hi Wormwood42, i am sorry for this issue - as it looks at the moment this happens for a small number of users with an unforeseen configuration, probably triggered by a preference set by the Norton Identity Safe addon, which is present in your case as well. firefox developers are working on a mitigation for that problem as we speak, but unfortunately that can not help after the fact, when passwords are already lost.

do you have any form of backup of your firefox profile or your harddrive in available? if so, we can assist you in recovering any password data from there...

I found a tool on github called "DB Browser for Sqlite". I had saved off copies of what apparently are the 4 key files (cert8.db, key3.db, logins.json, signons.sqlite), and this tool was able to open the signons.sqlite file and show that it still has records in it.

Is there a way to extract all the info from that file and decrypt it and then re-import it into Firefox?

ok, you could try the following (but please make a backup of your whole firefox profile folder first):

• enter about:config into the firefox address bar (confirm the info message in case it shows up) & search for the preference named signon.importedFromSqlite. right-click and reset that entry to its default value.
• close firefox
• in your profile folder rename/delete the file named logins.json and try to launch firefox again,..

You need to restore both signons.sqlite and key3.db from the backup to ensure this to work.

You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

Before trying any of the above, I was able to find a backup copy of my logins.json file, by right-clicking on the file in Windows Explorer and choosing "Restore previous versions". Something had triggered a backup copy just a week ago, so by restoring that I've recovered pretty much everything...I don't think I saved any new passwords in the past week.

Not sure if it is feasible, but if the Firefox upgrader could be coded to trigger the Windows Backup to do a "Recover Point" on key files in Firefox such as this file (and its associated ones, like cert8.db), that might go a long way.

That was very good work. Well Done.

These can't get your data back, but will help in the future.

These add-ons can be a great help by backing up and restoring Firefox

FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) {web link} FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions, history, passwords, and more. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your saved files individually into installable .xpi files. It will also make backups of files that you choose.

OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences