what is happening is if Firefox is forced closed (crash, restarting the pc without exiting firefox first, killing it in task manager, etc) before it is done writing to rdf files, those files become corrupted. This bug is still left open because we're not ruling out the possibility that this is more likely to happen after an update.
How do I fix this????
*** Bug 357768 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 358671 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I Lost my ability to have a bookmark tool bar in Firefox. It disappeared after my last update for IE tabs and it hasen't com back. 
*** Bug 363164 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Hi, I posted in a newsgroup, and someone there recommended I post this under this bug report number.

This has happened several time to me. I really like the FireFox
functionality, and I have it on all 3 of my PC's, and been using it for
a couple of years now, but I'm at my wit's end and very ready to defect
back to IE!

Virtually every week or so, I go to use FF, and get a screen that FF
has been updated, with their own page showing, loosing my stored home
page. Then all the font type and size settings are gone! I have to go
back in and tweak every dog gone one. Then about half the time, I only
have a partial list of bookmarks, the rest are gone. Now today I went
to look up something in Scrapbook, all that's gone! The browser is greatly functional until you get
an upgrade. I know and realize FF stores backups, etc., but why should
I have to take sometimes HOURS after the upgrade to go to the backups
and put everything in again manually, and there's usually some things I
just can't get the way I had it.  

Maybe I'm missing something, but this seems to be one very messed up
application if FF cannot keep any of your original settings and files
when it upgrades. Am I doing something wrong?

On my older desktop PC I have v1.5.0.8 and running XP MCE2005, but
until about 3 months ago I had XP Pro and still the same problems.  On
my newer desktop, also 1.5.0.8, and came with XP MCE2005. I "thought"
the latest upgrades were to FF v2 or something, but guess not when I
looked in the Help tab, it said it was upgrading to v2, so do I have v2? I have a new laptop that has the same v and o/s
as above, but I have used it so little so far, it hasn't messed up yet.
So, actually on my 2 desktops are the problems so far, but I'm sure it
will be on the laptop when I start using that more with FF. I really
don't want to go back to IE, but again, when the app keeps
malfunctioning. And there's web sites that just won't display in FF, so
I still have to keep IE on my system, there's even sites that tell you
that you must use IE, and when I try them in FF, they don't work.
Almost every other app I know up keeps your original settings and
associations when upgraded, but not FF for some reason. Thanks much.
*** Bug 363638 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
After installing MS security updates all my FF bookmarks were gone. They again disapeared after every new start of FF.
After long time of search i found that the folder of the bookmarks:
c:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\my user\Anwendungsdaten\mozilla

(don't know what this folder is on english systems) 

was changed to READ ONLY. After changing this again i could bookmark as normal!!


Is there really no activity on this bug since the 8th?

Is it clear that profile info is getting deleted when users are seeing this? I have seen this several times when FF seemed to "lose track" of the default profile. From appearances, it looked as though I lost my Bookmarks.

But, really, I could restart with "-ProfileManager" and "re-connect" to the correct profile.

So, is there an actual data-loss bug here? Or rather, do we need to make it clearer to users when their default profile has been reset?

I can get this occur by rebooting my computer while FF is running. After I do this, FF is "reset" and my bookmarks look to be "lost". Are there other reproducible scenarios?

Ray - if this is happening to you *every* time you reboot while firefox is running, you might want to follow the steps here to check and see if you have a trojan : http://kb.mozillazine.org/Lost_bookmarks#Bookmarks_always_missing_after_restart

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox.exe_always_open
My system is a Mac, so I think that this note does not apply. I have Mac OS X 10.4.8 on dual core intel. Sorry. That info did not come across with the "resolve as dupe".
Depends on: 373720
(In reply to comment #68)
> Hi, I posted in a newsgroup, and someone there recommended I post this under
> this bug report number.
> 
> This has happened several time to me. I really like the FireFox
> functionality, and I have it on all 3 of my PC's, and been using it for
> a couple of years now, but I'm at my wit's end and very ready to defect
> back to IE!
> 
> Virtually every week or so, I go to use FF, and get a screen that FF
> has been updated, with their own page showing, loosing my stored home
> page. Then all the font type and size settings are gone! I have to go
> back in and tweak every dog gone one. Then about half the time, I only
> have a partial list of bookmarks, the rest are gone. Now today I went
> to look up something in Scrapbook, all that's gone! The browser is greatly
> functional until you get
> an upgrade. I know and realize FF stores backups, etc., but why should
> I have to take sometimes HOURS after the upgrade to go to the backups
> and put everything in again manually, and there's usually some things I
> just can't get the way I had it.  
> 
> Maybe I'm missing something, but this seems to be one very messed up
> application if FF cannot keep any of your original settings and files
> when it upgrades. Am I doing something wrong?
> 
> On my older desktop PC I have v1.5.0.8 and running XP MCE2005, but
> until about 3 months ago I had XP Pro and still the same problems.  On
> my newer desktop, also 1.5.0.8, and came with XP MCE2005. I "thought"
> the latest upgrades were to FF v2 or something, but guess not when I
> looked in the Help tab, it said it was upgrading to v2, so do I have v2? I have
> a new laptop that has the same v and o/s
> as above, but I have used it so little so far, it hasn't messed up yet.
> So, actually on my 2 desktops are the problems so far, but I'm sure it
> will be on the laptop when I start using that more with FF. I really
> don't want to go back to IE, but again, when the app keeps
> malfunctioning. And there's web sites that just won't display in FF, so
> I still have to keep IE on my system, there's even sites that tell you
> that you must use IE, and when I try them in FF, they don't work.
> Almost every other app I know up keeps your original settings and
> associations when upgraded, but not FF for some reason. Thanks much.
> 


