this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
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Linux Mint

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Linux Mint is a free Linux-based operating system designed for use on desktop and laptop computers.

Want to see the latest news from the blog? Set the Firefox homepage to:

linuxmint.com/start/

where is a current or past release. Here's an example using release 21.1 'Vera':

https://linuxmint.com/start/vera/

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Hi guys, as title says is it possible to just copy and paste my entire profile folders from Firefox in Windows to Linux or they are not compatible and I have to reconfigure from start. What's the best move here?

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[–] bruce965@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

It's possible, it just works. I used to dual boot for years and I kept the Firefox profile on a shared drive. The only issue is that every time you switch OS it will not load extensions on the first run. You can fix that by launching the browser, closing it, then launching it again. I haven't had any other issues, and I would say that's just a minor inconvenience.

That been said, I haven't used Windows for a few months, so things might have changed.

Otherwise, if you don't mind using Mozilla Sync you can sync between different OS. Some extensions require you to explicitly enable cloud sync though, and some extensions do not support it at all. You will have to manually copy settings for such extensions.

Great thanks, I'm not dual booting and just gonna copy it and hope for the best then

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

If using the whole profile folder as is doesn’t work for you (it’s pretty reliably worked for me), then just make a new profile on Linux and close Firefox. Then copy in just the files you need. Here is a great resource to learn what’s in there:

https://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

[–] aprehendedmerlin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks I haven't tried yet. like you said I'm gonna copy folder to Linux and try if it doesn't work for some reason then gonna backup and copy as much settings and bookmarks as possible

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

If you already have a profile on the destination, you can try copying the contents of the folder over the contents of the destination folder.

[–] BunScientist@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

iirc the profiles have some system specific paths here and there so some things will work while others will just be broken.

best thing to do is to use whatever exports and imports you can do, from bookmarks and extensions

I have two profiles extensively modified over the years but good news is almost most of them are in the user.js files so if it comes to that I think I can just copy them and manually add the rest

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)