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Due to HDD crash need to import passwords from previous version of Firefox on a different drive, not c:\

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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After the results of the Windows 10 update, the big one, the boot sector of my old c:\ drive got damaged. I can run it now as a normal drive but I have installed a newer version of windows 10.

I also installed a new version of Firefox on the NEW c:\ drive

I need to import the old bookmarks and passwords from the old drive into the new version of Firefox. How do I do it.

After the results of the Windows 10 update, the big one, the boot sector of my old c:\ drive got damaged. I can run it now as a normal drive but I have installed a newer version of windows 10. I also installed a new version of Firefox on the NEW c:\ drive I need to import the old bookmarks and passwords from the old drive into the new version of Firefox. How do I do it.

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When you are ready, we can start moving parts of your old data and Copy it to the new profile.


First; open your file browser to the New profile;

Type about:support<enter> in the address bar.

Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To its right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.

Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder

Linux: Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Directory. To its right press the button Open Directory.


Second, open another file browser to the Old profile.


Warning ! ! Only Copy the files you are told. We will avoid anything that might cause problems. Here is the list of files;

cookies: cookies.sqlite Do not bother. Cookies will be created when you return to the website. However, you will have to log in everywhere. And you may lose any settings that websites store on your computer.

extensions(add-ons, themes): it would be better to download them fresh. If you need to remember what add-ons you had, open the extensions sub-folder and look at the .xpi files ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ logins.json and key3.db [v58+]key4.db : These are the password files. Copy Both !

persdict.dat : custom dictionary - words you added to the dictionary

mimeTypes.rdf [v55+]handlers.json : What to do with what type of file.

places.sqlite : History and Bookmarks.

prefs.js : Your settings. Note: If you were having problems, this could be contaminated.

cert8.db [v58+]cert9.db and possibly cert_override.txt : Stores all your security certificate settings and any SSL certificates you have imported into Firefox. If removed, the cert8.db, cert9.db file will be replaced.

search.json.mozlz4 : file stores the user-installed search engines that are available in the Firefox v47+

search.sqlite file and searchplugins folder store the search engines that are available in the Firefox Search bar before Firefox v47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Copy these files from the old to the new. You may get a message that the files already exist. Choose to over-write for each file.

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For the passwords you need logins.json and key4.db. For the bookmarks you can copy places.sqlite (bookmarks and history) and also possibly copy the bookmarkbackups folder with the automatically created compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups.

See also: