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Password save shows up but the browser does not save anything... I love firefox but something is broken

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I have read over this topic on Firefox not storing passwords. I have this issue. I can not get it to function regardless of what I do. Is it because I am running Windows Ten? I am about to stray to some other browser. I can not explain the sadness of having lost all my bookmarks and passwords. I have Mozilla back up and that has always worked but no longer.

I have read over this topic on Firefox not storing passwords. I have this issue. I can not get it to function regardless of what I do. Is it because I am running Windows Ten? I am about to stray to some other browser. I can not explain the sadness of having lost all my bookmarks and passwords. I have Mozilla back up and that has always worked but no longer.

All Replies (11)

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Hi Craig, Firefox runs fine on Windows 10, normally.

If you check your saved logins, are they still there, the only problem is adding new ones?

  • menu button > Logins and Passwords

When did you lose your bookmarks? Do you recall the sequence of events leading up to the problem?

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No logins found When you save a password in Firefox, it will show up here. I copied and pasted the results above. Nothing is there and nothing goes there when you say yes to saving them. Prior to this mayhem, I had to replace a hard drive, I had backed up Firefox browser using Mozilla Backup tool. At least that is what I thought I did, perhaps I saved the file but named it wrong?? But then the date on the file was the latest. How could that effect the saved password issue ? Thanks for your help

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Okay, let's go over that in a little more detail. What is the Mozilla Backup tool?

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MozBackup? I know its old and may have issues of it's own but has always worked in the past

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Does it create a ZIP file? If so, you could "unzip" it and see what files are in it and restore them manually.

Regarding individual files: Recover important data from an old profile

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MozBackup creates .PCV files The last one was named this ( Firefox - 2022-01-10.pcv ) It only opens with the MozBackup program It also works for Thunderbird

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Thanks for that extension. Apparently it's really ZIP inside so you can rename the extension.

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Okay so the contents are now visible, what can I do with this?

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How did MozBackup usually restore files? Did it look for a matching profile, or did it just dump there wherever you pointed?

In your live profile, there will be a pair of files --

  • logins.json
  • key4.db

-- that are used for saved logins. If you replace the two current files with the two files from the backup (while Firefox is not running), Firefox should use them at the next startup.

To open your live profile folder, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Help > More Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > More Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows File Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then in the File Explorer window:

  • Right-click logins.json then Rename to something like loginsOLD.json
  • Right-click key4.db then Rename to something like key4OLD.db

Now you can drop in those files from the backup.

Start Firefox back up again. Do you have you saved logins?

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Pretty sure MozBackup just dumped the new set of files into the current Firefox. Not sure, never thought much about the process. I followed the instructions and nothing changes and no, I still can't save user name or password.

It is sad. I have never had any issues in the past.

Thank you for your assistance

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If you drop that logins.json file from the backup into a Firefox tab, does it contain the logins you're looking for? Note: Usually only the site names are readable.