Export your Firefox Passwords into a secure Password Manager

I keep records of most of my passwords in two locations. In Firefox secured by a Master Password and in Keepass which is also secured by a Master Password. Both locations use encryption to make sure that no unauthorized user or process can access the usernames, passwords and urls stored there. I thought it would be nice to backup my Firefox passwords regularly in Keepass and remove some of the passwords stored in Firefox afterwards.

The easiest way to do that is to export all Firefox passwords using the Firefox add-on Password Exporter which can save the passwords in an XML file. The bad news is that the current Keepass 1.10 cannot import those passwords directly, the good news is that the Keepass 2.x alpha version can. The easiest way to import the Firefox passwords into Keepass is to download and install both the current version of Keepass and the Keepass 2.x alpha version.

The alpha version is not only able to import the Firefox passwords that are saved in the xml file, it is furthermore capable of exporting the passwords again in a format that the Keepass 1.10 application can import. Let me sum it up to make it clear:

• Install the Firefox Password Exporter Extension.
• Export the passwords in an XML file
• Download, install and run Keepass 2.x alpha
• Import the XML file that contains the Firefox passwords into Keepass 2.x alpha by selecting File > Import and Password Exporter from the list
• Export the Keepass database by selecting File > Export and KeePass KDB (1.x)
• Download, install and run Keepass 1.x
• Import the newly exported KDB 1.x database file into the software
• Uninstall Keepass 2.x alpha, delete the exported XML password file on your computer and use Eraser to clean the unused disk space to make sure it cannot be recovered.

The last four steps will no longer be necessary ones the final version of Keepass 2.x will be released by the author.

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Saturday April 5, 2008 -
Tags:Firefox, keepass. password manager, mozilla, password exporter

Responses so far:

1. hal says:

   May 3, 2008 at 5:29 pm

   Well you could do it this way if you are using 1.x or if you just want to use a tool for version 1.x go to

   http://www.grunt.tv/firefox-to-keepass.asp

   Reply
2. hal says:

   May 3, 2008 at 5:39 pm

   For KeePass 2.x users…

   1. Start KeePass 2
   2. Select the menu option File->Import
   3. Select the FireFox XML option from the bottom of the list
   4. Select the file to be imported (as prepared earlier, e.g., “FF-OUT.XML”)
   5. Select OK

   For KeePass 1.x users…

   1. Intall the XMLImport plugin:
   1. Exit KeePass
   2. Download the KeePass XML Import plugin. Make sure it is the same version as KeePass.
   3. Install it by placing it in the same folder as KeePass.exe.
   4. Restart KeePass so it picks up the plugin.
   5. Select Tools–>Plugins
   6. Enable the plugin by right clicking on it and selecting enable.
   7. Restart KeePass so the plugin can initialise itself.
   2. Start the Nexus.KeePass.FireFoxConverter.exe program that should be in your KeePass Program Folder
   3. Alter the default options if required
   4. Click Start
   5. Select the file to be imported (as prepared earlier, e.g., “FF-OUT.XML”)
   6. Select OK
   7. Save the KeePass Xml file (e.g., “KP-IN.XML”) in an appropriate place
   8. Close the program
   9. Open KeePass
   10. Select File->Import From->Import KeePass XML
   11. Select the file to be imported (as prepared just before, e.g., “KP-IN.XML”)
   12. Follow the instructions

   Then remove any FireFox or KeePass xml files produced!

   Reply
3. Magneto says:

   October 18, 2008 at 9:08 pm

   Thanks! Didn’t have to uninstall keepass2.* – it seems to be gone.
   Great post.

   Reply
4. Jade dower says:

   November 27, 2009 at 5:23 am

   Email acces

   Reply