Moving log-ins saved in Firefox to another computer

[Ray Bell]

Going by the head lines there, none of that covers my problem...

[dickvl]

Moving logins merely involves transferring logins.json and key4.db for one profile to another profile.
The "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" page (about:support) provides a button to go to the profile folder.

Other possibilities are using a CSV file to export and import logins in Lockwise.

[Ray Bell]

None of that is within the province of my understanding...

I have saved the key4 and logins files to a memory stick and when I get the chance will take it to the other computer. Is it then just a matter of adding those files into the Firefox program file - or something else?

[DanRaisch]

Is it then just a matter of adding those files into the Firefox program file - or something else?

I'm going to guess you meant "adding those files into the Firefox profile", not into "the Firefox program". That would be the case. There should be files with those names already in the Firefox profile on the target machine. Just replace those files by overwriting them with the ones you now have on the memory stick.

[Ray Bell]

Nobody seems to understand...

I have no idea what a profile is.

I know what the word means in English, translating that to computer language isn't my forte.

[Ashleyj]

I have no idea what a profile is.

A profile is where Firefox saves all the settings and data for how you have it currently configured. You can have more than one profile and you can switch between them when starting Firefox.

If you use Windows the profiles can be found here - C:\Users\(user-name)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles In Profiles you should see one, or more, folders with a random string of numbers and letters as it's name - this is your profile!

If you look in that folder you will find the two files that you have been advised to copy over.

[Ray Bell]

Yeah, I was told that before...

But nobody explains how to do it or what a profile is.

And apart from that, I'm not yet in a position to move the files to the other computer - and what about the ones that are saved on that 'profile'?

[LIMPET235]

Hi Ray,
When you 1st install Firefox, it will place the Program files in the Program folder....
but all your "other stuff" is placed in the Profile folder. (Your bookmarks, passwords, preferences etc., etc.)
These are completely separate directories.

Installing Firefox and running it for the first time automatically creates a "default" Firefox profile.

For instance...if you look in the Program folder, you will NOT find any PROFILE files.
You've been shown how to get to your profile folder & copy those 2 files over to the other M/C's PROFILE folder.

The original files will be over written once you paste them in there.
You will be asked via a pop up if you want to install them. Just say YES.

Just take your time & read the links posted, especially the PROFILE link.
This page shows all the files that are contained in the PROFILE.
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_ ... o_transfer

Don't rush things. It just takes a little getting used to.

[Ray Bell]

So what about the passwords which are in the existing file? Do they get erased?

And a part of the instructions to find the 'profile' - whatever it should be called - it includes my user name. I don't know how I find out what that is.

[LIMPET235]

Ray,
You asked about the passwords in the "new" profile...
I mentioned that...&, the link would have told you the same thing, if you'd read it through.

The original files will be over written once you paste them in there.
You will be asked via a pop up if you want to install them. Just say YES.

The directions on how to find your Profile/s is stated in all of the previous links that have been posted.

Sorry, but I cannot help you anymore.
All the necessary info has been posted.

[Ray Bell]

Well, I still am not in a position to try it and until I do there's no possible way for me to know if I can do it...

But my question about the existing passwords in the other computer was 'will they be erased?'

When, for instance, you copy a bunch of images from one folder to another and some of those images already exist in there, you are prompted to see if you want them replaced or not. Does that happen? And also, when you do that, if there's images of other filenames in there, they remain when the others are added.

Is that the way the process works in this case or is it just a carte blanch destruction of what exists to replace it with the material from this computer?

[DanRaisch]

When, for instance, you copy a bunch of images from one folder to another and some of those images already exist in there, you are prompted to see if you want them replaced or not.

Correct, but you are not copying a bunch of images or a bunch of any kind of files here. Because your passwords are stored in the single file logins.json, copying passwords from one computer to another is an all or nothing procedure. The second machine (the target system) would wind up with only the passwords from the first (source) system. It is not an additive process and it's not something controlled by Firefox. It's an operating system level copy/paste process. If you currently have different sets of passwords on each system, you have to decide whether replacing the passwords on that target system is actually advantageous to you.

[Ray Bell]

Okay... thanks...

Now I know I will have to go through the passwords on the old machine to get those which I didn't transcribe to this one when I stopped using that one. That will keep the ones which have changed and add ones I haven't used for a long time.

I'll see how that goes when the time comes to get that done. It's a nightmare, really, the whole scenario. Two keys in the keyboard of this computer stopped working properly (you can make them work with a lot of persistence) over a year ago and I have to basically relinquish the computer and get a new one. A similar keyboard problem - but in this case two whole vertical rows of keys stopped working altogether - killed the intervening laptop when it was only six or eighteen months old. "We don't have replacement keyboards," I was told.

[DanRaisch]

"We don't have replacement keyboards," I was told.

You should be able to connect a new, USB keyboard to the laptop. That's not terribly convenient if you often transport the laptop but it will give you a working system.

[Ray Bell]

That's what I've done, and it's what I've had to do with the present one...

But very inconvenient. And even more inconvenient, as you note, when I get mobile, which I often do.