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All passwords are gone

  • 15 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 14 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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After a recent update all of my passwords are gone (as well as history, bookmarks, etc)

One post says to replace the key3.db and logins.json files to restore them. However, the current folder does not contain a key3.db file. Only a key4.db file.

After a recent update all of my passwords are gone (as well as history, bookmarks, etc) One post says to replace the key3.db and logins.json files to restore them. However, the current folder does not contain a key3.db file. Only a key4.db file.

All Replies (15)

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It sounds like the browser did a refresh on your profile.

Look on your desktop. Do you see a folder called; Old Firefox? Look inside. Look for the folder with the latest creation date.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible

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After this issue began, I did a refresh but it did not change anything. Before doing the refresh, I saved a copy of the profile folder. It contains 12 folders and 35 files. The old data that Firefox saved only contains 4 folders. I tried copying the backup that I made and it had no effect.

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Skiddingme said

However, the current folder. . . . Only a key4.db file.

logins.json and key3.db [v58+]key4.db : These are the password files. Both are required.

Do you have backups?

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Yes. See last post. I also have 2 backups from 2018

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I just copied the files from a 2018 backup and it restored most of my passwords. All of my recently created passwords are still gone. All of the passwords that I had to change because of this issue are now incorrect. So I guess I have to change them again.

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Great. Now all the passwords on my laptop are restored to what they where in 2018 and I can no longer access sites on my tablet because I had to change passwords to access them with my laptop.

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Isnt there a way to access my passwords from the logins.json files? Even if they were not all current, I would at least be able to access the user names. Then I would only have to create about 50 new passwords.

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If you place a matching logins.json and key4.db in the main profile folder with Firefox closed then you should see the passwords in the Password Manager.

A few Firefox versions ago the key3.db key file (DBM) has been replaced by the key4.db file (SQLite database).

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The backup I saved after the update has a key4 file, but no logins file. The old firefox backup has 3 key3 files, 2 key4 files and 2 logins.json files. Which should I use?

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The key files stores the encryption key that is necessary to decrypt the passwords that are stored in the logins.json file. You need both files to be able to access the encrypted username and password stored in logins.json. Only the correct key4.db file can decrypt the passwords.

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i copied all the files from the Old Firefox Data into about:profile, and my passwords are still not there!!??

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also the dates on the files in the supposed 'old firefox data" are all dates from this year??? 2019. I cannot find the 2018 files?

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I tried every combination and was not able to restore any of my current logins. The only logins I was able to restore had outdated passwords. I have spent endless hours resetting my passwords and still have a few more left.

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Sorry to hear that.


In the event that the passwords information is lost, you should record all information in a separate text file somewhere else on your hard drive, or written down. You can easily copy and paste if you need to do so. If you are concerned about someone else looking at that file, you can compress it using a password.


Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.{web link} I use an add-on that makes backups of my user profile, Just In Case. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the current Firefox.

Every now and then, open the profile folder and create a copy of the current profile as is to another location on your hard drive. This way you will have a backup.

If you do this each day, you will not lose much data. This should be done with Firefox Closed.

Note: In case you need to restore from these backups, you may need to overwrite old or corrupted files.

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Can you check the old logins.json in a text editor or in a Firefox tab to see if it has valid JSON content.

You need to copy matching logins.json and key4.db files to the current profile folder If you notice a logins.json.corrupt file and a possible key3.db file then check this logins.json.corrupt file.