Tip: Importing Saved Passwords

Posted: Thursday, June 26, 2008 by El Guru in Firefox, Fx 2.0, Fx 3.0, Fx 3.5, Tips & Tweaks

It is possible to import your saved passwords from one profile to another. This is handy if you are running Firefox on another computer or if you have to create a fresh profile when upgrading (or downgrading) Firefox. To do this, you will need to know where your profile folder is located.

From Firefox 2 to Firefox 2:

  1. Close Firefox 2
  2. In the OLD profile folder locate and copy the files: signons2.txt and key3.db
  3. In the NEW profile folder replace (paste) the files from step 2.
  4. Start Firefox 2

From Firefox 2 to Firefox 3 (upgrade):

  1. Close Firefox 2
  2. In the Firefox 2 profile folder locate and copy the files: signons2.txt and key3.db
  3. In the Firefox 3 profile folder delete the file signons3.txt
  4. Replace (paste) with the files from step 2.
  5. Start Firefox 3.  Note: Firefox 3 will automatically change signons2.txt to signons3.txt

From Firefox 3 to Firefox 3:

  1. Close Firefox 3
  2. In the OLD profile folder locate and copy the files: signons3.txt and key3.db
  3. In the NEW profile folder replace (paste) with the files from step 2.
  4. Start Firefox 3

From a Firefox 3 to Firefox 2 (downgrade):

  1. Close Firefox3
  2. In the Firefox 3 profile folder locate and copy the files: signons3.txt and key3.db
  3. In the Firefox 2 profile folder delete the file: signons2.txt
  4. Replace (paste) with the files from step 2.
  5. Rename signons3.txt to signons2.txt
  6. Start Firefox 2.

From Firefox 2 to Firefox 3.5 (upgrade):

  1. Close Firefox 2
  2. In the Firefox 2  profile folder locate and copy the files: signons2.txt and key3.db
  3. In the Firefox 3.5 profile folder delete the files (note: not all files may be in the folder)

    • signons2.txt
    • signons3.txt
    • keys3.db
    • signons.sqlite
  4. Replace (paste) with the files from step 2.
  5. Start Firefox 3.5  Note: Firefox 3.5 will automatically generate a new signons.sqlite file

From Firefox 3 to Firefox 3.5 (upgrade):

  1. Close Firefox 3
  2. In the Firefox 3  profile folder locate and copy the files: signons3.txt and key3.db
  3. In the Firefox 3.5 profile folder delete the files (note: not all files may be in the folder)

    • signons2.txt
    • signons3.txt
    • keys3.db
    • signons.sqlite
  4. Replace (paste) with the files from step 2.
  5. Start Firefox 3.5  Note: Firefox 3.5 will automatically generate a new signons.sqlite file
Comments
  1. Nik says:

    Thank you Thank you Thank you :-) Just what I was desperately looking for.

  2. battery says:

    after reading this i just copied my home one changed its name to my other computers profile name and now its got every thing i need

    thanks tho never would of thought of it with out this

  3. Dave says:

    Thank you for the information. It was very helpful and worked perfectly. Greatly appreciated and have a great weekend.

  4. Seda says:

    How about importing Saved Passwords from Firefox 3 to Firefox 3.1 Beta 2?
    I’m stuck! Please help me..

  5. desu says:

    second that request, i’m stuck trying to figure out how to import my passwords onto firefos 3.1 beta 3
    pls help

  6. El Guru says:

    @Seda and/or desu

    Where y’all getting stuck? As far as I can see Firefox 3.1/3.5 uses the same naming scheme as Firefox 3 so all you need to do is replace your existing keys3.db & signons3.txt files with those from the Firefox 3 profile.

  7. K says:

    I saved my signons.txt and key3.db over from a recently crashed computer in hopes of saving my saved passwords.

    I have a few questions, as I’ve run into some difficulties. First off, my profile folder on my crashed PC contained “signons.txt” and “signons2.txt” as well as key3.db

    My current version of firefox is 2.0. When I copy the files over, firefox only seems to pick up on “signons.txt” and not “signons2.txt” which contains most of my passwords (signones.txt only has about six saved in)

    I’ve tried adding the info from “signons2.txt” into “signons.txt” but firefox only picks up some of the passwords and not all of them, and some of them seem to be mixed up.

    Any way to remedy this?

  8. racklefratz says:

    Worth noting that this may work for FF versions up to 3.1, but not for 3.5. 3.5 does not store passwords in a *.txt file.

  9. Konfoozed says:

    I’m trying to import passcodes from 2.0.0.11 (signon2.txt) into 3.5, but cant find where 3.5 saves them to. There is no signons3 anywhere on my computer.

  10. El Guru says:

    @konfoozed, I’m going to be writing an update shortly but in the meantime follow these steps below:

    From Firefox 2 to Firefox 3.5 (upgrade):

    1. Close Firefox 2
    2. In the Firefox 2 profile folder locate and copy the files: signons2.txt and key3.db
    3. In the Firefox 3.5 profile folder delete/backup these files (note: you may not have all these files):
    – signons2.txt
    – signons3.txt
    – keys3.db
    – signons.sqlite
    4. Replace (paste) with the files from step 2.
    5. Start Firefox 3.5 Note: Firefox 3.5 will automatically rebuild a new password database file (signons.sqlite)

  11. […] Importing Saved Passwords into Firefox 3.5 Published Friday, July 3, 2009 2.0 (Bon Echo) , 3.0 (Gran Paradiso) , 3.5 (Shiretoko) , Firefox , Tips & Tweaks Leave a Comment For assistance with importing passwords to/from other versions of Firefox see: Tip: Importing Saved Passwords […]

  12. I have 3.5 and I accidently saved the wrong password on a website – and I can’t figure out how to erase it. There is no more “options” folder under the tools heading. Any ideas?

    appreciated,
    Kristina

  13. Excellent tip, worked perfectly migrating FF2 to FF3, thanks!

  14. Aaron says:

    This worked great! Great resource!

  15. Aamir says:

    Worked! :)
    Thanks a ton!

  16. David says:

    Hrm, how about from 3.6 to 3.6?

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