Uninstall and reinstall

[NJDave]

I've previously posted about UBO crashing and Vivaldi not opening. None of the suggestions here or from UBO have worked.

Can't live without Vivaldi anymore!

It seems the only solution is to uninstall Vivaldi and reinstall it. What files do I need to save so I'm not starting from scratch? I have the session and tabs files already saved.

Bookmarks, passwords, anything else?

It's been a very long time since I've had to do anything like this and I'm extremely rusty. Any detailed help, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your assistance; it is greatly appreciated.

[DoctorG]

@NJDave You can uninstall without letting the uninstaller delete the browser user data.

[NJDave]

@DoctorG How do I do that?

[DoctorG]

@NJDave Open Windows Settings → Installed Apps
In row for Vivaldi select the 3-dots at end
Uninstall
When the Uninstaller asks if you want to uninstall, do not tick the select field "Also delete Browsing Data"

[NJDave]

@DoctorG Not seeing what you are. Have to go and pick this up later. Thank you for your information so far.

[DoctorG]

@NJDave Ah, an other Windows version; select the Vivaldi row and open context menu with right mouse button

[NJDave]

@DoctorG Nothing happened using the right mouse button. This is what I got with 1 click with the left.

[DoctorG]

@NJDave Sorry, my wrong guess which Windows you had and but i do not remember all Windows' Apps uninstall UIs from the last decades.

A reinstall did not help?

[DoctorG]

@NJDave said in Uninstall and reinstall:

What files do I need to save so I'm not starting from scratch? I have the session and tabs files already saved.

Bookmarks, passwords, anything else?

I hope you do not use Vivaldi Mail, i can not help to repair of you use this Mail.

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If you have no Vivaldi Mail then go on.
You do not need to save, just try to delete some files from the profile to repair.

1. To be safe from dataloss with the next steps do copy the C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\Local\Vivaldi\User Data\
2. Open in Windows Explorer address field C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\Local\Vivaldi\User Data\Default\
3. Delete all in folder EXCEPT these:
   file Preferences
   file History
   file "Login Data"
   file Bookmarks
   file Notes
   folder Sessions\

You need to install extensions you had before.

I hope that brings you back a stable Vivaldi.

[Pathduck]

@DoctorG said in Uninstall and reinstall:

folder Sessions\

This folder should also be deleted. In fact it's the first thing to delete if the browser does not start. Open tabs/sessions/workspaces are not critical data, and a single open tab might be the whole cause of the issue. Better to start with a clean slate.

[DoctorG]

@Pathduck As i read the user wanted to keep/restore sessions and tabs.

[Pathduck]

@DoctorG Yes, but when the alternative is not having the browser start at all, the choice is pretty clear.

If sessions have been manually saved (or through the Session Panel), then leaving/restoring them from backup should work:
2023-12-03_11_28_51.bin
sessions.json

But the Tabs_/Session_ files must be deleted to ensure a clean startup.

[DoctorG]

@Pathduck Yes, if Vivaldi then does not start, then sessions are broken and User needs to delete the Sessions\ .
I guess user can not restore Wordkspaces and sessions and has to rebuilt them?

[Pathduck]

@DoctorG Not sure about Workspaces as I don't use them (I don't really use saved sessions as well, that explains why I don't think this is important data )

From a quick test, Workspaces are saved in Preferences

"workspaces": {
	"enabled": true,
	"list": [
		{
			"icon": "<svg width=\"16\" height=\"16\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\">\n  <path d=\"M14.5 0.5V15.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"/>\n  <path d=\"M14.5 10.5H10.5V4.5C10.5 3.43913 10.9214 2.42172 11.6716 1.67157C12.4217 0.921427 13.4391 0.5 14.5 0.5V0.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"/>\n  <path d=\"M4.5 8.5V15.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"/>\n  <path d=\"M7.5 0.5V5.5C7.5 6.29565 7.18393 7.05871 6.62132 7.62132C6.05871 8.18393 5.29565 8.5 4.5 8.5V8.5C3.70435 8.5 2.94129 8.18393 2.37868 7.62132C1.81607 7.05871 1.5 6.29565 1.5 5.5V0.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"/>\n  <path d=\"M4.5 0.5V5.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"/>\n</svg>\n",
			"id": 1701599627350.0,
			"name": "TEST_WORK"
		}
	]
}

The id refers to values in Sessions/Tabs files and are tied to these. So if an open tab is causing a crash, they have to die...

Thing is, we think Workspaces are unique to Vivaldi, but they're Chromium code - Vivaldi only implemented them after it was possible to do so in Chromium. So they're tied to Chromium's ugly Sessions implementation.

The manual saving of Sessions seems to be Vivaldi-made, so use the JSON/BIN files instead and can be saved from backup.

[NJDave]

@DoctorG WOW everyone thanks for all your help. Greatly appreciated.

How/where do I find the extensions I was previously using?

Looks like it's time to put on my big boy pants and give this a shot.

Thank you again.

[Pathduck]

@NJDave said in Uninstall and reinstall:

How/where do I find the extensions I was previously using?

There's no history about this. You've just got to remember what extension you use regularly. If you can't remember, it's a good sign you might not actually need that extension

[NJDave]

@Pathduck Thanks everyone for all the help to date.

Now that the hoopla of the holidays is over I'm ready to tackle my issue.

I've copied and deleted all the files and folders recommended above including Sessions. If I can get back to a stable Vivaldi, I'll try manually inserting tabs and sessions.

My next question is what do I do from here? Uninstall and reinstall?

Try starting Vivaldi?

Something else?

Once I get Vivaldi to open, should I go back and install UBO?

As a side note some of you may find interesting. I was looking at Vivaldi in Apps & Features and noticed the version had changed and the date was 12/25. Vivaldi was able to update to the latest version even though it didn't open. I opened the Sessions folder and the date of the latest Tabs and Sessions was 12/25/2023.

As always, thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom

NJDave

[Zalex108]

@NJDave

Hi,
Late but check this out

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Vivaldi Backup | Reset + Extra Steps

[NJDave]

To review:

I copied the User Data folder to an external hard drive.

Deleted all the files in Default except Bookmarks, History, "Login Data", Notes and Preferences.

I did delete the Sessions folder as previously suggested.

Looked at Full Reset of Vivaldi.

Can't open vivaldi://about. I did get a lot of interesting information about the Italian composer though which is not a bad thing.

While I was poking around the vivaldi folders I saw Vivaldi.exe and gave it a shot and double clicked it. Nothing happened.

Next step is to delete the User Data folder and try to start Vivaldi?

Thank you as always

NJDave

[Zalex108]

Renaming the Profile folder usually is enough.

Preferences File would be corrupted and fails to run.

Rename the User Data folder and try again.