Transferring Passwords form Firefox 45.9.0 to 70.0.1
Without using Sync, what is the easiest way to transfer my Firefox passwords from my old Mac (running OS X 10.6.8) to a new Mac (running 10.15.1)?
Is it as simple as moving the old logins.json and key3.db files from the old Firefox Profile folder to the new Firefox Profile folder?
Can I copy the old Firefox Profiles folder and replace the Profile folder in the new Mac with a copy (to get all my bookmarks & passwords)?
Chosen solution
Firefox 45 uses key3.db for the key file. Firefox 55 and later use key4.db (SQLite) for the key file. Firefox 55+ can fallback to using key3.db, but that only works when no key4.db is present in the profile folder.
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You can simply copy your profile, and place it on your new computer. Just make sure there is a backup in case of data failure.
If I move the entire Profile folder won't I be moving all the old add-ons, extensions and other files that may not work in the new version of Firefox?
Any old extensions that don't work just won't work, but yes, you can just move the logins files if you want.
Copy logins.json and key3.db from 45 esr profile and remove the existing key4.db to the current profile folder.
Do I understand correctly - the Profile folder in Firefox 70.0.1 has a file named key4.db which needs to be removed before I copy the old key3.db file.
Chosen Solution
Firefox 45 uses key3.db for the key file. Firefox 55 and later use key4.db (SQLite) for the key file. Firefox 55+ can fallback to using key3.db, but that only works when no key4.db is present in the profile folder.
Thanks for the complete explanation - really appreciated.
The key3.db fallback seems to no longer be working with Firefox 76.0.1, where I'm trying to do this right now. I just want a clean new version of FF for testing purposes while I personally still use 56, the last version worth a damn with XUL access and all the things that made Firefox unique and useful -- but I would still like to have all of my logins -- so I don't mind fresh installs to get them there. I'll try and see if an intermediate version such as 70 will do.
Result: Yes!
Installing FF 70 (En-US x64 here: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/70.0/win64-EME-free/en-US/ ), following the above instructions and then upgrading seems to work. My logins.json was edited to conform to the new key4.db and the passwords are still available after the upgrade.
If you want to take other profile data with you, it looks like you have to copy the profile folder and/or use Firefox Sync and/or other tools along the way and take care to maximize compatibility at every step by adjusting your settings, about:config, checking in with your extensions and ruling would-be automatic updates with an iron fist until you're done.
Modified by Benjamin Philipp