Recently after noticing that my Windows computer was performing unusually slow, I decided to Reset my PC and Start fresh. Since resetting is similar to reinstalling Windows without any applications but maintaining User Data at the same time, all my data and settings were safe except my Edge Favorites. After resetting my PC, I opened up the Edge browser, and the Favorites were gone!
While I was looking around for a solution, I got to know that Edge has built-in favorites export/import feature, which can backup your bookmarks and keeps them safe. But in my case, that was not possible because I had already lost them. So, in case your Edge does not automatically restore the bookmarks, here is how I got back my Edge Favorites from the Windows.old folder.
When we reinstall or reset Windows, all our older files are moved to a Windows.old folder in the installation drive. This folder contains all the files and settings from the previous installation, and this folder is deleted automatically after some time.
Read: Where are Favorites stored in Edge browser.
Extract Edge Chromium Favorites from Windows.old
Open up the Windows installation directory (usually C:/) and then open the Windows.old folder.
Now open ‘Users’ folder and then open the folder corresponding to your earlier username.
\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default
Here, you will find a file called “Bookmarks“.
That’s the one! Copy it to where you want to appear.
Extract Edge Legacy Favorites from Windows.old
Open up the Windows installation directory (usually C:/) and then open the Windows.old folder.
Now open ‘Users’ folder and then open the folder corresponding to your earlier username.
From the View menu above, enable ‘Hidden Items’ and open a hidden folder called ‘AppData’.
Navigate to ‘Local’ and then open ‘Packages’.
Now find and open the folder starting with ‘Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge’.
Open the folder ‘AC’, then ‘MicrosoftEdge’, then ‘User’ and then ‘Default’.
The entire address to the folder will now look like this:
C:\Windows.old\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\AC\MicrosoftEdge\User\Default
Copy the contents of this folder and save it somewhere else to take a backup.
Restore & get back Edge Legacy Favorites
Now that we’ve extracted these Favorites, it is time to put them into the right place so that Edge can load them up.
Go to the same folder but this time, not in ‘Windows.old’ folder but in the installation drive. The address may look something like this.
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\AC\MicrosoftEdge\User\Default
Paste the files you’ve copied in previous steps, and you are good to go. Close Edge if it was already opened and open it up again.
You will be surprised to see all your favorites back in place as you left them.
You may face a slight issue as when you will close Edge and reopen it again; all your bookmarks will be gone again. To overcome this go to ‘Favorites’, then click on ‘Settings’. Then select ‘Import from another browser‘ and then click ‘Export’ button and save the HTML file. Close Edge and open it again, if you find that your bookmarks are gone then import the same HTML file, and the bookmarks will now never leave this place.
This was how I got back my Edge favorites after resetting Windows 10. If you face any problems in the entire process, feel free to comment down below.
I strongly believe that bookmarks should be treated differently on Edge. Favorites should be automatically backed up to cloud and linked to Microsoft Account, similar to what Google does with Chrome.
Recently we covered a small utility called StorURL, a free cross-browser bookmarks manager. You can use it to import bookmarks from all browsers including Google Chrome and Firefox. The tool can be used to take bookmark backups and manage them efficiently.
PS: Says TonyC in comments below: I found an automatic backup of Edge data in here:
C:\Users\<user>\MicrosoftEdgeBackups\backups\MicrosoftEdgeBackupyyyymmdd
After I set up a new laptop (Favorites then disappeared). Just restore that file from the Import Favourites feature and you are good to go.
