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Resurrecting a firefox "device" and profile/session after reinstall

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  • Last reply by Dropa

Gouvernathor
Gouvernathor
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I'm reinstalling Windows on my computer after a hardware issue, and I do have a backup of my old data. I was using Firefox Sync, where this "device" was called "Firefox Maison".

When I reinstall firefox on my new computer, how do I make it a continuation of the former "device"/session, rather than it being registered as a new device with the same "Firefox Maison" name ? I sent tabs from another device to "Firefox Maison" while the computer is kaput, and Ideally I would wish these tabs to appear on my new Firefox when the operation is finished - if this particular thing can't be done that's not the most important, but I think it helps understanding what kind of continuation I want to do. The restoration of my (normal) open tabs would be much more important, for example.

I managed to do that when a very similar issue happened to me some months ago, but it was clanky with appdata files, and I feared corrupting my sync session in some way, and/or losing data, so if anyone has a more reliable walkthrough, that would be ideal.

I'm reinstalling Windows on my computer after a hardware issue, and I do have a backup of my old data. I was using Firefox Sync, where this "device" was called "Firefox Maison". When I reinstall firefox on my new computer, how do I make it a continuation of the former "device"/session, rather than it being registered as a new device with the same "Firefox Maison" name ? I sent tabs from another device to "Firefox Maison" while the computer is kaput, and Ideally I would wish these tabs to appear on my new Firefox when the operation is finished - if this particular thing can't be done that's not the most important, but I think it helps understanding what kind of continuation I want to do. The restoration of my (normal) open tabs would be much more important, for example. I managed to do that when a very similar issue happened to me some months ago, but it was clanky with appdata files, and I feared corrupting my sync session in some way, and/or losing data, so if anyone has a more reliable walkthrough, that would be ideal.

Modified by Gouvernathor

All Replies (3)

Dropa
Dropa
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New install there is no way to restore or find the data since there is nothing to restore. You must've have done at least these instructions to find your data.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

If neither was done then there nothing that can be done. Sync isn't a backup solution it's only sync data across devices if the original is gone they will also be gone on sync devices.

Gouvernathor
Gouvernathor Question owner
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Dropa said
Sync isn't a backup solution it's only sync data across devices if the original is gone they will also be gone on sync devices.

As I said in the post, I do have a backup of my old data, it's in the form of my entire appdata folder (and more). I'm asking about how to recover profile/session information from that. As I said, I know it can be done but I'm not sure how to do it safely. The Sync thing I'm asking about is not about polling data from Sync to resurrect my former session (which is not possible), but rather how to take data from my backup to make Sync think it's still the same install/device/profile/session I just turned back on.

Dropa
Dropa
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Did you also read this.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/restore-previous-session

I just think what your trying to do might not work as the steps to do a proper backup wasn't done.

Modified by Dropa