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Password transfer from another firefox profile

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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My old computer crashed. I have the hard-drive in an external case and have it connected to my new computer. I installed firefox on my new computer, but I can't figure out how to get the passwords from the previous profile to my new profile. I have located the files on the old hard drive, but import will not work. Is there anything I can do?

My old computer crashed. I have the hard-drive in an external case and have it connected to my new computer. I installed firefox on my new computer, but I can't figure out how to get the passwords from the previous profile to my new profile. I have located the files on the old hard drive, but import will not work. Is there anything I can do?

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You need to copy logins.json and #key4.db from the profile on the USB drive to the current profile folder. You can only import a logins CSV file if you previously created such a backup.

You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).


You can copy certain files with Firefox closed from one profile folder to another profile folder to transfer personal data. Note that best is to avoid restoring a full profile folder and only restore important files that are safe to restore/transfer.


  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • favicons: favicons.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (encrypted logins) and key4.db (encryption key/primary password) for logins saved in the Password Manager
  • cert9.db for certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)