Refresh Firefox: Reset to Default and Keep Your Bookmarks and Passwords

Published ✓ Verified ⏱️ 2 min read July 26, 2025 · by Ryan Bennett

Firefox is slow, crashing, or misbehaving and you want a clean start without losing your data.

Why: Over time, extensions, modified settings and damaged preferences cause problems that are hard to pin down. Refresh Firefox rebuilds your profile from defaults but copies your important data across, so it fixes most issues without a full reinstall.

Fix 1: Refresh from the troubleshooting page

Open menu (≡) → Help → More troubleshooting information (this opens about:support).
Click Refresh Firefox… near the top right.
Confirm with Refresh Firefox in the dialog. Firefox closes and rebuilds your profile.
When it reopens, an import window appears — click Finish, choose whether to restore previous windows and tabs, and click Let’s go!.

Fix 2: Refresh when Firefox won’t open normally

If Firefox crashes or hangs at launch, start it in Troubleshoot Mode instead:

Hold Shift while launching Firefox (Windows), or use menu (≡) → Help → Troubleshoot Mode… if you can reach it.
In the Troubleshoot Mode window, click Refresh Firefox… and confirm.

What is kept vs. removed

Kept: bookmarks, browsing and download history, passwords, cookies, web form autofill, and your personal dictionary.

Removed: extensions and themes, modified preferences (about:config changes), added search engines, site permissions, DOM storage, security certificate settings, download actions, and toolbar customizations.

Your old profile is saved to a folder named Old Firefox Data on your desktop, so you can recover anything that didn’t carry over.

FAQ

Where did my bookmarks toolbar go? Refresh keeps your bookmarks but may hide the toolbar. Re-enable it with menu (≡) → More tools → Customize toolbar, or press Ctrl + Shift + B.

Refresh didn’t fix it — what now? If problems persist, the issue may be your installation rather than your profile. See Firefox keeps crashing for a clean reinstall, which also keeps your profile.

Sources: Mozilla Support — Refresh Firefox: reset add-ons and settings