[HOW TO] Manually Backup/Restore/Transfer your profile to another device 🖥↔💾↔💻

pafflick

@rudra-b No, it's different in Vivaldi (or Chromium, on which Vivaldi is based - in general). You have to export your passwords first and only then you can get them back. The wand.dat file in the old Opera was handy, but at the same time, it was easy to crack. Chromium uses a safer method of encrypting your passwords, but if you don't export (or sync) them before removing your profile, you can't get them back.

austinflorida

It would be quite easy to script this. Alas, I don't wish to spare the time right now. Perhaps someone could? It would definitely be a popular script. Perhaps it could even be done as a Chrome/Vivaldi extension. Look at how many views this post has.

->> Austin

austinflorida

Note:

For some reason when I first typed "vivaldi://about" (no quotes) into the address bar, I was presented with a list of valid "vivaldi:" shortcuts instead of the about page. It appears to be a bug that probably affects a very small subset of users who have used Vivaldi in a very particular way, installed/uninstalled certain extensions, ect...

Anyways, for any users who this happens to, the way I got to the actual "Vivaldi About" page referenced in this article was to type the following in the address bar:

"vivaldi:about" (no quotes)

aka

vivaldi:about

and then press [Enter] (or [Return]) on the keyboard. This redirected me to the correct "Vivaldi About" page which had "vivaldi://about/" in the address bar.

-> Austin

pafflick

@austinflorida said in [HOW TO] Backup/Restore/Transfer your profile (User Data) to another device :

It would be quite easy to script this. (...) Perhaps it could even be done as a Chrome/Vivaldi extension.

I don't think so... We have to keep in mind that people use various operating systems, they have Vivaldi installed in various locations (many of which are stand-alone installations and therefore they have their profiles stored in a different location). Sure, we could get the profile path from the browser itself, or just have the user type it in manually (which can be problematic for some people), but then what? How do we get passwords out of the browser via script? You would have to either recreate Chromium's password exporting feature or create some app to operate the browser externally.

I'm not saying it's impossible, it just seems like a tremendous task. Well, maybe except that Chrome/Vivaldi extension thing - that might actually be impossible.

You could automate some parts of this process, but there's just so many variables, that I doubt that there would be anyone willing to actually do this (unless they really needed it for themselves)...

@austinflorida said in [HOW TO] Backup/Restore/Transfer your profile (User Data) to another device :

For some reason when I first typed "vivaldi://about" (no quotes) into the address bar, I was presented with a list of valid "vivaldi:" shortcuts instead of the about page.

It happens when you select that address and click on "Go to URL" in the context menu or when you select to open that link in current or a new tab. It shouldn't appear when you type it into the address bar manually. That's strange...

mossman

I don't think we actually need to worry about doing our own backup any more...

We can sync everything for a few months now and I think they said that that sync data would eventually be exportable for backup.

Zalex108

As an extra,
this tool may help on saving multiple profile passwords easly.

Works on Chromium based browsers.

Tested on V and O.
Just works for the same UserID - no pass required.

At least on multiple profiles you can skip the Flags step.

Zalex108

You may like to add this

Export Extensions
&
Get CRX

for the toolbox.

schreck

@pafflick
thanks for pointing me to this, should be pinned until a proper portable V is out.
didnt even know there is a pw export function..

and good to know, that after installing the same extensions, the settings are preserved then.
cheers

pafflick

@schreck The thread is pinned, there are just a couple of them.

lada.flac

Just to add a useful info (I didn't see anyone mentioning this):

I uninstalled the snapshot version. Installed the snapshot version. Replaced the new Default folder with the one from the snapshot version.
I could open the browser, but I had an error message informing me that my profile is related to a newer version of Vivaldi.
It seems that I had all data accessible in the browser (bookmarks, tabs, session, web panels), but I didn't really explore if everything works.

In order to get rid of this message, I had to remove/rename the file DownloadMetadata in Default folder.

