I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old computer
into his new one and all is working.

That said,I showed him how to go into "saved logins" to obtain all of
his passwords so he could write down on paper. Though he indeed was
still logged into Facebook and Gmail...there was NO entry in the
password accounts list.
And yes, I did check , and there were none under "exceptions"

I have seen this before on my own machine and I fixed it by simply
logging out, then back in and telling Firefox to "save." Of course, I
know all my own passwords.

Anyone know a way to do this?

I guess if worse comes to worse, I can have him go through the "lost
password" routine.

On 11/18/2022 3:46 AM, philo wrote:
> I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old computer into his new one and all is working.
>
> That said,I showed him how to go into "saved logins" to obtain all of his passwords so he could write down on paper. Though he indeed was still logged into Facebook and Gmail...there was NO entry in the password accounts list.
> And yes, I did check , and there were none under "exceptions"
>
>
> I have seen this before on my own machine and I fixed it by simply logging out, then back in and telling Firefox to "save."  Of course, I know all my own passwords.
>
> Anyone know a way to do this?
>
> I guess if worse comes to worse, I can have him go through the "lost password" routine.

Firefox asks you whether you want to save the password,
if you say "No", I don't see a reason an artifact would
be left in "signons.json" or whatever file is used this week.

When you log into gmail.com , there might be a cookie for
accounts.google.com that keeps a "token", a record that you
have logged in. Closing Firefox and opening Firefox the
next day, during the login sequence, the cookie.sqlite
can be consulted for the "token", instead of asking
for a password. But the token has a limit as to how many
days it remains valid. And the token may be associated with
the WAN IP (different, while working in your lab), so some
protection may be there against profile copying or movement
of machines.

Where the cookie is stored, is a function of Googles view of
what their account is good for. They have the notion of
"one account for everything Google". They don't expect you
to have multiple gmail accounts on the same Firefox, and perhaps
more weight is placed on the password cache in Firefox, if you
run Firefox that way. When you log into Gmail, if you later
log into Google Earth, Earth could pull the token too, and know
"it was you that was looking for a pizza shop". The gmail authentication
might be used for their "Google+".

But generally speaking, you can't really expect miracles
when the topic is "coughing up passwords". If you go to the
trouble of using Firefox Sync, or you set up KeePass, then
you're going the extra mile to add additional password caching.

Paul

On 2022-11-18 12:40, Paul wrote:
> On 11/18/2022 3:46 AM, philo wrote:

....

> Where the cookie is stored, is a function of Googles view of
> what their account is good for. They have the notion of
> "one account for everything Google". They don't expect you
> to have multiple gmail accounts on the same Firefox,

I do. The entry page to gmail asks what account I want to use today. I
have not tried to open two accounts at the same time in a single FF, for
that I use different FF profiles for isolation.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
> On 2022-11-18 12:40, Paul wrote:
>> On 11/18/2022 3:46 AM, philo wrote:
>
> ...
>
>> Where the cookie is stored, is a function of Googles view of
>> what their account is good for. They have the notion of
>> "one account for everything Google". They don't expect you
>> to have multiple gmail accounts on the same Firefox,
>
> I do. The entry page to gmail asks what account I want to use today.

Same. I have four which I use.

On Fri, 18 Nov 2022 02:46:44 -0600, philo <philo@privacy.net> wrote:

>I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old computer
>into his new one and all is working.
>
>That said,I showed him how to go into "saved logins" to obtain all of
>his passwords so he could write down on paper. Though he indeed was
>still logged into Facebook and Gmail...there was NO entry in the
>password accounts list.
>And yes, I did check , and there were none under "exceptions"
>
>
>I have seen this before on my own machine and I fixed it by simply
>logging out, then back in and telling Firefox to "save." Of course, I
>know all my own passwords.

Of course? Except for those who have very few and those who always use
the same one everywhere, I think most people don't.

For example, I don't. I use software to remember them for me.

Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
> On 2022-11-18 12:40, Paul wrote:
> > On 11/18/2022 3:46 AM, philo wrote:
>
> ...
>
> > Where the cookie is stored, is a function of Googles view of
> > what their account is good for. They have the notion of
> > "one account for everything Google". They don't expect you
> > to have multiple gmail accounts on the same Firefox,
>
> I do. The entry page to gmail asks what account I want to use today. I
> have not tried to open two accounts at the same time in a single FF, for
> that I use different FF profiles for isolation.

