How to completely remove and reinstall Pale Moon
Posted: 2012-04-12, 12:57
Sometimes, things can go horribly wrong, e.g. because of a power outage, hard disk problem, bad memory stick or malware messing up Pale Moon and/or its user profile.
Here is a run-down of how to completely remove Pale Moon, rescue your bookmarks, and do a clean re-install if uninstalling/reinstalling the normal way fails.
First, grab bookmark backups to save your bookmarks if you want:
C:\Users\{your user name}\AppData\Roaming\Moonchild Productions\Pale Moon\Profiles\{xxxxxxx}.default\bookmarkbackups\
this folder has a number of dated .json files which are bookmark backups to be imported at the end. Pale Moon creates these backups by default, automatically.
You may also want to grab your login data (user names and passwords) from the same profile location by copying the files key4.db and logins.json to a safe place. These files are usually never corrupted.
To completely remove and reinstall "clean", make sure Pale Moon is completely closed, then do this:
You can restore your bookmarks by going to Bookmarks -> Organize bookmarks, then button Import and Backup
-> restore -> choose file... and load the .json file of the date of your choice you saved.
If you saved your login data, you can restore these files by copying them back to the newly created profile folder, most easily found by going to help -> troubleshooting information, then clicking "Show folder" under Profile. Close the browser before you copy these files back to the proper location.
Here is a run-down of how to completely remove Pale Moon, rescue your bookmarks, and do a clean re-install if uninstalling/reinstalling the normal way fails.
First, grab bookmark backups to save your bookmarks if you want:
C:\Users\{your user name}\AppData\Roaming\Moonchild Productions\Pale Moon\Profiles\{xxxxxxx}.default\bookmarkbackups\
this folder has a number of dated .json files which are bookmark backups to be imported at the end. Pale Moon creates these backups by default, automatically.
You may also want to grab your login data (user names and passwords) from the same profile location by copying the files key4.db and logins.json to a safe place. These files are usually never corrupted.
To completely remove and reinstall "clean", make sure Pale Moon is completely closed, then do this:
- Go to the Pale Moon installation folder:
On 32-bit windows or for 64-bit Pale Moon installed natively: C:\Program Files\Pale Moon
For 32-bit Pale Moon on 64-bit windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Pale Moon
and delete the entire Pale Moon folder. - Go to
C:\Users\{you user name}\Appdata\Roaming\Moonchild productions
and remove the folder "Pale Moon" - Do the same for
C:\Users\{you user name}\Appdata\Local\Moonchild productions - Remove any start menu/desktop icons that are still there
- Download the installer from the Pale Moon website.
- Install Pale Moon using the installer
You can restore your bookmarks by going to Bookmarks -> Organize bookmarks, then button Import and Backup
-> restore -> choose file... and load the .json file of the date of your choice you saved.
If you saved your login data, you can restore these files by copying them back to the newly created profile folder, most easily found by going to help -> troubleshooting information, then clicking "Show folder" under Profile. Close the browser before you copy these files back to the proper location.