Kobi

I wonder why you need the whole User Data folder, the profile is in User Data\Default

I have my profile (User Data\Default) in sync through OneDrive, and I use it across multiple devices and as backup (works perfectly so far).

I tried to Sync the whole User Data folder once, and was freezing Vivaldi.

pafflick

@kobi I did this once, at that point I wasn't sure if there were any other important files apart from the Default folder. I guess you're good copying them over from one profile to another since I didn't run into any issues after doing so. Perhaps it is a problem when you try to sync them while the browser is still running - I don't know that. Anyway, I've updated the tutorial, thanks!

lada.flac

@lada-flac said in [HOW TO] Backup/Restore/Transfer your profile (User Data) to another device :

Just to add a useful info (I didn't see anyone mentioning this):

I uninstalled the snapshot version. Installed the snapshot version. Replaced the new Default folder with the one from the snapshot version.
I could open the browser, but I had an error message informing me that my profile is related to a newer version of Vivaldi.
It seems that I had all data accessible in the browser (bookmarks, tabs, session, web panels), but I didn't really explore if everything works.

In order to get rid of this message, I had to remove/rename the file DownloadMetadata in Default folder.

I am still getting the profile error message after login to windows, I assume it's related to update check.
Does anyone know which file could be a problem?

Message is:
Profile error occurred
Your profile can not be used because it is from a newer version of Vivaldi.
Some features may be unavailable. Please specify a different profile directory or use a newer version of Vivaldi.

pafflick

@lada-flac I'm not sure. You probably gonna have to install the latest Snapshot, which is the newest version of Vivaldi. Perhaps you should've taken notice of what I said about transferring profiles between various versions of Vivaldi:

@pafflick said in [HOW TO] Backup/Restore/Transfer your profile (User Data) to another device :

You should be good copying your data from Stable release to Snapshot, but I wouldn't recommend doing it the other way around.

If you have the patience to rebuild your profile manually, you can try copying single files from your Default folder, as mentioned in this article.

lada.flac

@pafflick Yes I saw your comment about the snapshot, but I wanted to try it anyway This message is not so important, maybe I will just deactivate automatic updates check and do the checks manually from time to time, so that the message would not appear.
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out and go with the changes when I'll have time and, offcourse, patience.

boristhemoggy

I have copied my old profile several times now when reinstalling windows and I always get back my bookmarks and anything I need...except the logins!
Not one site can login with the already saved information and while I can export them all it seems impossible to import them back once windows has been reinstalled. Has Vivaldi for some reason put the block on this?
Given the need to reinstall sometimes through error or new HDD it should really be an easy process.

pafflick

@boristhemoggy It's a security measure put in place by Chromium, not Vivaldi. You can sync your passwords and have them available whenever you log in to Vivaldi or manually export them. Simply copying your profile will not work in this case, as the passwords are encrypted and once you lose access to your system's user profile, you basically lose your encryption key and thus lose all of your login data.

boristhemoggy

@pafflick i have exported them to a text file, but I can't find an import button? The flags I have tried in the threads I've read show no import/export button to enable disable. I'm mighty confused.

pafflick

@boristhemoggy It's been changed in Chromium at least several times, but this should work for you:

@pafflick said in [HOW TO] Manually Backup/Restore/Transfer your profile to another device :

Go to vivaldi://flags/#PasswordImport and enable the Password Import feature. Relaunch Vivaldi. (You can disable that feature afterwards, but it's optional).

Go to chrome://settings/passwords and import your passwords - click on the three dots button (⋮) next to "Saved Passwords", choose "Import" and point to the file with your exported passwords.

boristhemoggy

@pafflick said in [HOW TO] Manually Backup/Restore/Transfer your profile to another device :

vivaldi://flags/#PasswordImport

vivaldi://flags/#PasswordImport does not come up with any options at all for enabling export or import. It doesn't exist in the list. Is that because I am using a portable version?