When version 2.0.0.8 was just installed on my machine (running Windows XP, all patches installed, security suite from cox.net [ISP] installed), I lost all my bookmarks. Also, I cannot find any instructions on how to import my bookmarks from IE (which is installed, but not used -- I normally use Firefox for all my web browsing). This occurred on October 20th, 2007.
Same issue here. However, I do not recall an update between last night an this morning. I did have a prompt this morning [on boot] that stated Windows had been shut down improperly and ask me to restart windows normally. I did so and as a result lost my FF Bookmarks. My IE Bookmarks were easily recovered. This is the 4th time I have lost my FF Bookmarks. It usually occurs after an update, as others have previously stated.
Same issue as Paul and Michael.
Hope this proves useful:
I am also losing bookmarks when upgrading Firefox on my Windows XP laptop. There are two windows users. One is upgrading correctly, the second Windows user is losing bookmarks when Firefox updates. Each Windows User has a single default profile for Firefox. 

The bookmarks function completely normally between updates except for one quirk. The bookmarbackups folder, for the user that loses bookmarks, contains 5 backups of a default blank bookmarks file with nothing but the headings for "Bookmarks" and "Bookmark toolbar folder". The Bookmarks.html file updates correctly, but  the daily backups are blank.

all of my bookmarks are being deleted repeatedly. i have had latest version of firefox everytime regardless. it has NOT backed up the bookmarks ( i was unaware it did that until reading a FAQ page ) for 5 mos.
I have had the bookmarks deleted 4 times so far. twice in the last 3 weeks.
my passwords still appear to be saved, but NOT a single bookmark. incredibly aggravating and seems present in every build of firefox and getting sick of it ( sorry, not very professional, just seriously annoyed at this constantly repeated bug )
> User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; fi-FI; rv:1.7.6)
> Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1
> Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; fi-FI; rv:1.7.6)
> Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1
> 
> The bookmarks.html got overwrtitten with a new one containing only the Personal
> toolbar folder (in finnish "Kirjanmerkkipalkin kirjanmerkkikansio") after
> upgrading Firefox. The original version of Firefox was 1.0 Finnish language
> version, the upgrade version was 1.0.1 Finnish version.
> 
> 
> Reproducible: Couldn't Reproduce
> 
> Steps to Reproduce:
> This is about the sequence I executed
> 
> 1. Install Firefox 1.0 Finnish language version as root to directory
> /opt/firefox
> 2. Use firefox for few months, add some extensions, save bookmarks, change
> various settings
> 3. Stop firefox :)
> 4. Empty the directory where firefox was installed (in this case /opt/firefox)
> 5. Run firefox 1.0.1 installer with sudo: "sudo ./firefox-installer" and
> install
> again to /opt/firefox
> 6. Launch firefox as normal user right after installation dialog disappears,
> before installation has launched firefox
> 7. Choose to start the browser as Default User when the "profile chooser"
> appears.
> 8. Close the complaint dialog about profile being in use already and all
> firefox
> windows
> 9. Restart firefox 
> 
> Actual Results:  
> Bookmarks and bookmarks toolbar were empty. The bookmarks.html file only
> contained the folder for Personal toolbar, but no bookmarks at all. 
> 
> Expected Results:  
> Bookmarks should have remained untouched after upgrade.
> 
> The OS version was SuSE Linux Professional 9.2 with default KDE desktop.
> 
> The following Firefox extensions were installed: Adblock v.5 d2 nightly 39,
> FLST
> 0.8.1, ReloadEvery 0.5, TabScroller 0.6, LastTab 1.0.5,
> 
> Default theme was used.
> 
> I'm not sure if the problem is related to the actual upgrade or if launching
> the
> browser right after installation dialog did something nasty. Anyway the
> bookmarks are gone, but luckily everything else in the profile seems to be OK
> including settings, extensions and home page. I tried to reproduce the bug as
> another user but of course I was unable to reproduce it.
> 
> The bookmarks.html originally inlcuded links in several directories, few RSS
> feeds and couple of bookmarklets.
> 


