Can't import saved book marks or pass words in Firefox 101

[PowerBattery]

Windows 10 version 21H1
OS Build 19043.1165
Windows 10 Home
Firefox version 101 (It might have updated itself since I downloaded it two hours ago).

The title says it all. I saved my Firefox bookmarks and passwords from Dell 3250 on a flash drive before it conked out. I transferred them to Desktop of other computer ... a Dell Optiplex. I can find NOTHING online that shows how to do it. One source says that it can't be done . Others require me to delve deep into Windows and MAYBE I can transfer the passwords and bookmarks to the new computer, but so far nothing works.

I tried Google Chrome but the instructions go so far, then it stops. The area that on the menu that I need to access isn't there. I would imagine that I have the latest version of Chrome because I just downloaded it.

Any idea? Is what I want to do so exotic that no one else has tried it? Am I breaking new ground?

I don't think so. Why is this so hard to do?

 

[Grizzly]

it is not hard to do. Instead of saving just the bookmarks and the passwords, you should have backed up the whole profile. save it in a folder of your convenience and point the profile manager to this saved profile. I have done it that way for years until Firefox became so resource heavy that I quit using it. I always had my profile in the documents folder ( same I did with Thunderbird ). Made it easier for me to back everything up...

 

[PowerBattery]

I followed directions that I found online. I moved the bookmarks as well as the passwords file to the new computer. NOTHING THAT I COULD FIND ONLINE (including "help" from Mozilla] worked. I was directed to navigate to this and that, then to navigate to there BUT THERE's NO THERE THERE! This morning I decided to just forget about directions and all of the unhelpful posts that I found online and start scr*wing around with things and TADA! I have bookmarks AND A BOOKMARK ICON!

FF 101 (new installation) doesn't include an icon as default. You have to search for it.

Now I have to figure out how to match the passwords to the websites. I have them in a file too.

You have no idea how much I admire folks who can fix this sort of thing. After almost thirty years of owning and using a desktop for surfing and word processing, I have difficulty when I get a curve ball. I have even more admiration for those who help (or try to help) this

Profile manager? What's that?

 

[Grizzly]

You can create different profiles with Firefox, each with its own sets of bookmarks etc.
to load the profile manager, you take the Link to your firefox.exe as in
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Firefox.exe" and add -p at the end (don't forget the space between the " and the -p). Every time you start Firefox it will show the Profile manager where you can choose the profile you want to use. If you have only one profile, then you do not need to add the -p at the end.
In the profile manager you also can create new profiles and decide, where you want to them to be stored (mine are always in the document folder, makes a backup easier as mentioned before)

 

[Bighorn]

I do only 2 things with Firefox, Export the log-ins as .csv from within Tools, Settings and Export the bookmarks/favorites as HTML from within Bookmarks, Manage bookmarks. Nice thing is the files can be accessed outside of Firefox, .csv is a spreadsheet and the Bookmarks file has clickable links, both are quite good backups.

 

[PowerBattery]

You can create different profiles with Firefox, each with its own sets of bookmarks etc.
to load the profile manager, you take the Link to your firefox.exe as in
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Firefox.exe" and add -p at the end (don't forget the space between the " and the -p). Every time you start Firefox it will show the Profile manager where you can choose the profile you want to use. If you have only one profile, then you do not need to add the -p at the end.
In the profile manager you also can create new profiles and decide, where you want to them to be stored (mine are always in the document folder, makes a backup easier as mentioned before)

Okay. I'm going to try that. It'll probably take awhile.

I removed the hard drive from the bad computer, put in a HDD case and plugged it into the new computer. I would have thought that everything in the old hard drive would have remained intact, including the bookmarks and associated passwords. They're gone now. Where the h3ll could they have gone? If they have changed into something else, what made them change. On the hard drive I'm using Firefox too.

 

[Bighorn]

A lot of things can affect electrical/electronic devices, some of the easiest in causing problems is getting in a hurry and unplugging/plugging in something without first unplugging the power to the computer then waiting awhile for residual power to drain off, particularly hard on memory modules. Also possible in the dying throes of the computer it wiped out the MBR/Master Boot Record and/or the MFT/Master File Table, both things not easy to recover from. And Yes, the motherboard ALWAYS has power to it until that power cable is actually unplug from the power supply or the surge protecter/battery backup/wall socket, etc.

 

[Grizzly]

Have you looked in the windows user profile yet, in a folder named APPDATA?
C:\Users\{your name here}\AppData

the folder is hidden and you may have to claim ownership on it before you can access it.

 

[PowerBattery]

sorry for not replying sooner. I did get the bookmarks to show (don't ask me how I did it. I did so many different things in desperation), but the passwords aren't associated with them. I have to search through the imported bookmarks file to find the password, something that isn't easy.

Though I now have the bookmarks and bookmarks icon showing, I can't bookmark a page. There's no icon.

 

[Bighorn]

A couple of things, one is the Export of the Bookmarks is separate from the Export of the Security, Logins. The other things is I've found the Menu bar not visible by default so I have to activate it by right click of bar with a tab on it, a page has been opened, then I can get to Tools, Settings then to Privacy & Security for the Export.

 

[PowerBattery]

I wonder why Firefox has made this so difficult.

 

[PowerBattery]

Okay. New Development: I clicked something that caused the toolbar in the upper right hand corner that says FILE EDIT VIEW HISTORY BOOKMARKS TOOLS HELP to relocate to the upper left-hand corner of the screen. In addition every page tab appears below it, thus reducing the viewable screen size.

I figured out how to bookmark in the latest version of Firefox: right-click anywhere on the page and a dialog box appears
with a left pointer icon, greyed out right pointer icon, a circular pointer icon (refresh?) , and a star. Click on the star and I can bookmark the page.

Below the icon are options such as "Save page as... etc.).

I admit that I am not the brightest person on earth and probably well below average in solving computer problems, but wouldn't it have been a great service for Firefox not to have changed the way one uses its browser? Microsoft is just as bad with its updates. Is that one way to make a release NEW AND EXCITING! ?

Give me the same ol' computer stuff and let me save the excitement for when I go fishing.