No bookmarks shown in the bookmarks menu or toolbar after installing an add-on

If you have restarted Firefox after installing an add-on and no bookmarks appear it may be that Firefox did not close properly before restarting.

1. Right-click on an empty area of the taskbar, and select Task Manager to bring up the Task Manager.
2. Select the Processes tab.
3. Look through the list of processes for firefox.exe, and select it.
4. click End Process.
5. Run Firefox and your bookmarks should be back

1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, click the File menu and then select Exit.
2. Locate your profile folder using one of the following sets of steps. (For more details, see the article on Profiles.)
   On Windows Vista
   1. Click the Windows Start button, and type %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ in the Start Search box near the bottom of the Start menu, without pressing Enter. A list of profiles will appear in the top left of the Start menu.
   2. Click on any of the profiles (e.g. xxxxxxxx.default) to open it with Windows Explorer.
   
   On Windows 2000 and XP
   1. Click the Windows Start button, and select Run....
   2. Type in %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ then click OK.
3. In the profile folder, the file bookmarks.html stores your bookmarks and may become corrupted. Right-click this file, and select Rename....
4. Rename the file to a unique name, such as the following:
   bookmarks_backup.html
5. Open the folder named bookmarkbackups, also located in your profile folder.
6. In the bookmarks backup folder, you should see up to five files with names like the following
   bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html
   where
   xxxx-xx-xx corresponds to the date the backup was made.
7. Copy the backup that you wish to use to an easy-to-find location such as your desktp. Right-click the backup you wish to use. Select Copy. Go to your desktop and right click in some open space. Select Paste.
8. Restart Firefox. You should only have the default bookmarks.
9. Open the Bookmarks Manager by selecting Organize Bookmarks... from the Bookmarks menu.
10. From the File menu inside the Bookmarks manager, select Import....
11. In the Import Wizard dialog that appears, select From File and click Next.
12. Browse to the desktop and find the copy of the bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html file you made in Step 7. Click Open.
13. Your bookmarks should be restored. If not, repeat these steps, choosing a different backup to restore from.

Note: these instructions may be different for your Linux distribution

1. From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, select File and then select the Quit menu item.
2. Open your profile folder:
   Each profile is stored on your hard drive in a profile folder. The default location of the Firefox profile is ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/.
   • xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters.
   1. Click the Places menu on the top right of the screen and select Home Folder. A File Browser window will appear.
   2. Click the View menu and select Show Hidden Files if it isn't already checked.
   3. Double click the folder marked .mozilla.
   4. Double click the folder marked firefox. Your profile folders are within this folder.
   5. Open your profile folder. By default, it is xxxxxxxx.default where xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters.
3. In the profile folder, the file bookmarks.html stores your bookmarks and has become corrupted. Right-click this file, and select Rename....
4. Rename the file to a unique name, such as the following:
   bookmarks_backup.html
5. Open the folder named bookmarkbackups, also located in your profile folder.
6. In the bookmarks backup folder, you should see up to five files with names like the following
   bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html
   where
   xxxx-xx-xx corresponds to the date the backup was made.
7. You must copy one of these backups to the profile folder. Right-click the most recently dated backup. Select Copy.
8. Go back to the previous folder, which now contains the bookmarks_backup.html file.
9. Right-click in the white space of the folder. Select Paste.
10. Right click the file you just pasted (bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html). Select Rename....
11. Rename the file to bookmarks.html
12. Restart Firefox. Your bookmarks should now be available through the Bookmarks menu.

1. Quit Firefox. It it is open, select Firefox at the top of the screen and choose Quit.
2. Open your profile folder:
   Each profile is stored on your hard drive in a profile folder. The default location of the Firefox profile is ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/.
   • xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters.
   1. Open Finder and go to your home folder. Note: your home folder is usually the name of your Mac user account
   2. From your home folder open Library, then Application Support, then Firefox, then Profiles.
   3. Open your profile folder. By default, it is xxxxxxxx.default where xxxxxxxx represents a random string of 8 characters.
3. In the profile folder, select the file bookmarks.html. Click on the file name again, to rename the file.
4. Rename the file to a unique name, such as the following:
   bookmarks_backup.html
5. Open the folder named bookmarkbackups, also located in your profile folder.
6. In the bookmarks backup folder, you should see up to five files with names like the following
   bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html
   where
   xxxx-xx-xx corresponds to the date the backup was made.
7. You must choose one of these backups to import into Firefox. Drag the most recently dated backup to your Desktop.
8. Restart Firefox, select Bookmarks from the menu at the top of the screen, and choose Organize Bookmarks. With the Organize Bookmarks window open, select the File menu and choose Import.
9. In the Import Wizard dialog that appears, select From File.
10. Browse to the desktop and find the copy of the bookmarks-xxxx-xx-xx.html file you made earlier. Click Open.
11. Your bookmarks should be restored. If not, repeat these steps, choosing a different backup to restore from.