fiuewpg,vc wrote: Tue Oct 29, 2019 8:35 am
it seems with Firefox 70 (Installed with MX 19) that they want to force you to make a Firefox profile online, and do this by making it impossible to import your old data. Does anyone know a not super-complicated way to get around this? I have no interest in having an online firefox profile.
Mozilla basically screwed everybody. Firefox versions after about 68 and Thunderbird versions after about 67 or 68 (I don't remember exactly when they changed) will no longer let you simply copy the profile folders. You can't even do it with the same version installed on different machines or different OS/partitions on the same machine. I have been trying to figure this out but have not had 100% success.
First save your good profile, back up any custom extension or addon settings (if they are capable of saving/exporting/importing settings or data).
You can try copying your old good profile folder (.mozilla or .thunderbird) running in a terminal
firefox -ProfileManager or
thunderbird -ProfileManager
and select the old profile. That doesn't always work.
You can try copying your old good profile folder, then
Look for the sub folder with the random characters in the name
Look for the
profiles.ini file and
installs.ini (if it exists) file, edit those so that the random-character profile names match or change it to something non-random.
Delete any other profiles listed.
Then run
firefox -ProfileManager or
thunderbird -ProfileManager and select the correct profile.
That might not work either.
If nothing else you will have to let it create a new profile.
First rename your old folder from .mozilla or .thunderbird so the new installation doesn't mess with it.
Then copy to the new profile:
bookmarks files (favicons.sqlite, places.sqlite), cookies (cookies.sqlite), saved passwords (key4.db, logins.json)
and for Thunderbird:
Address book (abook.mab), saved passwords (key4.db, logins.json), mail folders.
If you do that then you will have to redo any custom settings and modifications and reinstall all addons, extensions and custom search engines. I don't use many addons so I don't know how much they affect other things in the profile.
Another thing I found that appears to work better is purging the repository versions of firefox and thunderbird and using the versions downloaded from Mozilla's web site. I run them from my home directory but that is probably too complicated for many users and can create other issues like GIMP and LibreOffice depending on installed firefox.
I found that if I do that I can copy the profiles from my main linux installation on the HD to a MX live USB and I only have to run them with the -ProfileManager once if I copy a profile. It appears to work with no issues at all in Thunderbird but on Firefox none of the extension icons appear in the toolbar so I have to disable them, restart firefox , and enable them.