Firefox saved passwords
Hello I have used Firefox since 2016 and back then I had stored some passwords on the browser (without a Firefox account). After some time my PC hard drive stopped working, and I still had passwords saved on the browser. Afterwards I managed to get a new PC set up, which after a few years started to break down. This time, before the device had fully stopped working, I decided to uninstall Firefox. I realized afterwards that a folder had been created on my desktop named 'old Firefox data'. I managed to see my saved passwords in a folder. But bringing back the talk about passwords on my old hard drive, are they saved on some kind of database? I would like to remove all my past data as it helps with my obsessive compulsive disorder. Also, about the 'old Firefox data' folder, did my saved passwords also save on any database after uninstalling Firefox? Thanks
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If you have access to the data, here is what to look for; 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
Hello Thanks for the helpful info, I'll look out for those files if I come across anything like that in the future But my concern is, will any of my saved passwords be stored to any of Firefox's databases? Or will the passwords on my old PC and hard drive just remain in the Firefox browser, but not as saved data anywhere else? (Note that I didn't have a Firefox account while I had saved my passwords on the broken down hard drive or my previous PC). Sorry for the complication
It is complicated to speak of "Firefox's database" and "in the Firefox browser".
Logins are stored to disk in your profile folder. (During a Refresh, your profile folder is moved to your desktop into an Old Firefox Data folder.) If a Master Password/Primary Password was applied, Firefox encrypts the logins using that password, which is good protection. If you didn't set such a password, the file is not secure. Over time, the file format changes from a database (signons.sqlite) to a text file (logins.json), but in both cases, the file is local to your PC.
If you had connected your Firefox to a Firefox Account and used Sync, by default that would have included your saved logins. During the Sync process, your Firefox Account password is used to encrypt the data, so whatever ends up stored in Mozilla's cloud cannot be read without that password. Anyway, it sounds like this isn't a factor in your case.
If you want to check for any left-behind Firefox data, you'll want to check for old profile folders.
Set Windows to show hidden files and folders: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hidden-files-0320fe58-0117-fd59-6851-9b7f9840fdb2
Then explore up this path:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla
If the older computer ran Windows XP, the path is slightly different. You can use this shortcut in Windows Explorer to open the folder:
%APPDATA%\Mozilla