Copy data to folder does not give overwrite option?

NormAtHome · Mar 7, 2024

This morning I was trying to migrate an older Window 10 Pro computer to a new Windows 11 Pro computer, one thing I almost always do is to backup the C:\Users\<Name>\appdata\local and .\roaming Mozilla profiles to then copy into the new Mozilla profile on the new computer. No matter what I tried every directory and file copied as a copy and would not overwrite the existing files in the profile directories no matter what I did.

First both Explorer windows were run as Administrator, Google turned up a file explorer option called "Hide folder merge conflicts" which I unchecks but nothing I tried allowed me to overwrite the new profile files with the old profile files. And both versions of Firefox were the exact same version.

How can I overcome this problem?

Thanks!

Ghot · Mar 7, 2024

The only thing I ever bring from an older Firefox, to the new one is my bookmarks and my Chrome folder.
Other tweaks are here...

Firefox... taming the beast part 2 !! - Windows 10 Help Forums

First things first... stop Firefox from automatically updating. Simply unzip and drop this "distribution" folder into... C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla Firefox After manually updating Firefox this folder will be erased, so save a copy somewher

www.tenforums.com

NormAtHome · Mar 7, 2024

Ghot said:
The only thing I ever bring from an older Firefox, to the new one is my bookmarks and my Chrome folder.
Other tweaks are here...

Firefox... taming the beast part 2 !! - Windows 10 Help Forums

First things first... stop Firefox from automatically updating. Simply unzip and drop this "distribution" folder into... C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla Firefox After manually updating Firefox this folder will be erased, so save a copy somewher

www.tenforums.com

I understand what your needs are but in this case the user needs history, currently open tabs etc and this technique has worked for me for a long time and somewhere on Mozilla's website are instruction to do just this. So again, how can I copy and overwrite files in Windows 11 when it won't let me do that and the option that people say used to work unchecking "Hide folder merge conflicts" still doesn't allow you to choose to overwrite existing files with the files I'm copying from the old hard drive?

antspants · Mar 7, 2024

NormAtHome said:
How can I overcome this problem?

Can’t you delete the originals first?

S0C9 · Mar 7, 2024

NormAtHome said:
This morning I was trying to migrate an older Window 10 Pro computer to a new Windows 11 Pro computer, one thing I almost always do is to backup the C:\Users\<Name>\appdata\local and .\roaming Mozilla profiles to then copy into the new Mozilla profile on the new computer. No matter what I tried every directory and file copied as a copy and would not overwrite the existing files in the profile directories no matter what I did.

First both Explorer windows were run as Administrator, Google turned up a file explorer option called "Hide folder merge conflicts" which I unchecks but nothing I tried allowed me to overwrite the new profile files with the old profile files. And both versions of Firefox were the exact same version.

How can I overcome this problem?

Thanks!

Create a 2nd local acct (admin), login as that acct, copy files over. Log out then log back in as original acct ?

IanMosley · Mar 7, 2024

See this article - right at the very end,

Spunk · Mar 7, 2024

Sign into Firefox profile on both computers and choose Sync How do I set up Sync on my computer? | Mozilla Support
All FF bookmarks, settings in profile will appear on the new computer

glasskuter · Mar 7, 2024

I believe all the info you need is in the profiles folder. Try copying that instead. I've never had to for myself as I sync my FF but I have for others.
eg: C:\Users\glass\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\wup2jplx.default-release

NormAtHome · Mar 7, 2024

S0C9 said:
Create a 2nd local acct (admin), login as that acct, copy files over. Log out then log back in as original acct ?

As I mentioned, I opened a command prompt as administrator and then opened both explorer windows from there so they are running as administrator. It's not a rights issue it's some problem with Windows 11 not showing a dialog asking if I want to overwrite the existing files but copying the files as a copy of the original without asking if that's what I want.

NormAtHome · Mar 7, 2024

antspants said:
Can’t you delete the originals first?

That's a possibility, I'll try that and see.

antspants · Mar 7, 2024

Backup.

NormAtHome · Mar 7, 2024

glasskuter said:
I believe all the info you need is in the profiles folder. Try copying that instead. I've never had to for myself as I sync my FF but I have for others.
eg: C:\Users\glass\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\wup2jplx.default-release

That's exactly what I'm trying to do, it's Windows 11 copy that's not showing the "Do you want to overwrite the existing files?" dialog and just copying them all as copy's of the originals which is useless.

antspants · Mar 7, 2024

NormAtHome said:
That's exactly what I'm trying to do, it's Windows 11 copy that's not showing the "Do you want to overwrite the existing files?" dialog and just copying them all as copy's of the originals which is useless.

Yes, but maybe rather than delete the originals, copy/cut and paste them somewhere first.

NormAtHome said:
And both versions of Firefox were the exact same version.

I am assuming the files within the folders are probably named differently to some extent, regardless of the similarities. Therefore it wouldn’t overwrite, just add. At least for some of the files. Evan though they may be from the same profile on a different computer, I am just guessing here because I am not at my PC.
I stay signed into Mozilla and use Firefox sync, which seems to work for/suit me

glasskuter · Mar 7, 2024

You might try 'end task' for all FF processes running in task manager and then copying the profile. I actually should have thought of this idea first.

NormAtHome · Mar 8, 2024

glasskuter said:
You might try 'end task' for all FF processes running in task manager and then copying the profile. I actually should have thought of this idea first.

Firefox is not running on the computer that I'm trying to copy the profile to. Apparently this has been a problem for a few months and even the suggested solution that is being provided on the Microsoft forums (which I tried and it doesn't work as mentioned in my post) doesn't fix the problem. Microsoft Forum Answer Drag and drop of files just creates copies without the overwrite dialog popping up, likewise using Copy To has the same problem as it just creates copy's of the directories and does not merge or overwrite the files.

And I'd like to point out that what I'm doing here has been the preferred method of copying a persons profile since as least Windows 8 Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles | Firefox Help yes sync is an option but that would mean I have to create an account then login to it and wait for it to sync and then replace the computer and login on the new computer. I've disconnected the old computer and have the new computer hooked up and I have the old computers hard drive attached via hard drive dock, trying to put the hard drive back in and doing all that is too much when there's nothing wrong with what I'm doing other that this copy problem with Windows 11 that seems to me to be a bug in the latest versions of Windows 11.

antspants · Mar 8, 2024

NormAtHome said:
this copy problem with Windows 11 that seems to me to be a bug in the latest versions of Windows 11.

It could well be. I am wondering if you first tried before or after update KB5034848 (If you have it) Because this update has apparently caused some strange issues for many people.