Solved How copy Google passwords from a old Win7 desktop to new Win10 laptop

[robls99]

How do I retrieve my saved internet passwords from my old Win7 to a new Win10?

 

[file3456]

If you are in fact using Google to backup your passwords, then I believe those passwords (not sure) are in Google's cloud and simply logging into your Google account in the Win 10 computer will retrieve them. If this isn't the case, then I can look further and see what file stores Chrome passwords. This is Chrome, right?

I have to say that it isn't really wise to store passwords in a browser or in the cloud like Google. If you don't know too much about computers and what not, then it may be the better choice. But if you can read and learn about it, then the Keepass password manager would be the better choice. You just have to be proactive on backing up the Keepass database all the time yourself. I backup my Keepass database to all sorts of media. Whether that be DVD/RW, multiple computers, you name it. But I also re-encrypt the database with a cascade of ciphers before I back it up. Not really needed, but I chose to do it. If you do use Keepass then I would make sure you go into the database settings and chose Argon2 and ChaCha 20 for database encryption. The reason why is that it's much harder to crack a Keepass Database using Argon2 and ChaCha 20. I know because I broke into a test Keepass database that was offered on a website with instructions on how to do it. And as far as I know I did not have the ability to crack an Argon2 database let alone one that was encrypted with ChaCha 20. Now keep in mind that I was only able to crack this Keepass database with gigabytes worth of wordlists. So if your password for Keepass is not common and in a wordlist, then it will be next to impossible to crack. This much I can tell you. The same method is used to crack WPA/WPA2 WIFI encryption. If that password isn't in a wordlist then it will be very hard to crack. There are other ways though.

So if you chose to use Keepass, make sure your password is something complex with a mixture of upper case and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. You probably could get by with one long sentence adding numbers and symbols. That alone will be very hard to crack even though there are specific word masks that could be used to aid in cracking a password using common words as the password. You could also take it up a notch and use a keyfile with your Keepass database. The only trouble is that you not only need to backup that database, but the keyfile as well. Lose the keyfile and you'll never be able to access your passwords again. I'd deploy a little obscurity and use a MP3 for the keyfile. That way you can just save a bunch of music that contains your MP3 keyfile, but all along no one will think one of those songs are used for a keyfile. Unless it's blatantly obvious in the way you back up your database and songs, etc.

Anyways, Use a browser's password vault or the cloud if you don't know much about computers and what have you, but if you're inclined, do check out Keepass. There are also Keepass-based Apps both for iOS and Android that can read and use a computer's Keepass database. For my phone I use Keepass2Android. But again, you need to backup its database as you add more entries. My computer uses one database for its passwords, etc, and my phone uses a separate database. Both use two different passwords. My phone just has passwords I use all the time if I use my phone for something. My computer has the largest database of passwords, text files and 2FA backup codes, etc.

There are other password managers of course. Two that are popular are Lastpass and another is Dashlane. Both use the cloud and are more for people who don't know much about computers. I wouldn't use them myself though. I know Lastpass got their crap jacked not once but twice. They probably fixed that, but it proved my point back then on depending on the cloud for database storage. Especially if you don't encrypt things like I do. If this is too much for you then just stick to what you know.

 

[samuria]

Many browsers will sync password for you like Firefox

 

[RolandJS]

If you set up the google sync within each google chrome browser on each device you own and operate, lots of stuff can be google synced from the google cloud to each existing google chrome.browser.

 

[robls99]

Thank you guys for all your comments.

In Settings > Autofill > Passwords > Saved Passwords > (3 dots) > Export

it looks like you can Export the pw.

Unfortunately it is my wife's computer and it won't boot.
Could be the HDD, I'm not sure.
I have her last Acronis image backup but am told that the pw are probably encoded even if I knew where they were located.

Question-1
Since My existing Win7 Google shows it is the same version as her new Win10 Google, why can't I use her Acronis backup to restore the complete backed up Google to the Win10 which hopefully would include all the passwords as well.

Question-2
Can I plug her HDD into my Win7 comp in place of my HDD to see if it will boot.
We have different motherboards.

 

[file3456]

So there are a couple issues here. One is that you have a bad hard drive issue or something else, but there's some kind of backup. The other is how to retrieve passwords stored by "Google" which to me sounds like Chrome.

About the issue on the passwords dilemma. I believe (and I could have swore I stated this already) Google's cloud stores those passwords with the Google account. So it doesn't matter if the computer dies or you use another computer. So long as you remember the email address and and password to the Google account (in this case your wife's) you'll have access to ALL passwords that were stored by the browser "Google" Chrome. It should (and this is my guess since I don't do this) sync all passwords withen the browser from your (wife's) Google account. I believe Firefox has the same thing. But since I've never EVER used a browser to store passwords and then having Google or Firefox store my passwords in their cloud, I don't know. But it sounds prudent to suggest that in fact you can use any computer you want and retrieve your passwords simply by logging into your Google account or Firefox account.

About the backup. Is this a whole disk clone or just a files backup? The difference would dictate whether you can buy a new hard drive for the computer and just clone the image back to the new hard drive or whether your gonna have to install Windows 10 from scratch and then copy over the backed up data. For future reference, it's better to do a full disk clone rather than a data backup if you intend to use the same hardware. Even then, a full disk clone will have your data intact from when you cloned it, it just requires you to go in and manually go through folders and what not from the external hard drive that contained the clone. But it'll all be there.

No, you can't plug-in a hard drive that has a backup to a dissimilar computer. In this case it sounds like you have a full disk clone there since you indicate you want to boot it. So knowing that you should look at buying a new hard drive for the computer that broke and replace it. But that's if the issue is the hard drive in the first place. Once that is done you can clone the backup to the new hard drive and it should be like nothing changed much at all except any data or programs that were installed after the clone was performed. This depends on what you have there. With Arconis there should be a USB boot disk or something that will allow you to boot the broken computer and from there you should be able to pick your clone as the source and then the destination that is the new hard drive you want to write the clone to. If this is too complicated create another thread about how to do that using your clone seen as how this thread is more about passwords retrieval.

Again. You should be able to log into your wife's Google account with her email address and password and all the passwords should sync to the new browser. But you can't do this on the same computer you have a Google account with your Chrome browser. Just one account per Chrome browser. Although, I'm thinking like Firefox you may be able to create more that one profile in Chrome for different users on the same computer. I'd have to look that up.

 

[file3456]

And yeah, the passwords if stored on the computer will be encrypted with a master password. If the Google account option doesn't work for password retrieval, then hopefully you can access that hard drive and can get the password file. I believe there might be two files actually. In Firefox there is. Once you have those files you can copy them into the new computer's Chrome profile folder and all one would have to do is furnish the master password to unlock it. But were jumping the gun here. If the passwords are in the cloud, then none of this should be necessary.

 

[robls99]

F22,

Thanks for all the additional info and for your patience.
I decided it's a little complicated for me to try to tackle.
I've got a tech guy coming on Friday and I'll go over your notes with him.
I'll let you know how it comes out.

I really appreciate all your effort.

Have a great week,

Bob