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I am getting wrong favicons when I bookmark sites in Firefox 56.0 (64-bit).

For example, when I bookmark Stackoverflow.com, I get a favicon for Reddit.com.

Any idea why this would be, or how I can fix it?

Note: This is the only site this is currently occurring with, but it happens every time when I remove/re-add the bookmark.

Stack Overflow Showing Reddit favicon:

Stackoverflow Showing Reddit Favicon

Correct favicon Shown in Media Tab:

Correct Favicon Shown in Media Tab

Edit 11/25/17

Happening now on Drudge.

The accepted answer below does fix it.

Drudge Wrong Favicon

Patrick
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  • Have you tried reinstalling Windows? – random Oct 16 '17 at 19:05
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    @random Reinstall Windows? Seems extreme to go there right out of the gate. – CharlieRB Oct 16 '17 at 19:24
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    @random You must be joking. – Patrick Oct 16 '17 at 23:54
  • I used to have an add-on to reset favicons, but it is no longer supported. You can check thru the current add-ons, but this one indicates it is no longer possible. [FavIcon Reloader up to FF 48 only](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/faviconreloader/) and [Developer reply by miacdo](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/faviconreloader/reviews/905978/) – user3169 Oct 18 '17 at 05:31
  • Does the correct favicon show in Page Info (Media tab)? Address something like "http://.../images/favicon.ico"? Also, is this problem restricted to your current profile? – user3169 Oct 18 '17 at 05:54
  • @user3169 Yeah I used to use that also, it's not supported on this version of Firefox. – Patrick Oct 18 '17 at 10:24
  • @user3169 Yes the correct favicon is showing on Page Info / Media tab. I only have one profile. – Patrick Oct 18 '17 at 10:26
  • Can you create another user profile, and if so does the problem happen in that profile too (to confirm that is where the problem is)? (Of course first back up your profile folder(s), just in case.) If it only happens in your profile, there are favicon db files in the profile folder, so I suspect that may be where the problem is coming from. – user3169 Oct 19 '17 at 04:06
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    This used to occur frequently in older versions, and suddenly the issue has reappeared for me. If I remember correctly, clearing one of the tables in the SQLite databases could fix it for a while. But I don't think anyone discovered the underlying cause. – Stijn Nov 21 '17 at 09:01

3 Answers3

16

Close firefox, delete %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<your profile>\favicons.sqlite

This is easier to do than peqhusus's solution, but it does mean you'll lose all cached favicons and have to reload your bookmarks to get the icons again.

Shaun Dreclin
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  • This is an easier solution, as you mentioned, and fixes the issue, including between restarts. Thanks. – Patrick Jan 20 '18 at 13:29
  • For the records, that only exists starting from [Firefox 55](http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox). Before that (or well, at least since version 3) favicons were [inside](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/Places/Database) a [table](https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/5k3rin/is_there_anyway_to_backuprestore_your_bookmarks/dbl2tb0/) in `places.sqlite`. Which one should be [very careful](http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox) to handle when downgrading/updating around FF 52-57. – mirh Feb 22 '20 at 13:31
  • Works well, there is a related video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u2jBitDcho&t=187s – COil Apr 10 '20 at 13:22
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    The path on MacOS is `~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles//` – zymhan Apr 29 '20 at 18:01
  • Deleting the favicons.sqlite was not enough for me. I also had to clear Firefox's cache too. – Jasper Citi Sep 03 '22 at 05:42
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This may not be the best solution if you are only slightly annoyed...

What I usually do when this happens is go to

Bookmarks --> Show All Bookmarks --> Import and Backup --> Export Bookmarks to HTML file

Then open the bookmarks file, find the corresponding bookmark entry, then change ICON_URI="{URL}" ICON="data:image/png;base64,{data}

to the URL of the icon and the base 64 encoded icon in png format

Then import the modified bookmarks file back into Firefox

peqhusus
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  • Thanks, this DOES fix the issue, but is obviously not for your average end-user. This was not presenting itself again until today, where I now had my Drudge Report bookmark toolbar completely disappear (although it was listed in the sidebar if I checked bookmarks). So I removed and re-added, and get (oddly enough) the Reddit favicon for Drudge. – Patrick Nov 25 '17 at 20:19
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Clearing the web cache should force Firefox to download the favicons again.

  1. Close all the tabs except a new one
  2. Go to Tools > Options
  3. Click the Advanced on the left panel, then the Network tab
  4. Find Cached Web Content and click the Clear Now to the right
  5. Restart Firefox
CharlieRB
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    Didn't do it. For the record, Firefox 36 doesn't have an Advanced tab on the left panel anymore. However, I did locate the clear Cached Web Content. I restarted, yet still get a Reddit favicon for StackOverflow. Perhaps I should file a bug with Mozilla? – Patrick Oct 16 '17 at 23:58
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    It seems the "Clear Cached Web Content" only clears page data. My favicons did not reload (from what I could tell) ... they were all there instantly when the browser loaded. – Patrick Oct 16 '17 at 23:59
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    Your question states version 56, not 36. Which is it? Do other browsers load the favicons correctly? – CharlieRB Oct 17 '17 at 11:42
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    That was a typo. It's the latest Firefox 56 fully updated. – Patrick Oct 17 '17 at 14:28