One can indeed have multiple Gmail accounts open in one browser.

I don't use Firefox, but Chrome and can just open my Gmail accounts
one after another, each in their own tab. No need to supply Gmail (read:
Google Account) passwords. So the passwords are stored *somewhere*.
(N.B. I do not use Chrome's Password Manager.)

On 11/18/2022 10:40 AM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>> On 2022-11-18 12:40, Paul wrote:
>>> On 11/18/2022 3:46 AM, philo wrote:
>>
>> ...
>>
>>> Where the cookie is stored, is a function of Googles view of
>>> what their account is good for. They have the notion of
>>> "one account for everything Google". They don't expect you
>>> to have multiple gmail accounts on the same Firefox,
>>
>> I do. The entry page to gmail asks what account I want to use today. I
>> have not tried to open two accounts at the same time in a single FF, for
>> that I use different FF profiles for isolation.
>
> One can indeed have multiple Gmail accounts open in one browser.
>
> I don't use Firefox, but Chrome and can just open my Gmail accounts
> one after another, each in their own tab. No need to supply Gmail (read:
> Google Account) passwords. So the passwords are stored *somewhere*.
> (N.B. I do not use Chrome's Password Manager.)
>

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1352064

"9/28/21, 9:38 AM

The only way to decrypt logins stored in a logins.json file is to place
this logins.json file along with the matching key4.db in a Firefox profile
folder and export the logins to CSV.
"

But the logins.json should still be readable in Notepad, if you wanted
to count the number of logins in there.

So that tells you where the info might be stored, from a password perspective.

The cookies.sqlite could have the token storage, where the scheme will
be less certain. A cookie can be more or less a binary blob if it
takes their fancy.

sqlite3.exe cookies.sqlite .dump > cookie-content.txt

Running a "file key4.db" would tell you whether it was a Berkeley DB or not.
The Windows 10 bash scheme (WSL), would have a "file" command.

Nobody ever puts consistent file extensions of DB files. The Windows
Search Indexer has switched from "Windows.edb" Jet Blue to "Windows.db"
where the Windows.db is an sqlite3 files. That's why having some version
of a "file" command comes in handy.

Paul

On 2022-11-18 16:40, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>> On 2022-11-18 12:40, Paul wrote:
>>> On 11/18/2022 3:46 AM, philo wrote:
>>
>> ...
>>
>>> Where the cookie is stored, is a function of Googles view of
>>> what their account is good for. They have the notion of
>>> "one account for everything Google". They don't expect you
>>> to have multiple gmail accounts on the same Firefox,
>>
>> I do. The entry page to gmail asks what account I want to use today. I
>> have not tried to open two accounts at the same time in a single FF, for
>> that I use different FF profiles for isolation.
>
> One can indeed have multiple Gmail accounts open in one browser.
>
> I don't use Firefox, but Chrome and can just open my Gmail accounts
> one after another, each in their own tab. No need to supply Gmail (read:
> Google Account) passwords. So the passwords are stored *somewhere*.
> (N.B. I do not use Chrome's Password Manager.)

In Linux, Chrome uses the desktop password store. In Windows I don't know.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 11/18/22 5:40 AM, Paul wrote:
> On 11/18/2022 3:46 AM, philo wrote:
>> I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old
>> computer into his new one and all is working.
>>
>> That said,I showed him how to go into "saved logins" to obtain all of
>> his passwords so he could write down on paper. Though he indeed was
>> still logged into Facebook and Gmail...there was NO entry in the
>> password accounts list.
>> And yes, I did check , and there were none under "exceptions"
>>
>>
>> I have seen this before on my own machine and I fixed it by simply
>> logging out, then back in and telling Firefox to "save."  Of course, I
>> know all my own passwords.
>>
>> Anyone know a way to do this?
>>
>> I guess if worse comes to worse, I can have him go through the "lost
>> password" routine.
>
> Firefox asks you whether you want to save the password,
> if you say "No", I don't see a reason an artifact would
> be left in "signons.json" or whatever file is used this week.
>
> When you log into gmail.com , there might be a cookie for
> accounts.google.com that keeps a "token", a record that you
> have logged in. Closing Firefox and opening Firefox the
> next day, during the login sequence, the cookie.sqlite
> can be consulted for the "token", instead of asking
> for a password. But the token has a limit as to how many
> days it remains valid. And the token may be associated with
> the WAN IP (different, while working in your lab), so some
> protection may be there against profile copying or movement
> of machines.
>
> Where the cookie is stored, is a function of Googles view of
> what their account is good for. They have the notion of
> "one account for everything Google". They don't expect you
> to have multiple gmail accounts on the same Firefox, and perhaps
> more weight is placed on the password cache in Firefox, if you
> run Firefox that way. When you log into Gmail, if you later
> log into Google Earth, Earth could pull the token too, and know
> "it was you that was looking for a pizza shop". The gmail authentication
> might be used for their "Google+".
>
> But generally speaking, you can't really expect miracles
> when the topic is "coughing up passwords". If you go to the
> trouble of using Firefox Sync, or you set up KeePass, then
> you're going the extra mile to add additional password caching.
>
>    Paul
>

