Backing up browser data, staff advice needed

Browser Support
1

Description of the issue: I am planning to wipe my pc, however I want to preserve brave browser data and are looking for guides on how to do this.

Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu): Windows 10 pro 64 bit, browser version 1.45.127

Additional Information: Staff will have to answer this technical question as they have a better understanding of the software, I have also backed up the wallet.

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Hello @AbleistSL, thank you for reaching us out. Please read the following article to understand better how to back up your Brave profile:

https://www.addictivetips.com/ubuntu-linux-tips/back-up-the-brave-browser-profile/

Regards.

3

@AbleistSL,
Apologies for the late reply. There are a few things to consider when doing this.
For general browsing data, you can do this by making a safe copy of your user data folder in Windows, which you can find by going to:
C:Users\[your user name]\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User data
(you’ll want to copy the User data folder in its entirety)

Save this to a flash drive or somewhere you’ll be able to access it later. Once your PC is wiped and your OS is reinstalled, redownload and install Brave. Then visit that same directory and replace the User Data folder there with the one you saved previously.

Warning

The method above will save most browsing data, such as History, bookmarks, browser settings, etc. However, it will not restore:

  1. Brave Rewards data — If you are using Brave Rewards, you will likely lose any estimated earnings you have for the month and any vBAT you’ve earned in your browser wallet. If your wallet is verified with a custodial provider, you can simply re-verify your new browser installation and be good to go.
  2. Brave Wallet data — If you have any crypto assets stored in Brave Wallet, you’ll need to backup and restore these manually. You can do this by visiting your Wallet page, clicking the “three dots” icon, then Back up now and ensure that you save/export your seed words to a flash drive or somewhere it can still be accessed after you wipe your PC (note that if you lose or accidentally delete these seed words, you will lose access to anything stored in Brave Wallet):
    image
    image1268Ă—257 24.2 KB
  3. Password data — In Brave, your passwords are encrypted using the Operating System’s security/password. So if you were to change your password (or reformat your OS) and then try to access those same data, you’ll be met with an error, because the password data in the browser will be unable to decrypt the information.
    In order to restore your password data, you’ll need to manually export them, then reimport them when you reinstall the browser. You can do this by going to Settings --> Autofill --> Passwords --> More options (three dots icon) --> Export passwords. Again, please ensure you save the resulting exported file somewhere safe where it can be accessed after wiping your computer or you will lose this data.

Hopefully this helps — please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

1 Like
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Do you have any technical advice for extracting saved passwords from the files by using my password?

Yes I was using a Microsoft account.

5

@AbleistSL,
If you export your password data as directed above, you will not need to extract this data.

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