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I didn't create a Firefox profile before the latest update So I lost all of Login my passwords.

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Hi there,

I am pretty sure I have never created a Firefox account/profile before the latest update began, so I lost all of my Login passwords. And I am not sure if Firefox gave its users any warning at all about this latest update having the ability to remove all your saved Login passwords, but I sure believe I did not receive one.

Now I really need to log-in back to my gmail business account I started last year, but I don't even remember the password because I relied 100% on Mozilla still keeping it, in the list of passwords Mozilla usually keeps them at.

So I'm at a loss right now. Is there any hope at all to recover those lost passwords, at all?

I tried fishing around my Mozilla folder in my PC and found that there are 2 .JSON files with the names passwordbackup. Could my old login passwords still can be retrieve from these two files? If so, then how do I do that. Someone please help out another human being here, thank you.

Hi there, I am pretty sure I have never created a Firefox account/profile before the latest update began, so I lost all of my Login passwords. And I am not sure if Firefox gave its users any warning at all about this latest update having the ability to remove all your saved Login passwords, but I sure believe I did not receive one. Now I really need to log-in back to my gmail business account I started last year, but I don't even remember the password because I relied 100% on Mozilla still keeping it, in the list of passwords Mozilla usually keeps them at. So I'm at a loss right now. Is there any hope at all to recover those lost passwords, at all? I tried fishing around my Mozilla folder in my PC and found that there are 2 .JSON files with the names passwordbackup. Could my old login passwords still can be retrieve from these two files? If so, then how do I do that. Someone please help out another human being here, thank you.

All Replies (7)

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Hi blueflowersinjune, sorry to hear about this problem.

In case the problem, is a locked file, I suggest doing a normal shutdown/restart of Windows to free up locked files, complete any deferred updates, and resolve any transient permission/privilege glitches.

Firefox creates a profile folder, but you are correct that if you do not create a Firefox Account and set up Sync, that data only exists in the profile folder. Normally, files in your profile are not deleted during updates, so something unusual seems to have happened. Do you recall any messages about a new profile or a tune-up? Firefox uses a pair of files in your profile folder for saved logins:

  • logins.json
  • key4.db

I am not familiar with a passwordbackup.json file. If you open that file in a tab in Firefox, after a few moments, Firefox should show a structured view of its contents. Does that file look like what you need?

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hello blue-

Sometimes a FF update causes the old profile to be sent to the closet. Then its replaced with a brand new one that is blank.

However, you can restore the former profile and set it as the new default.

Copy and paste the below nto the URL field and press go. Then on the profile management page, you should find more than one profile listed. Simply pick the one(s) that are not tagged as "default" and launch them in a new browser. There will be buttons citing as much.

If any one of them is your old faithful profile, then make it the "default" profile.

about:profiles

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jscher2000 said

Firefox uses a pair of files in your profile folder for saved logins:
  • logins.json
  • key4.db
I am not familiar with a passwordbackup.json file. If you open that file in a tab in Firefox, after a few moments, Firefox should show a structured view of its contents. Does that file look like what you need?

My mistake. I actually saw the files named logins.JSON and logins-backup.JSON They were on my Mozilla folder (inside the AppData) and from one profile folder only. And the dates for both of these .JSON files (were last modified) is today, at the same time as I'm writing this reply.

I guess these logins.JSON and logins-backup.JSON files are not gonna be much of help, then? Is there really no other way, to retrieve all my passwords, I wonder?

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·´¯`·...¸>-)))º> ~dbben said

Copy and paste the below nto the URL field and press go. Then on the profile management page, you should find more than one profile listed. Simply pick the one(s) that are not tagged as "default" and launch them in a new browser. There will be buttons citing as much. If any one of them is your old faithful profile, then make it the "default" profile.

That's the problem. I currently have only one profile, and it's set to default right now. With no saved passwords whatsoever. There has to be file stored somewhere in the Mozilla folder (from AppData) that I can jumpstart to retrieve all those lost passwords? Or none whatsoever, what's gone is gone forever? Woe me. The level of my frustration is immeasurable as of right now. Why did Mozilla do this, without any fair warnings?

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I see.

Thats kind of odd that you have just 1 profile.

So what we know at this time is:

1) You have only 1 FF profile on your system. 2) You have never sync'd the profile to a FireFox account whereas your FF user data could be stored and retrieved, when needed

So there is a chance that

a) the other browsers installed may have a copy of your passwords and logins. You could try to run them and see if they have anything that can be imported into your FF

b) your windows system may have a restore point you can use to revert the machine and the files to a former time. This would restore your FF directory as well. But depending on how old the restore point is, some of your user data may not be included in the restore point.

Note: Sometimes, but not always, you can right click on a file and select properties. Then go to "previous versions" tab and invoke a search. Sometimes but not always, former versions of files can be restored with invoking an entire system restore. So give this a try on those key json files

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You can look at a utility to browse System Restore points to see if you can locate a logins.json or a logins-backup.json backup.

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blueflowersinjune said

I actually saw the files named logins.JSON and logins-backup.JSON They were on my Mozilla folder (inside the AppData) and from one profile folder only. And the dates for both of these .JSON files (were last modified) is today, at the same time as I'm writing this reply.

Did you try viewing these files in a tab in Firefox to see what sites are listed in them?

cor-el said

You can look at a utility to browse System Restore points to see if you can locate a logins.json or a logins-backup.json backup.

This thread has a bit more detail about these tools: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1295205