How can I restore the stored password in firefox 15.0.1 when deleted by error?

Question

I, by error, deleted my stored passwords, using the "Wise disc cleaner 7" program. As I saw on another thread, the passwords are stored in 2 files signons.sqlite and the encryption key file key3.db

When opening the file signons.sqlite with the text editor, I can see that the web adresses of the sites belonging to the passwords are still there. They have not been deleted by the "Wise disc cleaner 7" program, and adding a stored password on Firefox just modifies the file.

However, Firefox will not display my old stored passwords and neither their respective sites.

Is there any way to "undelete" the passwords?

Answer 1

Restore the deleted key file from a backup. It doesn't have to have the latest data since the key doesn't change.

Answer 2

There’s really no way to roll back a transaction once it’s committed. Without a backup that included the SQLite file (the used by Firefox to store passwords), you’re not going to have much luck.

You can try manually re-populating the data using the method found here (courtesy of Google), but it looks like a tedious, hit-and-miss process (it might not even be relevant anymore, I don’t know):

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19222876/Recovering-Lost-Passwords-in-Mozilla-Firefox

Alternatively, you might consider this instance a total loss and switch to a password manager. Have you checked out LastPass? LastPass securely stores your passwords and synchronizes them between browsers/devices/whatever. I just started using it myself, having previously used KeePass.

Sorry for your loss, and good luck!