(In reply to comment #90)
> all of my bookmarks are being deleted repeatedly. i have had latest version of
> firefox everytime regardless. it has NOT backed up the bookmarks ( i was
> unaware it did that until reading a FAQ page ) for 5 mos.
> I have had the bookmarks deleted 4 times so far. twice in the last 3 weeks.
> my passwords still appear to be saved, but NOT a single bookmark. incredibly
> aggravating and seems present in every build of firefox and getting sick of it
> ( sorry, not very professional, just seriously annoyed at this constantly
> repeated bug )
> > User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; fi-FI; rv:1.7.6)
> > Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1
> > Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; fi-FI; rv:1.7.6)
> > Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1
You do not have the latest version of Firefox, you have one that's nearly 3 years old. See comment #24.
This has happened to me twice and I am really learning to dislike Mozilla Firefox. The first time I was just too stupid to try to relocate my bookmarks. This time if I do not find a resolution to my problem, Firefox will be losing me as a customer. 
Happen to me twice as well, the last time I lost all bookmarks and was not able to recreate them, needless to say I was very mad...
Why does Firefox looses bookmarks with every other new version and there is no fix? Maybe I should not update Firefox any more?
I was installing 3.0b4 alongside 2.0.0.13. When I opened 3.0b4, in one of my bookmark toolbar folders, the bottom half of the bookmark list, which contained about 20 or 30 items, was missing.
this is a big bug :|
Flags: in-testsuite+
Flags: in-litmus+
Flags: blocking1.8.1.14?
Flags: blocking-firefox3?
this is a big bug :|
(In reply to comment #99)
> this is a big bug :|
> 

First: Please don't use flag's when you don't know what they mean !

Also please see comment #24.

The Bug you report here might also be a Bug 319196
Flags: in-testsuite+
Flags: in-litmus+
Flags: blocking1.8.1.14?
Flags: blocking-firefox3?
(In reply to comment #100)
> (In reply to comment #99)
> > this is a big bug :|
> > 
> 
> First: Please don't use flag's when you don't know what they mean !
> 
> Also please see comment #24.
> 
> The Bug you report here might also be a Bug 319196
> 

Sorry :)
This same problem occurred when installing Firefox 3.0b5 alongside 2.0.0.14. After installing I opened the Beta and all bookmarks except for bookmarks imported from Internet Explorer, were missing. I tried to restore using the available backups, but that did not help. Sorry if this is the wrong spot to post.
Making a new profile on 3.0b5 and imorting the bookmarks from teh html backup works.
BUT:
After a stop/start of the browser the bookmarks are gone. (!)
Related to this issue?
If not let me know.
I installed Firefox 3 Beta 4 last month but I was still using Firefox 2.

Today, I installed the CR1, but it copied the Firefox 3 Beta 4 bookmarks instead of taking the existing Firefox 2 bookmarks.  So I lost 1 month of bookmarks.

I import from the backup bookmarks and everything seems fine.
Installed FF3 RC2 into new folder. After initial start missing a bunch of bookmarks and folders from folders in my personal toolbar. Uninstalled FF3 RC2 and reverted to FF2 and bookmarks are back.
Fixed it by following comment 24, forgot i had installed FF3 a long time ago.  

(In reply to comment #110)
> Installed FF3 RC2 into new folder. After initial start missing a bunch of
> bookmarks and folders from folders in my personal toolbar. Uninstalled FF3 RC2
> and reverted to FF2 and bookmarks are back.
> 


Experiencing similar issues in Firefox 3
I upgraded 4 computers from FF2 to FF3.  This issue happens on 2 out of these 4:
On random occasions (more often than 50%), Firefox 3 comes up with all of the bookmarks missing.  The only way to fix this is to kill all instances of firefox.exe from Task Manager (there are always more than 1 copy under Task Manager when this happens), and then run Firefox 3 again.  This issue still exists with FF3.01.   I have NOT been able to figure out how to fix this.
I have uninstalled Firefox, deleted the Mozilla Application Data directories (also under Local Data) as well as Mozilla Firefox under Program Files.  I then reinstalled a clean FF3.01, restored ONLY the bookmarks, extensions, and saved passwords file, and I get the same results.  Same as bug 319196 maybe?
When I have clicked on ok for Upgrade to Mozilla Firefox version 3.0.1, All my 500+ bookmarks have vanished. I tried all possible ways to restore..but all in vain, nothing helped. All my bookmarks which I have been saving from a long time are lost.

