I backed up my drive with Idrive before it crashed, but after reinstalling my profiles from backup to firefox, I can't get back my saved usernames and passwords
I backed up our hard drive on IDrive, replaced the failing hard drive, but I can't reinstall my saved user names and saved passwords from the backed up files. I have successfully reinstalled my profile from the back up but the user/passwd info is not there. I understand that this info is saved in two different locations and I have tried to locate the missing files in my Idrive account, but to no avail. Am I wasting my time or is this info recoverable? Thanks for any help.
Keazen oplossing
SUCCESS! That was the solution I needed. Thank you so much. After resetting my signon.importedFromSqlite preference on the about:config page to default, a deleted the logins.json file in the current profile folder and then I drug and dropped my old signon file from my backed up files and VOILA! All our user names and passwords re-appeared.
Thank you Cor-el. I appreciate you help and time to solve my problem!
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Hello,
That information is recoverable. Please see the article Recover important data from an old profile for more information at it will tell you what is stored in each of the files.
I believe user names are stored in:
- formhistory.sqlite - This file remembers what you have searched for in the Firefox search bar and what information you have entered into forms on websites. For more information see Control whether Firefox automatically fills in forms.
Passwords are stored in:
- key3.db - This file stores your key database for your passwords. To transfer saved passwords, you must copy this file along with the following file.
- logins.json - Saved passwords.
For future reference, if you want to back up your extensions and preferences more easily, you can use the following which will perform those tasks for you:
- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/opie/
- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/febe/
The files that these two create will quickly restore your information in the future if something happens to your profile.
Thank you for your response. I have found all the files required with the exception of the logins.json files. That file doesn't appear anywhere in my Idrive account or on my local c drive. Would you know the file path to follow to find it? Thanks again...
For me it is in the same folder as all of the other files (formhistory.sqlite, key3.db, etc) - but if you cannot find it, the file may not have been backed up properly. Does your current Firefox profile contain that information?
You can quickly get to your profile folder by going to your troubleshooting page - either enter about:support in the address bar, or:
- Help (or > ) > Troubleshooting Information
There should be a Show Folder button - that will open your profile folder in Windows Explorer.
Yes, the logins.json file does appear in my current profile--or at least was found using search. I'm still searching idrive, but am going to have to put this project on the back burner until a little later in the weekend. I'll keep posted as to progress. Thanks so much. I really appreciate the help.
one more thing to ponder on... how far up the root can I go, copying and pasting the files into the new profile? If I copy and paste the "profile" file to the profile manager "profile" file, will that include all the file extensions I need to successfully transfer everything from Favorites and bookmarks to user names and passwords?
Older Firefox versions used the signons.sqlite file to store the passwords. So you can check if you have a backup of that file.
Firefox 32 and later builds store the passwords in the logins.json file in the profile folder and no longer use the signons.sqlite file. If you still have the signons.sqlite file that was used in Firefox 31 and older then you could try to recover the passwords saved in that file (you will lose passwords saved in Firefox 32). You can force Firefox to reimport the passwords from the signons.sqlite file and rebuild the logins.json file.
- reset the signon.importedFromSqlite pref on the about:config page to the default value via the right-click context menu
- delete the logins.json file in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed
When you restart Firefox then you should have the signon.importedFromSqlite pref with the value set to true and you should have the passwords imported in the Password Manager unless there may have been errors.
I have determined that the logins.json file did not exist in my previous version of FF, which was probably older than Firefox 32, but had been updated when prompted by Mozilla. My idrive account goes from localstore to marionette with no logins present.
I think cor-el, you're on to something and I'd like to try it. I'm just not sure where to find the reset preference to follow the instructions you suggest. Perhaps back up a step or two and I'll be anxious to give it a try. The loss of current passwords is not a problem as there are only a couple to re-enter.
You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.
You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
Keazen oplossing
SUCCESS! That was the solution I needed. Thank you so much. After resetting my signon.importedFromSqlite preference on the about:config page to default, a deleted the logins.json file in the current profile folder and then I drug and dropped my old signon file from my backed up files and VOILA! All our user names and passwords re-appeared.
Thank you Cor-el. I appreciate you help and time to solve my problem!