Thanks Paul.

I told the guy what to do and I'm sure when he screws it up he'll be
contacting me.

On 18/11/2022 4:46 pm, philo wrote:
> I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old computer
> into his new one and all is working.
>
> That said,I showed him how to go into "saved logins" to obtain all of
> his passwords so he could write down on paper. Though he indeed was
> still logged into Facebook and Gmail...there was NO entry in the
> password accounts list.
> And yes, I did check , and there were none under "exceptions"

Did you transplant those settings while the target Firefox was still
running? If so, then you need to transfer again with Firefox SHUT DOWN.

"still logged into" could be handled by cookies.sqlite alone, not
necessarily by Saved Passwords.

Saved passwords are managed by Lockwise now. I forgot the way before the
arrival of Lockwise.

How can I export/backup my logins?
https://support.mozilla.org/bm/questions/1271699

On 18/11/2022 10:08 pm, Ken Blake wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Nov 2022 02:46:44 -0600, philo <philo@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>> I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old computer
>> into his new one and all is working.
>
> Of course? Except for those who have very few and those who always use
> the same one everywhere, I think most people don't.
>
> For example, I don't. I use software to remember them for me.

You are not directly addressing his/her problem, though your suggestion
might be better. I agree that passwords should be memorized by our
brains, but there are temporary accounts.

On 18/11/2022 4:46 pm, philo wrote:
> I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old computer
> into his new one and all is working.
>
> That said,I showed him how to go into "saved logins" to obtain all of
> his passwords so he could write down on paper. Though he indeed was
> still logged into Facebook and Gmail...there was NO entry in the
> password accounts list.
> And yes, I did check , and there were none under "exceptions"

BTW, there is an Usenet newsgroup alt.comp.software.firefox!

On 11/19/22 12:01 AM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
> On 18/11/2022 4:46 pm, philo wrote:
>> I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old computer
>> into his new one and all is working.
>>
>> That said,I showed him how to go into "saved logins" to obtain all of
>> his passwords so he could write down on paper. Though he indeed was
>> still logged into Facebook and Gmail...there was NO entry in the
>> password accounts list.
>> And yes, I did check , and there were none under "exceptions"
>
> Did you transplant those settings while the target Firefox was still
> running? If so, then you need to transfer again with Firefox SHUT DOWN.
>
> "still logged into" could be handled by cookies.sqlite alone, not
> necessarily by Saved Passwords.
>
> Saved passwords are managed by Lockwise now. I forgot the way before the
> arrival of Lockwise.
>
> How can I export/backup my logins?
> https://support.mozilla.org/bm/questions/1271699

I was not booted to the system.

All his accounts transferred just fine except for two.
Evidently he said "no" to save passwords.

I told him that if he does not have his password memorized or saved on
paper, there are procedures for creating a new p/w

as long as his backup email for phone number is still good, he should be
fine

On 20/11/2022 4:15 am, philo wrote:
>
> I told him that if he does not have his password memorized or saved on
> paper, there are procedures for creating a new p/w
>
> as long as his backup email for phone number is still good, he should be
> fine

Always a good idea to just backup the whole profile. :)

On 18/11/2022 8:46 am, philo wrote:
> I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old
computer into his new one and all is working.

