Cannot transfer bookmarks file from 12.17 (XP) to 12.17 (Win7)

A Former User

Hi, My old XP machine broke and I have installed Opera 12.17 on a new win 7 machine. I have copied the old bookmarks file to the new Opera folder, but the bookmarks do not show up, just the 20 or so default bookmarks that come with the new install. Can someone help me with that? Also, what do I need to do to copy the password file over?

Thanks a lot.

Ed

blackbird71

blackbird71

Did you copy the correct old bookmarks.adr file from the old system? The old Opera versions contained two different bookmarks.adr files, one the default version that ships with Opera and the other is the one the user customizes during use. In 12.17, the default version of the bookmarks.adr file is in the \opera folder for a standalone or USB install or else is in the main program's \default folder if fully installed for a named user. However, that's not the one you customize as a user, but instead is the original default version of the file populated with the handful of original bookmarks provided by Opera. Opera uses a copy of this file to replace your customized version elsewhere if something corrupts that file.

Depending on how you installed Opera in the XP system, the user-customized bookmarks.adr file you want is the one located in the \profile folder if it was a standalone or USB installation. Otherwise, for a 'normal' installation it will be along the \Applications_Data path for the named user account at the \opera folder there. If that bookmarks file is corrupted, Opera will detect it and automatically overwrite it with a copy of the default bookmarks file. And if that happens, the contents of the customized file will be lost unless you have a backup saved somewhere else.

The default version of the bookmarks file will be about 6Kb in size, whereas your custom version should be larger, the size depending on how many bookmarks you have. In my case, it's 280 Kb in size, but my file contains around 900 bookmarks and subfolders.

hitanykey

hitanykey

Typing opera:about in the url bar give you the paths of your profile.

That being said in your case if it was mine I would just copy all the contents of my old Profile folder to the new install. Done it myself successfully a number of time in the past. No warranties implied

A Former User

Thanks a lot for the quick responses.

Yes, I have copied the correct file over (it's 401k) into the new install.
The profile folder in the old install does not contain a bookmarks.adr file.
The new install does not have a profile folder.

I'm at a loss what to do.

Ed

A Former User

That's strange.
A system installed Opera must have at leat 2 folders - one of the two is the profile one, the other is for stuff including bookmarks.

sgunhouse

sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer

As @hitanykey said, your profile can be found by looking at Help > About Opera or by typing opera:about in the address bar. So is the specific address of your (current) bookmark file. (While few people did, you can tell Opera 12 to use any bookmark file - it doesn't have to be in your profile. In the Manage bookmarks tab, you'll see a "File" button on the toolbar.)

A Former User

I found that "File" button in the "Manage Bookmarks" tab and did an "Import" and it worked just fine.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Cheers,

Ed

A Former User

One more question: Which file(s) do I have to copy over for the stored passwords?

Thanks,

Ed

g00g00

g00g00

"wand.dat" (! + "opcert6.dat" if you set a master password !)

A Former User

OK, I've copied that file over, thanks a lot.

An hour ago I noticed another issue.

I always check "Accept cookies only from sites I visit" and "Delete cookies at exit".

However, I was on one website this morning and when I exited it I checked the cookie folder and there were over one hundred of them from websites I have never even heard of. So I exited Opera completely, expecting the cookies to be gone. Unfortunately, when I restarted Opera, all the cookies were still there and I had to delete them all manually. Is there another setting that I have missed?

Thanks for all your help so far.

Ed