Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Cuireadh an snáithe seo sa chartlann. Cuir ceist nua má tá cabhair uait.

How to create a recovery key without my password?

  • 4 fhreagra
  • 1 leis an bhfadhb seo
  • 4 views
  • Freagra is déanaí ó cor-el

more options

Dear community, I forgot my password for my firefox account. To sync my new laptop I need it... So I found the article, which says, I can create a recovery key and use it to keep all my settings after I changed my password. But to create a recovery key, the system asks me to fill in my old password. So I can not create a recovery key. Maybe I make a mistake somewhere on the way... Is there anybody, who can help me? Thank you very much! Petra

Dear community, I forgot my password for my firefox account. To sync my new laptop I need it... So I found the article, which says, I can create a recovery key and use it to keep all my settings after I changed my password. But to create a recovery key, the system asks me to fill in my old password. So I can not create a recovery key. Maybe I make a mistake somewhere on the way... Is there anybody, who can help me? Thank you very much! Petra

All Replies (4)

more options

Hi Petra, I don't think you can create recovery keys if you cannot log in to the account...

However, if you still have your old computer, you can move over Firefox's data files: they are all stored locally on disk. Is that still possible?

more options

Thanks for your quick answer! I just saved all the bookmarks (they were the most important files) and transferred them to my new laptop. I saved that file, so I can use it to install it again after I changed my password. Thank you!

more options

I would like to add, that after creating a new password all my settings were still there. So nothing bad happened :-) Now I am going to create a recovery key ;-)

more options

You can copy certain files with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to transfer or recover personal data. Note that best is to avoid copying a full profile folder.


  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • favicons: favicons.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (encrypted logins;32+) and key4.db (decryption key;58+) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
    key3.db support ended in 73+; to use key3.db in 58-72, make sure to remove key4.db
  • cert9.db (58+) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)