Recover saved passwords from broken installation.

Hi, My Zorin 10 became corrupted after the Ubuntu 18.4 update. I tried to resolve it using online suggestions but I made it worse.
I installed Zorin 12.4 on a separate partition and have dual boot. I can read all the files in the home folder but I cant do much with them (you are not he owner etc)
What I am desperate to recover are the saved passwords to my email/facebook/gumtree accounts etc (about eight) I understand that they are saved but encoded.
I reinstalled Zorin 10 without formatting and the same user name & it will run (still a problem with the sign in password) I can use a recovery boot but after shut down it goes into the password loop on the next boot).
Any help would be hugely appreciated. I can cut & paste commands to terminal but not much else so please treat me as a beginner.

Hi, My Zorin 10 became corrupted after the Ubuntu 18.4 update. I tried to resolve it using online suggestions but I made it worse.
I installed Zorin 12.4 on a separate partition and have dual boot. I can read all the files in the home folder but I cant do much with them (you are not he owner etc)
What I am desperate to recover are the saved passwords to my email/facebook/gumtree accounts etc (about eight) I understand that they are saved but encoded.
I reinstalled Zorin 10 without formatting and the same user name & it will run (still a problem with the sign in password) I can use a recovery boot but after shut down it goes into the password loop on the next boot).
Any help would be hugely appreciated. I can cut & paste commands to terminal but not much else so please treat me as a beginner.

Abergreg, if you were using Waterfox or Firefox to access emails / facebook etc., then you can recover that information from your old Home folder.
Navigate to that partition, then look for your Firefox or Waterfox or Chrome folder and transfer that folder to your new location replacing the new one.
You May need to try to change ownership on the folder, recursively. You can do this from the command line with the "chown" commands, but several File Managers like SpaceFM or Nemo have a GUI application to do this, as well.
I do not know how to recover a root password, maybe someone else can help. But, I do know you can change your root password from command line.
I do not know if this will help or if you tried this already:https://itsfoss.com/how-to-hack-ubuntu-password/

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I cant access the Firefox folder, it has a little lock on it and in permissions it has owner User #999 and Group 999. can I chown these to my permission? I know the previous root command but I dont know how to use it on the reinstalled Zorin 10.

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I cant access the Firefox folder, it has a little lock on it and in permissions it has owner User #999 and Group 999. can I chown these to my permission? I know the previous root command but I dont know how to use it on the reinstalled Zorin 10.

Honestly, I am not sure. I have done the same thing as you but my experience may be different than yours because while I accessed the other partitions contents and was able to control them, I had (-cough- shut up) the same password for each...
What I would suggest is that you Try It. It can't hurt anything.
If you are on Zorin 12.4 (Rock On 12.4!) then you may open your file manager with the gksu command in terminal.
If you are using Nautilus:

Code:

gksu nautilus

If you are using Thunar or another file manager, just replace "nautilus" with "thunar" or whatever you are using.
With your file manager opened elevated to root, access the files on your other partition.
You may try simply right clicking the file or folder and scrolling to Proerties then Permissions. Then changing the ownership or permissions there. Some file managers offer more options in this than others. SpaceFM, for example, offers massive options in it and I am pretty sure you can communicate with the Curiosity Rover with it, too.
If this will not work, then you may try opening your other partition folder in a Root Terminal and using the chown commands instead. The above method may just be easier and faster with less room for typoes putting a hex on the whole operation.
Now, you may notice that I used the word "may" a lot in making this post. You may speculate as to why, but personally, I have not got a freaking clue. I guess my needle may have gotten stuck in the groove.