This is TERRIBLY frustrating. I had a series of system failures after a flawless ~5 years running Kubuntu 14.04. I was able to get into the old systems and copy the /config/chromium folder. I then deleted the new chromium folder in the new install and moved/copied the old data into the new drive.

The first time this happened (I've had 5 system crashed/wipeouts in 4 months so something's up...) I had compatibility issues with Chrome Version 57 vs 64 (old system & new system) as they used different file names for passwords and such. So I crated a whole new bookmarks & passwords, all running current versions of everything, but running 16.04.

Now when I delete the chromium config file then copy the old one (that is 1-2 weeks old and same version of Chromium), the bookmarks copy fine but the passwords don't.

Now I did notice that the read/write/execute properties are vastly different from the new installed config's (the way it is installed by apt install) and when I delete that folder and copy the old folder into place, I'm wondering if that is what is keeping my passwords from showing up.

So I'm looking for answers. DO I have to go through each file and change their RWE permissions or can it be done in bulk.

What is strange is the first time I did this after 14.04 failed, the passwords were saved but the bookmarks weren't, now it's the opposite.

Can anyone shed any light on what might be happening and what I can do to fix this? I love linux for the most part, but sometimes it seems like a contrarian 8yr old, other times like a mature, elegant gorgeous diplomat/model. Talk about split personalities.

If you need to 'own' these files do a recursive chown on the directory.