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Profile cannot be loaded (again)?

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  • Last reply by FredMcD

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Hoping this is a quick thing and I've just done something weirdly wrong, but...

When I opened Firefox this morning, I got a little prompt at the bottom of the page: Firefox, it had noticed, was opening slowly, and would I like to try refreshing it to speed things up? Figuring why not, I let the refresh run--only to have Firefox crash mid-refresh.

When I tried to open Firefox directly afterwards, I got a popup window--"Profile Missing: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible."--and Firefox would not open (the program closed itself once I hit 'OK').

I read through a lot of the articles relating to restoring/moving/recreating profiles, but all the solution require using the profile manager, which requires that Firefox open and remain open. It still won't open even after I've now uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox in the hopes that it would create a new profile with the new install, and I would then be able to use one of the solutions already listed.

The aborted refresh left a file called "Old Firefox Data" on my desktop, which appears to contain all the files that would have been in the profile folder (~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/), including the profile folder itself (xxxxxxxx.default). On the other hand, even after having reinstalled Firefox, there is no Firefox folder in my Application Support folder, and manually creating the correct file path still leads to the same "Profile Missing: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." popup.

I've backed up the Old Firefox Data folder and I'm hoping someone might have an idea of how I can use it--or any other method--to get Firefox to open. Any ideas would be welcome!

Hoping this is a quick thing and I've just done something weirdly wrong, but... When I opened Firefox this morning, I got a little prompt at the bottom of the page: Firefox, it had noticed, was opening slowly, and would I like to try refreshing it to speed things up? Figuring why not, I let the refresh run--only to have Firefox crash mid-refresh. When I tried to open Firefox directly afterwards, I got a popup window--"Profile Missing: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible."--and Firefox would not open (the program closed itself once I hit 'OK'). I read through a lot of the articles relating to restoring/moving/recreating profiles, but all the solution require using the profile manager, which requires that Firefox open and remain open. It still won't open even after I've now uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox in the hopes that it would create a new profile with the new install, and I would then be able to use one of the solutions already listed. The aborted refresh left a file called "Old Firefox Data" on my desktop, which appears to contain all the files that would have been in the profile folder (~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/), including the profile folder itself (xxxxxxxx.default). On the other hand, even after having reinstalled Firefox, there is no Firefox folder in my Application Support folder, and manually creating the correct file path still leads to the same "Profile Missing: Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." popup. I've backed up the Old Firefox Data folder and I'm hoping someone might have an idea of how I can use it--or any other method--to get Firefox to open. Any ideas would be welcome!

Chosen solution

Charlie said

I've backed up the Old Firefox Data folder

That was good thinking. What we will do now is totally remove Firefox, and the profiles folder. We will use the "Old Firefox" to restore the profile. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Close Firefox.


Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link} Save the file. Then;

Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.

Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86) Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. Linux: Check your user manual.


Look for, and rename any Mozilla or Firefox folders by adding .old to them.

After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner. I'm not sure what Macs use for this. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ You should find the profiles.ini file in this hidden location: • Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\

• Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/ • Linux: ~/.mozilla/firefox/

Rename or delete profiles.ini ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Now, run the Firefox installer. If all goes well, remove the OLD folders when you are done.

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Chosen Solution

Charlie said

I've backed up the Old Firefox Data folder

That was good thinking. What we will do now is totally remove Firefox, and the profiles folder. We will use the "Old Firefox" to restore the profile. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Close Firefox.


Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link} Save the file. Then;

Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.

Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86) Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. Linux: Check your user manual.


Look for, and rename any Mozilla or Firefox folders by adding .old to them.

After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner. I'm not sure what Macs use for this. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ You should find the profiles.ini file in this hidden location: • Windows: %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\

• Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/ • Linux: ~/.mozilla/firefox/

Rename or delete profiles.ini ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Now, run the Firefox installer. If all goes well, remove the OLD folders when you are done.

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