The bookmarks and history system will not be functional

The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security software can cause this problem.

This happens when the file that stores your bookmarks and browsing history (named places.sqlite) can’t be accessed by Pale Moon. This page covers two possible solutions.

Solution 1: restart your computer

The most common causes of this error are another program using the file or a problem with the file that was caused when the computer was shut off unexpectedly (like a power failure). The good news is that most of the time, simply restarting your computer and then restarting Pale Moon is the fix for both problems. You may also want to perform a disk check (check disk for errors) to see if there is a problem with the actual file and repair it.

Solution 2: create a new places database

If restarting your computer doesn’t take care of things, you can fix this by having Pale Moon create a new places database for you.
  1. Click the Pale Moon button, click Help and select Troubleshooting Information. The Troubleshooting Information page will now open.
  2. Under the Application Basics section, click on Show Folder next to "Profile Folder". A file manager window with your profile files will open.
  3. Leave the Profile folder open.
  4. Click the Pale Moon button and then click Exit. Wait until Pale Moon has completely quit.
  5. In the Pale Moon profile folder from step 2, find and rename the files places.sqlite and places.sqlite-journal (if it exists).
  6. Reopen Pale Moon.
When Pale Moon reopens it will create a new places database.
Your browsing history will be lost, but Pale Moon will automatically import your bookmarks from the most recent backup file.

If your bookmarks weren’t restored after creating a new places database, the following MozillaZine KB article may help: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Lost_bookmarks.

Help! This didn’t fix the problem.

This problem has symptoms that are similar to a number of other problems, that are beyond this simple help page.
It's suggested that you ask for help on our forum to find the cause and potential solutions.


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