How to move passwords from pre-v57 to v57+

[besonen]

What is the simplest way to transfer passwords from Firefox before version 57 to Firefox Quantum (assuming the transfer needs to be done manually as opposed to upgrading the old version of Firefox)?

FWIW, in the past I regularly used the XUL add-on "Password Exporter" for importing and exporting passwords.

Thanks!

[dickvl]

If you simply update Firefox via "Help -> About Firefox" and keep using the same profile then you should still have the passwords.
You may have to update more than once until you get the current Firefox release (68.5.0 ESR or 73.0 release).
For a new profile you would have to copy logins.json and key3.db from the old profile to the current profile folder and make sure to remove an existing key4.db.
When this works properly and Firefox has created a new key4.db then you can move key3.db to a safe location as Firefox will no longer use it.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_ ... _-_Firefox

[besonen]

[edit: typo]

[FWIW, The task at hand that prompted this post is to move the passwords stored in Firefox Portable 45.3.0 (ESR) to Firefox Portable 68.3.0 (ESR).]

Thanks for this information. I have a few more questions because I'd really like to understand some of the finer details.

I noticed that the 45.3.0 profile contains cert8.db and key3.db files. And that the 68.3.0 profile contains cert9.db and key4.db files. I imagine the "cert" and "key" numbers refer to the db version of each file?

It sounds like Quantum will recognize a key3.db file and auto-convert it to a key4.db file. And that this process requires the presence of the logins.json file from the original key3.db directory, presumably to reference the data in logins.json during the conversion process, correct?

And apparently the logins.json file from 45.3.0 has the same internal architecture as the logins.json file that 68.3.0 creates from scratch (since you didn't indicate that it should be removed post-key4.db creation), and so 68.3.0 can use a 45.3.0 logins.json file without any issues?

[dickvl]

I don't think that there have been changes to logins.json that stores the logins from 45 to current releases, so there shouldn't be a problem
You only need to make sure to remove key4.db (SQLite) to make Firefox fallback to key3.db (DBM).

[besonen]

I've transferred the passwords without a hitch and learned a few things in the process. Thanks for your help Dick.

[dickvl]

You're welcome.