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How to do a clean install without importing previous data?

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  • Last reply by alexgj88

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I'm trying to do a clean install of Firefox to return to 100% default settings. I don't want any of my old data, bookmarks, cookies, or browsing history, but every time I uninstall and reinstall Firefox, all of my previous bookmarks along with my browsing history are imported into Firefox.

How do I do an actual clean install, that allows me to start over without importing any previous data?

  • edit

I've also deleted my Firefox account and opened a new one multiple times, which I would assume would delete my old data. But even after deleting my account my old data is still imported to Firefox after uninstalling and re-installing it.

I'm trying to do a clean install of Firefox to return to 100% default settings. I don't want any of my old data, bookmarks, cookies, or browsing history, but every time I uninstall and reinstall Firefox, all of my previous bookmarks along with my browsing history are imported into Firefox. How do I do an actual clean install, that allows me to start over without importing any previous data? *edit I've also deleted my Firefox account and opened a new one multiple times, which I would assume would delete my old data. But even after deleting my account my old data is still imported to Firefox after uninstalling and re-installing it.

Modified by alexgj88

Chosen solution

I wound up resetting my PC (deleting all files and folders). It was a relatively new PC so this wasn't an issue. Thank you all for the replies, though.

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All Replies (7)

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User data is stored in the Profile folder which is not removed when Firefox is uninstalled. If you want a "fresh start" without any Firefox user data the two Profile folders (roaming and local file paths) need to be deleted.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

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I deleted this folder:

C:\Users\<your Windows login username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

Now I'm receiving this error message (see attachment)

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The Profile needs to be deleted before re-installing Firefox. When installing Firefox it looks for the presence of an existing Profile; when none is found a new Profile will be created.

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You need to delete profiles.ini and installs.ini when present in the Firefox folder.

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\
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I have already re-installed Firefox, but then received the error message listed in my reply above

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Chosen Solution

I wound up resetting my PC (deleting all files and folders). It was a relatively new PC so this wasn't an issue. Thank you all for the replies, though.