You don't need to reinstall firefox if the system files are not corrupted or damaged.
Firefox Safe Mode
You can also start firefox in the safe mode, so the extensions are disabled
How to Start Firefox in Safe Mode
Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that temporarily disables all extensions, themes, and custom settings in Firefox and starts the browser with default settings. It is designed to help you diagnose and fix problems with Firefox, such as performance issues, crashes, or problems with add-ons.
Firefox profiles with firefox -p
You can start your firefox with firefox -p
Now you get a new popup window where you can create, delete or rename profiles for firefox
Just unmark Use the selected profile without asking at startup
and after that every time firefox start's you can select the profile you wanna work with
You can create different profiles for different use-cases
On my debian gnu/linux the config files are in
~/.mozilla/firefox/
You can copy or backup the profiles from there
The starts with varchar+name like 5v96ky6z.AI but you can rename them and you can copy and start them from an other disk, usb, sshfs/fuse, samba share, nfs, etc..
If you rename and move the folder you need to edit the profiles.ini, in my case the ~/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini
You have different blocks for each profile that looks like this:
[Profile0]
Name=MENU_NAME
IsRelative=0
Path=/home/USER/FOLDER_NAME
Default=1
Default=1 You only have this once in the file for only one profile, you can delete this it is not absolutely necessary
Default is the standard profile that will start if
Use the selected profile without asking at startup is selected
Name=MENU_NAME The name for your selected profile in the menu list
Path=/home/USER/FOLDER_NAME The path and the folder name of your profile
You can use a relative or an absolute path, you can use IsRelative=0
IsRelative=1
[Profile1]
Name=USERNAME2
IsRelative=0
Path=/MYPATH/FOX2
The name of the selected user Name=USERNAME2 and the name of the folder Path=/MYPATH/FOX2 do not have to be the same
You can add or delete you profiles entries from the backup
Don't forget the enumeration of the number must always take place in the order
[Profile0], [Profile1], [Profile2]
but in the file the arrangement can be messed up not in the order
[Profile2], [Profile0], [Profile1]
You can't have [Profile0], [Profile1] and [Profile3] without and existing
dummy-entry or profile named [Profile2]
If you start firefox and the menu is empty, you may have a syntax error.
Backup profile files:
This are the files i do my backup logins, bookmarks, without the extensions or others..
places.sqlitelogins.jsonlogins-backup.jsonkey4.db
or you backup the whole profile folder, in my case for profile 5v96ky6z.AI ~/.mozilla/firefox/5v96ky6z.AI
places.sqlite is the storage for the bookmarks
For the quick access bar with bookmarks, for your session search for
the folders sessionstore or sessionstore-backups or the files sessionstore.jsonlz4
Firefox Sync
You can also link your firefox profile to an email and thus synchronize everything between different firefox instances or computers.
Sync your Firefox on any device
How do I set up Sync on my computer?
Addons & Extensions|xpi(Cross-Platform Install) package/file:
In the profile path ~/.mozilla/firefox/5v96ky6z.AI/extensions in the folder extensions there are the {--ID--}.xpi packages, every addon is a {--ID--}.xpi with an ID
you can open a package with double click an you can see all the files that belongs to an addon example: {b9acf540-acba-11e1-8ccb-001fd0e08bd4}.xpi
In the manifest.json file you get all the information about that selected addon, like description, version. etc.
You can copy this addon to your new/selected profile by right mouse click open as than select firefox start the profile you wanna install to or select open file from your firefox menu and you can easy install that addon from this package
You can also see the extensions if you start about:config in firefox as url and search for
extensions.webextensions.ExtensionStorageIDB.migrated.
If you start about:support scroll down and you will find in the Add-ons area the Addon name for the {--ID--}.xpi package ID
There are also 3 files in the profile path ~/.mozilla/firefox/5v96ky6z.AI/ where you can find other information about the search-engines, settings, etc..:
extension-preferences.jsonextensions.jsonprefs.js
Maybe you need the addonStartup.json.lz4 file, I did not backup that.
In the storage directory you will find a subfolder for each installed add-on but some add-ons, maybe store the data in a different location/directory in your profile path
What else:
- Check if there is an addon for your firefox version available
to export/backup your addons
Backup with terminal and bash:
You can write a bash script to backup all the files you need, with cp or rsync and/ or create a tar file
Write your on addon|xpi(Cross-Platform Install):
Your first extension
Your second extension
How do I create an addon for Firefox?
Open the about:debugging page, click the This Firefox option, click the Load Temporary Add-on button, then select any file in your extension's directory. The extension now installs, and remains installed until you restart Firefox.
