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Cannot start Firefox [SOLVED]

Cannot start Firefox [SOLVED]

Postby phileysmiley » Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:48 pm

Grrr I have had nothing but frustration with Windows 7. I want to import my Firefox bookmarks from an external hard drive to Windows 7. I know exactly where they are located on the external hard drive and found the file. However, to import it to the Firefox folder in Windows 7 I need to be able to get into the Documents and Settings folder.

I did go into Folder Options and checked to show all hidden folders. So now I can see the Documents and Settings folder but cannot access it.

I went into Documents and Settings Properties/Security tab and highlighted Administrators (I am an Adminstrator -- I double checked). I see that Admin permissions do not include Full control. However, after I check Full control and hit OK, I get "Access is denied."

What am I doing wrong? :dontgetit I need to get into that folder. Thanks.
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Re: Cannot access folders

Postby shreader » Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:35 pm

Doesnt FF work like IE?

Just put the bookmarks on the desktop & open FF, choose import/export, browse to your desktop & choose the file.
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Re: Cannot access folders

Postby phileysmiley » Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:46 pm

shreader wrote:Doesnt FF work like IE?

Just put the bookmarks on the desktop & open FF, choose import/export, browse to your desktop & choose the file.

No, not at all. Firefox bookmarks are kept in:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Firefox\Profiles\folder name ending in .default

I copied the folder to the desktop but FF doesn't see it. It can only be opened by Firefox. When I open Firefox from within W7 and click "Import," it only sees my IE bookmarks. There is no browse option, so I can't navigate to the folder on the desktop (or on the external). So I have to copy the folder manually.
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Re: Cannot access folders

Postby phileysmiley » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:02 am

AHHHHHHHH!!!!! NM :lol: I cannot get into "Application Data" (where it was in Vista) but I CAN get into "AppData." :lol: That's where it's located in Windows 7. ^*^
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Re: Cannot access folders

Postby Grav!ty » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:07 am

Try taking ownership of the Documents and Settings folder as well. That should allow you to take full control.

FF and bookmarks are a bit of a pain in my opinion and I end up always backing up my bookmarks to IE and saving the Favorites before I reinstall Windows. I don't think one can do that after the fact though.
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Re: Cannot access folders

Postby phileysmiley » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:12 am

Grav!ty wrote:Try taking ownership of the Documents and Settings folder as well. That should allow you to take full control.

I did that but it didn't work. :no

FF and bookmarks are a bit of a pain in my opinion and I end up always backing up my bookmarks to IE and saving the Favorites before I reinstall Windows. I don't think one can do that after the fact though.

Hmmm...Import FF bookmarks to IE in Vista, then they should be in Favorites, then backup Favorites, then copy Favorites back to IE after reinstall, then import IE Favorites into FF. I think that would have worked.

Unfortunately I had already lost access to IE by the time I realized I wasn't going to be able to upgrade so it never even occurred to me.

Anyway, it looks like things that were in Application Data in Vista are in AppData in W& (even though there is also Application Data).
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Re: Cannot access Application Data [NOT SOLVED]

Postby phileysmiley » Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:08 am

Okay, we're back to square one.

I just tried to relaunch FF (I had closed it in order to copy the profile folder) and I got that message "FF is already running - you must close the process or restart." Of course I've seen that before so I opened Task Manager but FF wasn't even listed! I restarted and went to open FF. Same thing! So I uninstalled FF, then reinstalled it, and went to open it. Same thing! I even deleted the old profile folder (which I had copied elsewhere in case I needed it) in case that was related.

I went to FF support and what they said was that this might happen because FF isn't finding the Profile folder where it should be. So, guess what?

On Vista, it was in BOTH the Application Data AND App Data folders. So now I was able to copy the profile into W7's AppData folder but I still cannot get into the Application Data folder, and it looks like I have to put the profile there as well or FF won't work.

Bottom line: I MUST get into the Application Data folder or I cannot use FF at all.
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Re: Cannot access Application Data [NOT SOLVED]

Postby phileysmiley » Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:57 am

W0000t!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^*^

I figured it out! In ADDITION to the "Profiles" folder there is another file called profiles.ini which is not IN the Profiles folder but is in the Firefox folder containing the Profiles folder. So I had to replace the new profiles.ini with the backed up profiles.ini.

That wasn't in ANY of the FF support documentation!

FF is working now and all my old bookmarks are back. :yesnod:
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Re: Cannot access Application Data [NOT SOLVED]

Postby Grav!ty » Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:57 am

I booted to W7 X64 and have no problem accessing anything there, including both AppData and Application Data. All I did was change permissions, add myself and take full ownership and control, including subfolders and child objects.

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Re: Cannot start Firefox [SOLVED]

Postby phileysmiley » Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:58 am

Well I solved my problem without needing to do that after all but I still cannot get into it.

In fact, when I highlight either Administrators or my own user name and click "Edit" everything is already checked.
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