REQUEST YOU TO TAKE ACTION AND AVOID THIS KIND OF MISTAKES IN FUTURE.
Firefox keeps backups of your bookmarks for 5 days. Please get help at http://support.mozilla.com within that amount of time to get your bookmarks back! I'm guessing you need to look at http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Lost+Bookmarks#All_bookmarks_missing_and_unable_to_add_new_ones_after_installing_and_restarting_Firefox_3
I have been running FF3.03 for some time now and did not experience this problem until I installed a new Norton version (yesterday).  After running an instance of FF3, closing it and the re-running FF3, the bookmarks and history are gone.  Solution given in comment 116 worked.  There were in fact two instances of firefox.exe in Task Manager.  I killed them both, re-ran FF3 and everything was back.  Norton 360 made some significant changes to FF3.  Don't know if it's related ........
I turned of the Phishing protection in Nortons 360 and got my bookmarks back. However, I keep losing them. It seems to be random. I am trying to understand what makes them go so I can say "That's it" but so far I have not discovered it exactly although it has happened when I have FF open while on messenger.
I get them back by rebooting.
I have also noticed the following which may or may not give a clue about what is happening.
Sometimes when you click in the "place where you type a URL" it sometimes brings up a history. If I click at the very start of that bar the history does not come up but if I click somewhere else in it for example when I want to highlight it so I can copy the link and send it to someone, then up comes the history. That annoys me.
Also sometimes a sort of ghost copy of what is written there comes up. That is weird. 
I am very tempted to return to IE until this is sorted but meanwhile I am very patiently rebooting every time it happens. Several times a day. I am learning to have only one outlet to the internet open at a time - altho come to think of it, Outlook does not seem to impact on it.
I am worried about have the Phishing protection turned off.
I just thought of something else I have noticed in relation to this problem. When I go to shut down I get the message that ccSvcHst is not responding.
Hi

For about the fourth time the new (and totally unsolicited) upgrade of Firefoz erased all my bookmarks - I am just a regular person who does not want the irritation of having to go in and rescue things like this repeatedly. I simply do not have the time.

THIS IS A F*%$@ING RIDICULOUS PROBLEM THAT SEEMS (FROM THIS THREAD) TO HAVE BEEN RECURRING AGAIN AND AGAIN SINCE 2005! WHOEVER IS IN CHARGE AROUND HERE SHOULD FIX IT. I AM HEADING BACK TO A MICROSOFT PRODUCT.
Some recent comments talked about Norton causing issues, which is bug 452469 (  Grand-moogi, I have cc'd you to that bug).

Now, I've read through this whole bug, and it has become the dumping ground for any "I lost my bookmarks" issue making it essentially useless.  The bookmarking engine from Firefox 2.0 was replaced which made bookmarking much more reliable.  For those of your upgrading from Firefox 2.0 to Firefox 3.0, it sounds like your issues are in fact covered by http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Lost+Bookmarks.  For any other issue, you should file a new bug to track your issue, as it is highly unlikely that it is related to anything in this bug.  Doing this will greatly increase the chances of it getting fixed.

Because this bug has become the "I lost my bookmarks" dumping ground, I'm going to resolve it as INVALID.  There are simply too many issues being brought up in one ticket for it to ever have a satisfying resolution for everyone.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 16 years ago
Resolution: --- → INVALID
Upgrading from 3.0.11 to 3.5.1, experienced a selective loss of bookmarks from 2 of 28 folders (at least, those are the losses that are immediately apparent)
When updating from version 3.0 to 3.5 a large bookmark folder with many subfolders and subsubfolders have been truncated to almost nothing. Version 3.5 retains only 7 subfolders with very few entries and all the subsubfolders are gone. I tried to import a copy of this large folder saved on Internet Explorer. The system would import all the small folders stored on Internet Explorer but not this large personal folder.
few bookmarks will loose their url and some of the bookmarks are inactive when upgraded automatically
the problem solves itself after restarting the system.
had to "restore" the bookmarks to get them back after the auto update. Why can't mozilla troubleshoot these issues before hand so that we dont have to troubleshoot the issues ourselves? When an update deletes your bookmarks its not looked upon as a crucial update. IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT!
(In reply to comment #133)
> Why can't mozilla troubleshoot these issues before hand so that we dont have to
> troubleshoot the issues ourselves?

Mozilla tests all upgrade paths, but clearly if something is broken on your side, we can't know, sorry (on the other side the support team is available and really kind). These kind of issues can be caused by corruptions in your profile, disk corruptions, usage of external cleanup tools, uncompatible add-ons, weird preferences values and so on.
Millions of users upgraded their copy of Firefox without any issue, so this is not a missed test.
I can ensure you nobody tries to fix working things.
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