Can't find password to email address.

Back in January, I got a new computer.  In my old computer, I kept my passwords in my drafts. One of the drafts, had lots of passwords for several different websites. But this one password, was on its own draft. In my old computer, the CPU had burnt out. I found the passwords for the other websites. Now, I did find the password on one of my files, and I used it to login on Google Chrome. But I had forgotten to save the password. So I know it is somewhere on my computer. I just don't know where.

 

I had this email address set up back in 2015. I used it for Twitter, and a few other websites. I had never set up a recovery email address for that email address. I did for my other email addresses. I had just forgotten to do that one.

 

Does anybody know of anything that can help me search all files, and perhaps find the email address passwords? Back in 2015, I used Outlook for email. Today I use Thunderbird. Only one email address goes to my computer. The other ones, I go to the website to check. I do plan to setup a recovery email address, once I can login. 

 

Any help would be appreciated. So I found it once, so I know I can find it again. I still have all my Thunderbird emails, and I have over 900 Outlook emails on my computer, and USB stick.

If you know the username you used for these emails you should be able to start logging in then, when you get to the next stage where you are asked for your password, click the button 'I have forgotten my password'. This will normally start the service where you get sent a temporary password to get you in, then you can change the temporary password to any one you wish.

 

Of course if you cannot remember the username you used then you are down to searching through all your emails to see if you can recognise it.

 

Chris Cosgrove

Thanks for the reply Chris Cosgrove. The thing is, I don't have a recovery email address for that email address. I wish I had set one up. The email address is at mail.com. I thought there might be a download, that would help me find it. I will keep searching, and I might try to contact mail.com.

You said you kept your passwords in your drafts. Was that the Drafts folder in your email? And was this Drafts folder in Thunderbird? If you were using Thunderbird on your old computer and intend to continue using it on your new one, you could transfer your Thunderbird AppData folders from the old computer's hard disk to the same place on your new computer and resume using it like nothing happened.

Thanks for the reply BeigeBochs, I do have the old folders on my new computer, and on an USB stick. I have tried putting all my old emails on my Thunderbird, but for some reason its not coming out right. When I do, I see folders with letters, and numbers in the archives. And not all the emails show up. I have emails from 2014, and they don't show up. It will only show emails from 2017, and later. And I do have the old emails. So not sure what is going on. Right now, they only show Dec. of last year, and later.  I have been working on Thunderbird several times, and been trying things out. I did have emails going back to 2017. But it might be 2022. That is when I replaced my harddrive.

 

Doing a Google search, I found a website called copernic.com. I didn't go there, or download anything. They claim to have a download, that can do search faster.

There's not much clarity in your response. But from what you said, it seems you didn't use Thunderbird on your old computer. What was your email client on your old computer if not Thunderbird? Was it Outlook Express? Microsoft Office Outlook? Or did you just use webmail (email access through web browser)?

And I ask again, where were these drafts kept? How did you get to it? Was it in one of the above email clients? Was it in My Documents? If you can answer this, we might be able to pull the exact hard disk file needed to recover your data.

I did use Thunderbird in my last computer. The drafts were kept in my email drafts, on my computer. I clicked on message, to create a new email. Then I typed the password, and the website domain, and the user name. I had dozens of passwords on one of these drafts. I copied them to a note pad, and transferred it to my USB stick. I also stored it on my desktop. I labeled the note pad Bible. The email address for mail.com was in another draft. I thought I had it stored on a note pad, with the other passwords.

 

I sent an email to Mail.com tonight. It was a reply, to the reply that they sent me last night. The one they sent me last night, was an automated reply. I'm hoping there is away for me to reset my password. I should know by tomorrow.

That's just what I wanted to read!

If you look in your old hard disk's folders for one in your user folder called AppData (likely hidden), you can then go into that and into one called Roaming, then Mozilla, and then Thunderbird inside that. Provided there is no Thunderbird folder in the same respective location on your new computer's hard disk (rename the existing one if there is), you can just copy that Thunderbird folder right over to your new computer. Once it's copied, you'll find when you start Thunderbird that it will look just like the one on your old computer!

But perhaps that's too much. Another option is to locate the Drafts folder file(s) in your old hard disk's Thunderbird profile and copy it(them) into your current Thunderbird profile with (a) new name(s).

I've had plenty of experience messing with Thunderbird and its predecessor Mozilla Suite Mail, so I know what's possible!

Edited by BeigeBochs, 11 June 2024 - 10:35 PM.

I might look into that later. But here is an update. I did get a reply from mail.com. I had to send them some info, and they would send me a new password. Or reset my password. They wanted my IP address, and when the account was created. They also wanted to know when I logged in last. So hopefully later today, I will be able to get back into my mail.com account.

Success! They sent me a login link, and I created a new password. I even have it saved on the internet. Thanks everybody for helping me out. I had 255 emails when I logged in.

You can try using a search tool like Windows Search or a third-party program like Everything to search your computer for the password file. Look for keywords like "password" or the website name. Additionally, you can check your Thunderbird profile folder for saved passwords or use a password recovery tool to scan your files. Setting up a recovery email is a good idea once you regain access. Good luck!