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Passwords disappeared after system reinstallation

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Recently I reinstalled my Windows 11 system, and even though I synced my Firefox account before reinstalling the system, there are no passwords, settings and extensions, which should be synced.

I searched for the same problem, but all I could find was searching for profile files in C:\Windows.old

The issue is I do not have Windows.old folder or anything like that.

Is there any way to recover at least my passwords?

Thanks in advance for help.

Recently I reinstalled my Windows 11 system, and even though I synced my Firefox account before reinstalling the system, there are no passwords, settings and extensions, which should be synced. I searched for the same problem, but all I could find was searching for profile files in C:\Windows.old The issue is I do not have Windows.old folder or anything like that. Is there any way to recover at least my passwords? Thanks in advance for help.

All Replies (3)

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Just to rule-out the obvious first, have you logged into your account on the new installation of Firefox? If so are you sure you used the same e-mail address as when you synced the old one?

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thepillenwerfer said

Just to rule-out the obvious first, have you logged into your account on the new installation of Firefox? If so are you sure you used the same e-mail address as when you synced the old one?

Yes, I logged into the same account. I even hit the "Sync" button before reinstalling the system.

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In that case it SHOULD have worked but obviously hasn't.

The thing about c:\Windows.old applied to Windows XP and Vista certainly but has obviously changed at some point since. As I've never used anything newer than Vista I'm afraid I can't suggest anything else.

However for future reference you can manually back-up your passwords. Go to about:logins and then click the three dots at the top right. Under that is an option to Export Passwords. That saves than as a .csv file which you could copy to an SD card or something and then re-import them after re-installing Windows. You can do something similar with your Bookmarks from Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks.

I accept this isn't any use to you now but may be useful in future or to other people reading this.

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