saved passwords lost

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bigjohns
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saved passwords lost

Unread post by bigjohns » 2022-07-03, 05:27

Operating system: Win7
Browser version:31.1
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If possible, please include the output of help->troubleshooting information (as text):
**PASTE troubleshooting information here**
Hi!
Had my reboot due to a power blink...
None of my saved passwords are there.... Where to start? Really need to recover them

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Moonchild
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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by Moonchild » 2022-07-03, 07:22

bigjohns wrote:
2022-07-03, 05:27
None of my saved passwords are there.... Where to start? Really need to recover them
Restore your profile from the most recent backup. You did make a backup, right?
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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bigjohns
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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by bigjohns » 2022-07-03, 21:47

I have it set to save my history.
I have it set to restore current pages on startup
I see the ability to backup bookmarks.
I don't see a profile backup option?

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Moonchild
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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by Moonchild » 2022-07-03, 21:51

bigjohns wrote:
2022-07-03, 21:47
I don't see a profile backup option?
There is none built in -- for the simple reason the browser can't make a backup of the profiles that is currently in use while it's running.

This is why https://www.palemoon.org/backuptool.shtml was made years ago for people who found it too cumbersome to zip it up manually.

I'm assuming you don't have a profile backup in that case, in which case I'm sorry but you lost your data and will have to build up your password store again if you didn't make any other backups or exports.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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bigjohns
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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by bigjohns » 2022-07-03, 22:43

I've been using pale moon since 2014... what would I look for? Specific file name? then I could restore it from a backup, perhaps...

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by Moonchild » 2022-07-03, 23:52

If you have filesystem backups, look for the files in c:\users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Moonchild Productions\Pale Moon\profiles
that will have a folder in it for each profile you have, usually a number of random characters, dot, and the name you gave the profile ("default" if you didn't name it)
Inside that are the profile files.
login data is stored in "key4.db" and "logins.json" - restoring those from a backup should restore the passwords.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by billmcct » 2022-07-04, 00:31

Assuming you DON'T have backups which is really, really STUPID: If you're using Windows, you do realize that you can right click each of the files and select "Restore previous versions" to try and find a replacement in the "Restore points" of your system. MS's version of this is kinda hit and miss. You can also try this software that works a little better.
https://shadowexplorer.com/downloads.html

Hope this will make you start making regular Backups of your Data.

EDIT:
Sorry I had to reinstate my old Signature. I have spent So many years trying to get my family and friends to adhere to a backup program, and failing, that at my age I should give up.
Jeeze, where would MC be without backups when Tobin tried to sabotage everything?
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The difference between the Impossible and the Possible lies in a man's Determination.
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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by pintorama » 2022-07-04, 06:05

As I had this problem when PM 30 came out, what I am wondering, Moonchild please comment as I don't want to lead someone down the wrong path, is whether bigjohns should revert back to PM 29 and see if his passwords re-appear? If they do, I'm then wondering whether something is going on with bigjohn's FIPS settings which might make it easier for Moonchild, or somebody else, to provide help to bigjohns. Also, if they do re-appear, and bigjohns doesn't have a saved profile, it might make sense to backup the profile while PM 29 is installed and then proceed forward with the advice of somebody who understands this better than I.

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by Moonchild » 2022-07-04, 12:48

pintorama wrote:
2022-07-04, 06:05
Moonchild please comment as I don't want to lead someone down the wrong path,
This happened with a sudden power loss. pretty sure this has nothing to do with an update and everything to do with just simple file corruption, so going through the whole downgrade upgrade dance won't help and might cause even more issues.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by bigjohns » 2022-07-04, 13:20

Moonchild wrote:
2022-07-03, 23:52
If you have filesystem backups, look for the files in c:\users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Moonchild Productions\Pale Moon\profiles
that will have a folder in it for each profile you have, usually a number of random characters, dot, and the name you gave the profile ("default" if you didn't name it)
Inside that are the profile files.
login data is stored in "key4.db" and "logins.json" - restoring those from a backup should restore the passwords.
I do have file system backups - all computers in the house back up to local NAS here in the house. That's backed up in backblaze.
But what I'm looking for - the specific login and password - was added between backups unfortunately.

I have a key4 file dated two years ago, and a logins.json.corrupt file dated the day of the failure. Any chance of recovering the corrupt file?

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by Moonchild » 2022-07-04, 13:31

See if you can fix the structure of the json with some tool. I'm afraid it's going to require some manual work at this stage.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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bigjohns
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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by bigjohns » 2022-07-04, 14:28

Moonchild wrote:
2022-07-04, 13:31
See if you can fix the structure of the json with some tool. I'm afraid it's going to require some manual work at this stage.
any recommendations on tools?
I opened it in notepad++ but its one line with 481,897 'nul' characters?

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by Moonchild » 2022-07-04, 21:40

if it's all "null" then you can't recover anything from it. it's gone.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by Galaxy » 2022-07-05, 00:03

bigjohns wrote:
2022-07-04, 13:20
I have a key4 file dated two years ago, and a logins.json.corrupt file
There is a slight chance that you can recover your passwords by right-clicking on your 'logins.json' file in your profile and selecting 'Restore previous versions' option or if that is not available there should be a 'Properties' option to click on which will give you a 'Previous versions' tab. Depending on your Windows Backup settings and/or restore points settings, there may or may not be any previous versions available.

Another option to try if the above does not work is to verify that you have a signons.sqlite file in your profile. If that file is available, then you can force Pale Moon to rebuild the logins.json file by following these two steps:

1) Go into about:config and reset the signon.importedFromSqlite preference to the default value which is false
2) Shut down Pale Moon and delete the logins.json file in your profile

Restart Pale Moon and if there are no errors, check to see if your passwords are available in your Password Manager. Also, the signon.importedFromSqlite preference will be reset to true.

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by bigjohns » 2022-07-05, 01:14

Thanks.
Looking for the signons.sqlite file now.
I did find an old .json, and restored that to get most of my sites logging in. The one I'm looking for is not in the file though...
Does the date on the signons file matter? or is it constantly updated?

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by Galaxy » 2022-07-05, 03:09

bigjohns wrote:
2022-07-05, 01:14
Looking for the signons.sqlite file now.
Sorry for the bad information; you won't be able to find that file. I'm remembering past history and should have checked my own profile folder before posting.

The signons.sqlite file is no longer used since Firefox 32.

Sorry, I don't have any other suggestions to help you.

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by bigjohns » 2022-07-05, 04:37

That explains the last such file being from 2016 or some such.
Anyway, as previously noted, I found a backup. It had all but a couple (so far) of my logins, so, we shall work from there.

A procedure should be created - "backup profile" wherein a user select that button, palemoon runs a commandline that shuts the software down, copies the profile to a .bak, and restarts palemoon.

Thanks for the help and info guys.
John

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Re: saved passwords lost

Unread post by Moonchild » 2022-07-05, 07:20

bigjohns wrote:
2022-07-05, 04:37
A procedure should be created
Just use the backup tool I created.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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