HowTo Get Rid of a Corrupt Firefox Profile (and keep the bookmarks)

**aysiu** · December 15th, 2005

It happens in Windows. It happens in Mac. And... it also happens in Linux (and Ubuntu, specifically). Sometimes, your Firefox profile gets corrupt. You can't launch Firefox. The pages look all weird. Maybe it was the extensions you installed. Maybe it was something else.

Bottom line: for whatever reason, you need to start anew.

First get the Run command going (Alt-F2), then type

Code:

firefox -safe-mode

Once Firefox launches up, go to Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks > File > Export, and save bookmarks.html to your desktop.

Then, open a terminal...
In Breezy or Dapper, Applications > Accessories > Terminal
In Hoary, Applications > System Tools > Terminal
In Kubuntu, KMenu > System > Konsole

Type this command to back up your corrupt profile (just in case):

Code:

mv ~/.mozilla ~/.mozilla_backup

Finally, launch Firefox again (click on the icon). Go to Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks > File > Import and get the bookmarks.html you saved before on your desktop.

**pshnfry** · April 30th, 2006

There doesn't seem to be enough steps above, by "finally, launch firefox again..." do you mean re-install or just click the firefox icon?

**aysiu** · April 30th, 2006

Originally Posted by pshnfry

There doesn't seem to be enough steps above, by "finally, launch firefox again..." do you mean re-install or just click the firefox icon?

Sorry for being unclear. It means just click the Firefox icon. I've edited the original post.

**?????** · June 10th, 2006

I would also suggest that if you use Adblock (plus), TMP, Noscript, etc you would export those filters/settings/whitelists as well so you don't lose them.

**aysiu** · June 10th, 2006

That's a good idea in theory, but I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that safe mode disables your extensions.

I always back up my Adblock and NoScript settings on a regular basis.

**guine** · June 20th, 2006

I gave this a try because Ive been having troube with firefox crashing whenever I click links on certain sites and Im still having problems. Do you have any other ideas of how to fix this? Thanks.

**?????** · June 20th, 2006

Yes, extensions are disabled.. but you can still grab your adblock plus filters

Install adblock plus on the new profile, then copy the adblock plus filters (unsure of the location of adblock)

Code:

cp ~/.mozilla_backup/firefox/*.default/adblockplus/patterns.ini ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/adblockplus/patterns.ini

**Psquared** · September 20th, 2006

Actually, just launching Gmail is causing FF to crash on my Linux box. It isn't the extension. Opera does not work well enough as a replacement as it can't handle hotmail very well.

**fragos** · September 30th, 2006

Don't know if this is your proplem but, since 1.5.0.7 update, firefox has occasionally gotten a segment fault when starting and nothing happens on the desktop. I've started it with "firefox www.google.com" when this occurs.

**wog** · October 1st, 2006

Firefox just gives me a segmentation fault when I try to run it. Adding a first page for it to go to does nothing different. The "-safe-mode" switch doesn't keep it from crashing. Moving the .mozilla folder to backup doesn't change it. Uninstalling and reinstalling also doesn't change the result. It just seems to be dead.