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I had to re-install Firefox, How do I add my backup logins and passwords

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I had to re-install Firefox, How do I add my backup logins and passwords? Step by step?

I had to re-install Firefox, How do I add my backup logins and passwords? Step by step?

All Replies (7)

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Hi, what kind of backup do you have?

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Thanks....I have the files from my Profile: logins-backup.json and key4 They are suppose to contain the backed up files. How do I tell the computer to look there for the files?

j

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Did you set up Firefox again with a new profile? You can replace the new (empty) logins.json and its matching key4.db file with the old files. Hopefully this covers all the steps:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows File Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then in the File Explorer window, right-click logins.json, click Rename, and change the name to loginsOLD.json. Similarly rename key4.db to key4OLD.db. (Windows may hide the .db file extension; you can turn off hiding of file extensions using the steps in this article: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-show-file-extensions-in-windows/)

You may wonder why bother. It's so you can't accidentally replace the good files with the useless ones.

Next, copy the two old files and paste them into the new profile folder. There should not be any messages about replacing files because the files were renamed in advance.

Start Firefox back up again. Does the Logins and Passwords page have the expected data?

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Sorry, I just realized you said your old logins file was named logins-backup.json. I'm not sure how -backup got into the name. After pasting that file in the new profile folder, rename it to just logins.json. Hopefully it's the right file.

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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Yep, after I slept on it (less daily stress), this solution came to me. It's just a matter of coping the old backup files and putting them in the new "profile" folder.

Thanks, I really appreciate it

Jay

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Firefox 79+ can create a logins-backup.json in case of issues with writing to logins.json. Firefox 80+ can automatically restore the logins from logins-backup.json in case of a corrupt or missing logins.json

  • signon.backup.enabled [79:false][80:true]
  • bug 1597358 - logins.json is a 0-byte file. Create a backup during writes to it. [79]
  • bug 1593467 - Automatically restore from logins-backup.json when logins.json is missing or corrupt [80]
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cor-el said

Firefox 79+ can create a logins-backup.json in case of issues with writing to logins.json. Firefox 80+ can automatically restore the logins from logins-backup.json in case of a corrupt or missing logins.json

Thanks!