Hi Philo, I want to transfer my data to a new laptop - I can copy all my
files and browser passwords - but I would like to also transfer my
browser bookmarks - *can you advise a way for me to do this* ??? - I
mostly use "Brave", a little "Palemoon" and a some "Firefox"

thanks
Annie

On 21/11/2022 6:24 pm, SkodaAnnie wrote:
> On 18/11/2022 8:46 am, philo wrote:
> > I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old
> computer into his new one and all is working.
>
> Hi Philo, I want to transfer my data to a new laptop - I can copy all my
> files and browser passwords - but I would like to also transfer my
> browser bookmarks - *can you advise a way for me to do this* ??? - I
> mostly use "Brave", a little "Palemoon" and a some "Firefox"

places.sqlite, cookies.sqlite and favicons.sqlite in the profile folder!

On 11/21/2022 6:31 AM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
> On 21/11/2022 6:24 pm, SkodaAnnie wrote:
>> On 18/11/2022 8:46 am, philo wrote:
>>   > I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old
>> computer into his new one and all is working.
>>
>> Hi Philo, I want to transfer my data to a new laptop - I can copy all my
>> files and browser passwords - but I would like to also transfer my
>> browser bookmarks - *can you advise a way for me to do this* ??? - I
>> mostly use "Brave", a little "Palemoon" and a some "Firefox"
>
> places.sqlite, cookies.sqlite and favicons.sqlite in the profile folder!

A portable way to move bookmarks, is to use Export:Import functions
for the bookmarks. That takes some of the contents of places.sqlite + favicons.sqlite
and builds a Bookmarks.html file. The favicons.sqlite cause BASE64 images
to be stored in the Bookmarks file, so the Bookmarks can have little
icons next to the bookmark entry.

That moves a narrow portion of a browser.

*******

Moving the profile folders plus the profiles.ini into
AppData, allows the browser installer to see that a "previous install"
is present. And it can be migrated. If the browser version
is the same as the previous computer browser, or if the new
browser install is a newer version, chances are the browser
installer can upgrade the files in the profile to the
newer representation. key3.db becomes key4.db, for the files
that are "versioned with a number" like that. In the
case of .sqlite files, they're all version 3, so the
API hasn't changed on those. If some day, there is
an "sqlite 4", all hell will break loose. So far,
the sqlite team has been shown to not be a
"move fast and break things" group of software designers.

While at one time, there was Mozbackup as an example of a
program for moving stuff, it went out of support and would
no longer be suited for modern profile movement. You would
never know whether it could do a good job or not. Maybe it
worked in a C:\Documents and Settings OS, but it does not
know what C:\users\username\AppData is.

Brave should be similar to Chrome. Where the word "Google" is,
you'd look for the word "Brave" at that same level. Usually,
when someone "forks" browser source, they don't dramatically
change everything. There is too much source to alter every
detail of a browser and make it totally unrecognizable.

https://www.howtogeek.com/255653/how-to-find-your-chrome-profile-folder-on-windows-mac-and-linux/

Another web page offers:

"By default the profile path is on %appdata% \ local \ BraveSoftware "

*******

Zinstall, Easeus, and Laplink PCMover Pro, for $50 or so,
will move everything from an old PC to a new PC. The $50 is
*per machine* *per OS* and includes tech support if something
is broken by the move. You do not own the mover software with
any of those, you're only renting the software until the OS
move is complete. But this is cheaper than if the Geek Squad
uses the same software, to move it for you :-)

Summary: The above are not attempts at complete recipes, just
a rough indication of where to start looking. Some
topics on the web, are handled horribly, but finding
profile folders should not be one of them.

