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Migrating a Chrome profile to another computer
Cookies and passwords are encrypted with DPAPI. Boo! This makes things difficult and annoying.
See https://sourceforge.net/p/keepass/wiki/Recover%20Windows%20User%20Account%20Credentials/ and https://old.reddit.com/r/vivaldibrowser/comments/65qrlb/importing_cookiespasswords_from_vivaldichrome/
The simple bit: copy the actual profile data
- Copy
%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data
to the new computer - Export
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\PreferenceMACs
using regedit - Delete this key on the new PC and run the file to apply it
You can stop here but only bookmarks and some other stuff will be transferred (untested)
The complicated bit: migrate DPAPI keys
- Enable “Show hidden files […]” and disable “Hide protected operating system files” in Windows Explorer if not already done
- Copy the SID folder to the new PC (folder called “S-1-5-[…]”)
- Download dpapi_migration.reg and edit <SID> and <username> to match the old PC account, then apply it.
- Run
dpapimig.exe
in cmd/powershell and enter old password if required. - Done!
Now you should be able to delete the copied SID folder and open Chrome.