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Passwords saved in Mozilla

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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I reset windows 10. When I went online all my passwords in Mozilla were gone.

I reset windows 10. When I went online all my passwords in Mozilla were gone.

All Replies (5)

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When you reset the computer, did you select to save your data?

Open your user folder and look for a folder called Windows.old

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Thank you Fred. I found the User Old file. Nothing there for Mozilla passwords but I learned about a different folder. My FB page was also destroyed.

Modified by Cooleyedbabe

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I'm not sure how far you got into the Windows.old folder.

First, make sure Windows shows you hidden files and folders. This article has the steps for that setting: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hidden-files-0320fe58-0117-fd59-6851-9b7f9840fdb2

Next, explore up this path:

C:\Windows.old\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

At that point, you should find one or more profile folders.

Do any of these have recent files? If so, let me point you toward a thread with the specific steps for "transplanting" an old folder into your live Profiles folder of your running installation of Firefox so that Firefox will recognize and use it:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1321847

If that doesn't work, then copying individual files might be needed.

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Did you backup your personal data stored in the profile folder or were you using Sync and relied on Sync to restore the logins ?

Note that Sync isn't designed to be used as a backup, but is merely meant to sync data between connected devices. Best is always to backup your personal data locally.

You can check if you have a C:\Windows.old folder.

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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)