Paul

On 21/11/2022 4:36 pm, Paul wrote:
> On 11/21/2022 6:31 AM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
>> On 21/11/2022 6:24 pm, SkodaAnnie wrote:
>>> On 18/11/2022 8:46 am, philo wrote:
>>>   > I recently transplanted the Firefox profile from a friend's old
>>> computer into his new one and all is working.
>>>
>>> Hi Philo, I want to transfer my data to a new laptop - I can copy all my
>>> files and browser passwords - but I would like to also transfer my
>>> browser bookmarks - *can you advise a way for me to do this* ??? - I
>>> mostly use "Brave", a little "Palemoon" and a some "Firefox"
>>
>> places.sqlite, cookies.sqlite and favicons.sqlite in the profile folder!
>
> A portable way to move bookmarks, is to use Export:Import functions
> for the bookmarks. That takes some of the contents of places.sqlite +
> favicons.sqlite
> and builds a Bookmarks.html file. The favicons.sqlite cause BASE64 images
> to be stored in the Bookmarks file, so the Bookmarks can have little
> icons next to the bookmark entry.
>
> That moves a narrow portion of a browser.
>
> *******
>
> Moving the profile folders plus the profiles.ini into
> AppData, allows the browser installer to see that a "previous install"
> is present. And it can be migrated. If the browser version
> is the same as the previous computer browser, or if the new
> browser install is a newer version, chances are the browser
> installer can upgrade the files in the profile to the
> newer representation. key3.db becomes key4.db, for the files
> that are "versioned with a number" like that. In the
> case of .sqlite files, they're all version 3, so the
> API hasn't changed on those. If some day, there is
> an "sqlite 4", all hell will break loose. So far,
> the sqlite team has been shown to not be a
> "move fast and break things" group of software designers.
>
> While at one time, there was Mozbackup as an example of a
> program for moving stuff, it went out of support and would
> no longer be suited for modern profile movement. You would
> never know whether it could do a good job or not. Maybe it
> worked in a C:\Documents and Settings OS, but it does not
> know what C:\users\username\AppData is.
>
> Brave should be similar to Chrome. Where the word "Google" is,
> you'd look for the word "Brave" at that same level. Usually,
> when someone "forks" browser source, they don't dramatically
> change everything. There is too much source to alter every
> detail of a browser and make it totally unrecognizable.
>
> https://www.howtogeek.com/255653/how-to-find-your-chrome-profile-folder-on-windows-mac-and-linux/
>
> Another web page offers:
>
>    "By default the profile path is on %appdata% \ local \ BraveSoftware "
>
> *******
>
> Zinstall, Easeus, and Laplink PCMover Pro, for $50 or so,
> will move everything from an old PC to a new PC. The $50 is
> *per machine* *per OS* and includes tech support if something
> is broken by the move. You do not own the mover software with
> any of those, you're only renting the software until the OS
> move is complete. But this is cheaper than if the Geek Squad
> uses the same software, to move it for you :-)
>
> Summary: The above are not attempts at complete recipes, just
>          a rough indication of where to start looking. Some
>          topics on the web, are handled horribly, but finding
>          profile folders should not be one of them.
>
>    Paul

Thanks Mr Chang & Paul - I'm getting there
Regards
Annie

On 11/18/2022 4:58 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> On 2022-11-18 12:40, Paul wrote:
>> On 11/18/2022 3:46 AM, philo wrote:
>
> ...
>
>> Where the cookie is stored, is a function of Googles view of
>> what their account is good for. They have the notion of
>> "one account for everything Google". They don't expect you
>> to have multiple gmail accounts on the same Firefox,
>
> I do. The entry page to gmail asks what account I want to use today. I
> have not tried to open two accounts at the same time in a single FF, for
> that I use different FF profiles for isolation.
>

I almost never access my gmail using a browser. Thunderbird just makes
it so much easier to see if I have mail and in which account, and no
obnoxious ads.

On 11/27/2022 4:16 PM, Bob F wrote:
> On 11/18/2022 4:58 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> On 2022-11-18 12:40, Paul wrote:
>>> On 11/18/2022 3:46 AM, philo wrote:
>>
>> ...
>>
>>> Where the cookie is stored, is a function of Googles view of
>>> what their account is good for. They have the notion of
>>> "one account for everything Google". They don't expect you
>>> to have multiple gmail accounts on the same Firefox,
>>
>> I do. The entry page to gmail asks what account I want to use today. I
>> have not tried to open two accounts at the same time in a single FF,
>> for that I use different FF profiles for isolation.
>>
>
> I almost never access my gmail using a browser. Thunderbird just makes
> it so much easier to see if I have mail and in which account, and no
> obnoxious ads.

--
Judge your ancestors by how well they met their standards not yours.
They did not know your standards, so could not try to meet them.

It is also quicker that plowing through the URL's, login, etc.

I can usually check my email in the time it takes the browser to reach
the Email site.