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Missing passwords after update to Ver 80

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The troubleshooting information says that I upgraded from ver. 79 to 80 on the 25th. Today is the 27th and when I opened Firefox today it did some sort of updating and now all of my passwords are gone. I've tried finding a solution to this problem to no avail. There's no key3.db file, only key4.db. Anyone have any ideas? Could I restore my system to an older date and go back to ver. 79?

The troubleshooting information says that I upgraded from ver. 79 to 80 on the 25th. Today is the 27th and when I opened Firefox today it did some sort of updating and now all of my passwords are gone. I've tried finding a solution to this problem to no avail. There's no key3.db file, only key4.db. Anyone have any ideas? Could I restore my system to an older date and go back to ver. 79?

All Replies (4)

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Hi neillsilva, it is normal that recent versions of Firefox use a key4.db file instead of a key3.db file. I don't think a version downgrade would be helpful because I don't think it's a problem with Firefox 80's ability to use your data files. I think there is some kind of problem with the data files. So let's investigate that.

It sounds as though you have found your profile folder, and you've probably backed up the logins.json file. If you drop that file into a Firefox tab, after a few moments, Firefox should display its contents. Some of them usually are encrypted and just look like gibberish.

Q: Does the file have entries for the missing logins or does it look like a fresh file?

Did your Firefox recently perform a Refresh? The tell-tale sign is that an Old Firefox Data folder appears on your desktop with a Firefox profile folder inside.

Q: If you see that, how recently were the files modified?

For example, you could check places.sqlite, the database file that stores history, which is updated constantly.

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Hi jscher2000! Thanks for responding. I understand about the .db files. The only info I could find about this problem was mentioning them, that's why I asked. I have the logins.json file and it seems like the password data is there.

A. I think there was a problem that had me perform a refresh although I was half asleep when I did it and don't remember why. There's no "old Firefox Data file" on my desktop though.

A. Everything seems to be up to date today. See pics

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Are there login related errors in the Browser Console if you open the about:logins page ?

You can possibly set signon.debug = true on the about:config page.

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There have been occasional reports that there is data in logins.json that Firefox doesn't show in the Lockwise screen (menu => Logins and Passwords). I'm not sure what could cause that. Maybe some kind of corruption that is too mild for Firefox to mark the file as corrupted and start a new one?

If the key4.db file in the profile is still a match with logins.json, then a third party utility may be able to export and decrypt the data, assuming you don't use a Master/Primary password. That won't render the file usable in Firefox, but at least would give you a backup of what's in there. For example: https://github.com/kspearrin/ff-password-exporter

Otherwise, you're on Windows 7? When you call up the Properties dialog on logins.json (right-click > Properties), there should be a Previous Versions tab. This checks for copies of the file in recent restore points. If you find one, you can copy it out to the Desktop. Try to also copy out a previous version from the same date for key4.db to the Desktop. Then after Firefox is closed, you can remove the current files to some backup folder and try the restored files to see whether Firefox can read those.