I want to do a fresh install of my windows 11 laptop and want to keep all of my user names/passwords from browsers as well as bookmarks

Okay so first of all the history from my laptop is over 6 months old and I'm always worried if I delete the history I will delete some stuff I need like passwords and bookmarks and such. But here is what I want to do I want to back up all the bookmarks and the log in information from all the sites I have logged into that is still currently on the browsers and then completely reset the laptop to its original point.

So I will be backing up the bookmarks and the passwords from the browser but not the history. And I would also like to know if there was a way to remove the OneDrive from the laptop when I originally reset. I normally forget to remove it and then I have issues with it later on.

So I'm asking for some help on how to just save the bookmarks and the passwords and user names but not the entire history.
As well as how to remove the OneDrive after fresh windows 11 install from USB if this is at all possible.

dawn121988 said:

So I'm asking for some help on how to just save the bookmarks and the passwords and user names but not the entire history.

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Which browser(s)?

Because you are using Firefox as browser (I saw that in your Computer specs), you always can copy your complete profile folder to some other device, like an external SDD or Flash drive. You find the exact locaton in your Firefox help menu:
Click the menu button , click Help and select More Troubleshooting Information. Mine is located at:
C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default
Yours will have some combination of characters in stead of default.

After reinstalling Windows, you then can start Firefox and do the same: look where the profile folder is located.
First you copy that folder to another place (as it has the basic Firefox settings), then you delete all files and folders in that profile folder. Then replace that by the contents (files and folders) of the formerly saved profile folder.

After that you will have an exact copy of the situation you saved the profile before. Even cookies from exact that moment are saved (my online banking login depends on cookies...). All history, passwords and bookmarks will be back too!

There is another method if you have an account in the Mozilla/Firefox environment. Then you can save your settings there. But as I don't want to be dependent of the server of Mozilla/Firefox, I don't use that, so I don't have any experience with that.

PS. You only can copy all data from or to the Firefox profile folder after closing Firefox!

dawn121988 said:

... how to just save the bookmarks and the passwords and user names

Click to expand...

Export both resources from Bookmarks/Manage:



and about:logins:

A reset will keep OEM software and will use part of the current installation. A Clean Install is pure MS.
If you do a Clean install, backup your data and drivers on an external drive.

Firefox Backup Tool
If you often update and adjust your Firefox web browser, this Firefox Backup Tool can help you, it can be easily backup all important configuration of your Firefox, including user preferences, bookmarks, extensions, browsing history, etc., you can back up all of these to one file, then restore it when you need, you can also add password protection for backup files. This is a freeware, you can download it here, it currently only supports Windows platforms (both x86 and x64 versions).

Megahertz, i found that backup tool to be a bit flaky. It didn't always copy all of the data.
I think the method as mentioned by Edwin is probably more reliable.

Sorry I will explain a bit better I am trying to get the bookmarks and user names/passwords from 3 google accounts which are all on my Goggle Chrome browser. As well as the Firefox Bookmarks and User Names/Passwords as well. I then plan to do a fresh install of windows by completely removing everything to make it like new. So far I have the saved passwords from Firefox Browser and (2) goggle accounts but I forgot the password for 1 google account and am trying to reset it but can't remember the current password since I have not needed to manually enter the password in so long in over a year so I forgot what it was. I think I tried to sign in once before on the phone and it would not work correctly so I changed the password and now it wont work. So now I need to wait 48 hours before I can change it even with the alternate email setup already. So I plan to reinstall a fresh installation of windows Monday or Tuesday whenever the timer runs up. Hopefully its on Monday I want to do a few program fresh installs and have them organized a bit better and organize my ahk files a bit as well. Hopefully the computer will be a bit better for me this summer with the reinstallation of the windows 11 and then the reinstall and setup of all my main programs.

So the main plan is to back up the bookmarks from both browser as well as all user names/passwords from both browsers and all (3) google account this upcoming Monday or Tuesday. And then do a fresh install of all my main programs and have them set to automatically update if possible. I also plan to remove anything relating to online storage or OneDrive since I don't use such stuff I have hard drives and flash drives.

Copy the existing %appdata%\mozilla\firefox folder to another location

Start firefox on the new installation. close it. rename or delete the new %appdata%\mozilla\forefox folder

then copy in the saved one.

dont know anything about chrome there is probably a similar method.

You can pretty much sync everything in Chrome and Firefox.
If you want physical backups, do what I posted earlier...

On the %appdata% folder you have all user program settings.
I'll go a little further on SIW2 suggested. I would copy ALL %appdata% folder.

Before doing anything; I would advise you to acquire an external drive and make a system image backup of your OS as it currently is.
You don’t want to complete your task of reinstalling Windows to all of a sudden remember that there is that one most important thing you forgot to do or save, whatever it may be.
It’s not uncommon for a person to all of a sudden experience a very sinking feeling due to remembering they forgot something.
A backup could be peace of mind.

Maybe you can consider an in-place upgrade instead of a fresh install. That way, all software, settings, and data are maintained.

dawn121988 said:

And I would also like to know if there was a way to remove the OneDrive from the laptop when I originally reset.

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1. When using a MS account the default location for Documents, Desktop, Pictures, and Videos is Onedrive. You first have to turn off backup folder syncing. This tutorial tells you how and also how to get your files onto your local drive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/turn-on-or-off-onedrive-folder-backup-syncing-across-windows-11-devices.4321/

NOTE: ONLY IF FOLDERS DO NOT MOVE TO DEFAULT LOCATION IN STEP 1 ABOVE DO THIS

If this happens, then you could try option three below to restore the default folder location and move your files manually from Onedrive into the folders..

• Move or Restore Default Location of Desktop Folder in Windows 11
• Move or Restore Default Location of Documents Folder in Windows 11 Tutorial
• Move or Restore Default Location of Pictures Folder in Windows 11
• Move or Restore Default Location of Videos Folder in Windows 11

2. Then you have to unlink account & PC from onedrive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/unlink-account-and-pc-from-onedrive-in-windows-11.15162/
Once you do this the files you have in onedrive will remain there until you login to Onedrive on the Web and delete them.
Sign in - Microsoft OneDrive

3. You can then either uninstall Onedrive or disable it. I prefer to disable it. Open Task Manager>Startup Apps
Find Onedrive in the list and, right click on it, select disable. This prevents Onedrive from auto-starting.

4. If you want to uninstall it instead use Revo Uninstaller Freeware Portable. Be sure to delete any leftover files and registry entries Revo finds. Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download

In Firefox I go to Tools, Settings and make choices such as in Privacy and Security for logins.