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I am really struggling to transfer my passwords to a new PC. I installed firefox, copied xxxxxx.default file from old PC to New profile folder following all the instructions. Had to restore bookmarks from backup folder. Checked key3.db and signon3.txt pre

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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I am really struggling to transfer my passwords to a new PC. I installed firefox, copied xxxxxx.default file from old PC to New profile folder following all the instructions. Had to restore bookmarks from backup folder. Checked key3.db and signon3.txt present and correct but still no passwords. Would be much simpler with backup and restore option for passwords. Can you help please?

I am really struggling to transfer my passwords to a new PC. I installed firefox, copied xxxxxx.default file from old PC to New profile folder following all the instructions. Had to restore bookmarks from backup folder. Checked key3.db and signon3.txt present and correct but still no passwords. Would be much simpler with backup and restore option for passwords. Can you help please?

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You shouldn't copy the full profile folder from one computer to another computer. Only copy what you really need and what is safe to copy. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox

To restore passwords in Firefox 3.5/6 you need two files: key3.db and signons.sqlite (previous versions of Firefox used a file signons#.txt). See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Password_Manager ("Backing up and restoring passwords")

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Suluhisho teule

You shouldn't copy the full profile folder from one computer to another computer. Only copy what you really need and what is safe to copy. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox

To restore passwords in Firefox 3.5/6 you need two files: key3.db and signons.sqlite (previous versions of Firefox used a file signons#.txt). See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Password_Manager ("Backing up and restoring passwords")

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Thank you for your very quick reply. I have double checked key3.db and signons.sqlite files, they are the same date (07/07/10) as the originals. I take your point about only copying the files needed but the document I read said once a profile has been created copy all files from the old default profile and paste into default profile on new PC. Should I delete all the files in the new profile, start Firefox and then just copy key3.db and signons.sqlite files from old system then restore bookmarks?

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It would probably be best to delete that copied profile and use the profile manager to create a new profile. Then you can copy the needed files to that profile. It is better not to copy files like prefs.js and localstore.rdf. Reinstall all extensions to make sure they get installed and initialized properly.

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager