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Saved Logins and Passwords deleted after update!

txlass952
txlass952
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It is impossible to contact Firefox. I use Firefox as my main browser. When I logged into my laptop this morning, it said if Firefox was loading slow to click the link for an update, which I did. However, once the update was done, ALL of my saved logins were gone; AND, I cannot create any new saved logins or save any logins and passwords. The "help" pages are useless because nothing addresses this. Why were ALL my saved passwords deleted? How can this be fixed?

It is impossible to contact Firefox. I use Firefox as my main browser. When I logged into my laptop this morning, it said if Firefox was loading slow to click the link for an update, which I did. However, once the update was done, ALL of my saved logins were gone; AND, I cannot create any new saved logins or save any logins and passwords. The "help" pages are useless because nothing addresses this. Why were ALL my saved passwords deleted? How can this be fixed?

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Sorry for the slow response. If you haven't already, please try a regular shutdown and restart of Windows to free up file locks.

Did Firefox create a folder on your Windows desktop named Old Firefox Data? If so, you might have clicked to okay a Refresh (sometimes called a tune-up). When that runs to completion properly, it carries your logins over to the new profile. Obviously something went wrong.

What is the status of the rest of your data such as bookmarks and history? Is everything good except logins are missing?

You can try copying two data files from the Old Firefox Data folder to your currently live Firefox profile folder. Let me describe the steps:

First, open the Old Firefox Data folder, click into the profile folder (usually the name has a gibberish part and then a dot, then default or default-release). Resize this Windows File Explorer window to the left side of the screen.

Next, 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. Resize this window and position it on the right side of the screen.

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 on the right, 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, in the source folder on the left, right-click logins.json, click Copy. In the destination window on the right, right-click a blank area, click Paste. Repeat with key4.db. 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?