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how to recover passwords i recently accidentally deleted?

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I need step by step on how to recover deleleted passwords

please do not respond unless you are going to tell me step on step what i need to do with loginbackupjson

I need step by step on how to recover deleleted passwords please do not respond unless you are going to tell me step on step what i need to do with loginbackupjson

All Replies (17)

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Did you save a backup copy of logins-backup.json and possibly logins.json and #key4.db to ensure that the file isn't overwritten or get lost ?

Did you check logins-backup.json to see if they have those deleted logins, e.g. search the file for the hostname(s) ?

The way to use logins-backup.json is to replace the current logins.json with logins-backup.json with Firefox closed. Note that logins-backup.json may only keep the latest change

Modified by cor-el

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I have tested to see if the loginsbackupjson will have my saved login I removed by accident


I made a fake saved login called ilove123.com

and i had the password be 123

I then clicked the three bars selected help selected more troubleshooting information and selected open folder of my profile

I selected loginsjson searched for ilove123 and it was found

I then removed the saved login ilove123.com

and i repeated the process of reopening profile folder

I selected loginsjson looked for the login it was not there

but when I selected loginsbackupjson

it was there!

which can only mean my login that I accidentally deleted is also in the loginsbackjsonfile of my current profile

but how do i decrypt it?

Modified by NoahSUMO

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how do i do that?

Also i have a copy of the loginsbackupjson that is older then the current loginsbackupjson its on my desktop

how do i replace that desktop copy version with the one in profile folder you still are not instructing me on how to do that

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How do i do that

still no one has given me instruction on how i replace the loginsjson with the loginsbackupjson

you cant just F...ing tell someone with no knowleage of this to replace this file with another without instructing them on even how to do it

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1. Quit Firefox. You need to be able to open the profile folder. This link tells you how to do that with Firefox closed.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data#w_finding-your-profile-without-opening-firefox

2. Rename logins.json as renlogins.json. Rename loginsbackup.json as renloginsbackup.json.

3. Copy the loginsbackup.json file you want to use to the profile folder then rename it as logins.json.

4. Restart Firefox. If the backup file contained all your logins, they should now be in Passwords. If they aren't, report the result here in another reply to this thread.

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Are you saying to copy the loginsbackup.json file i want to use and paste it into the profile folder?

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I wrote in my first reply that you need to replace the current logins.json with the logins-backup.json that has the deleted logins. Did you check this logins-backup.json like you did when you tested this whether the file has this deleted login? Note that doing your test may have caused the logins-backup.json no longer to have those logins, so you need an older backup copy from before this test.

Easiest to go to the profile folder is using the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page or using the about:profiles page (Root directory).

When you are in the profile folder, Exit/Quit Firefox. You can move or rename the current logins.json and logins-backup.json to ensure that Firefox doesn't overwrite them. Then copy logins-backup.json with the deleted login to the profile folder and rename the file to logins.json. Verify that the name is actually logins.json and not logins.json.json as Windows sometimes doesn't want to change the file extension. Restart Firefox and check about:logins.

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so your saying all i need to do is copy the copied version of logins-backup.json that i have on my desktop screen

delete the logins.json in my profile folder and paste the copied version of logins-backup.json that was on my desktop screen to where logins.json previously was

and rename the copied logins-backupjson to logins.json?

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Yes, but you should keep a copy of the current logins.json in the profile folder (move the file to another folder or rename the file) and keep logins-backup.json on the desktop: do not move logins-backup.json, but copy the file. If you have more than one profile folder, then make sure to use the correct profile.

delete the logins.json in my profile folder and paste the copied version of logins-backup.json that was on my desktop screen to where logins.json previously was and rename the copied logins-backupjson to logins.json?
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okay but thing im still confused on is if i just copy the logins-backupjson on my desktop screen and paste into the profile folder its not going to be where the deleted logins.json that i first copied once was, its just going to be somewhere random in the profile folder

so i dont understand how exactly i get the copied logins-backupjson to be located exactly where loginsjson was?

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It will be in the profile folder, that's what matters. The order of files is determined by the settings of your file manager, in this case file explorer. Make sure you don't paste it into a sub-folder.

Modified by Terry

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Well i did it Terry sadly thout the loginsbackupjson i had was overwritten with other changes of either a login added or removed so it wasnt there of what i needed

im assuming this was the only way?

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Cor-el

suggested this to another user 8 years ago is it possible i can do this?

If you still have the signons.sqlite that was used in a previous Firefox version then you can try to restore passwords saved in that file.

Firefox 32 and later builds store the passwords in the logins.json file in the profile folder and no longer use the signons.sqlite file that has been used before (the matching key3.db file is still needed). If you still have the signons.sqlite file used in previous Firefox versions then you can try to force Firefox to migrate the passwords saved in that file (you will lose passwords saved in Firefox 32+ versions). You can force Firefox to reimport the passwords from the signons.sqlite file and rebuild the logins.json file with these steps:

reset the signon.importedFromSqlite pref on the about:config page to the default value via the right-click context menu delete the logins.json file in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed

When you restart Firefox then you should have the signon.importedFromSqlite pref with the value set to true and you should have the passwords imported in the Password Manager unless there may have been errors.

Modified by Paul

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Do you have that preference in about:config? (I don't.)

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox

If you are able to try that, backup your profile first. You would have saved yourself trouble if you had done that regularly. You can backup your passwords separately by exporting them to a .csv file (for future reference).

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

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Import from SQLite won't work in current releases, so if you want to try this, then you need an older Firefox version (78 ESR still seems to have this code).

You can look at a utility to browse System Restore points to see if there is an older copy of the logins file.

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@Terry what do you mean preference?

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Cor-el?

if i downgrade my firefox i will then be able to do that