Passwords aren't transfering into Fx 3.5

[Uncle Spellbinder]

...Apparently, i'm not alone. I'd say it's a bug and a nasty one, just wait for the final release and read the outcries here.

I tend to agree here. Those of us who are testers know to back your profile and do a clean install of the next release.
Having said that, very few Firefox users are testers . The average end user will more than likely just upgrade to FF 3.5.
If passwords end up being lost by many, the anger on these boards will be like never before.

[Dorus]

But... Can any of the people that did lose there passwords reproduce the problem? (And post steps to reproduce?)

[LoudNoise]

makondo
A) Did you check to see if problem still exists for the RC?
B) Have you looked for a bug?
C) Did you report it somewhere?

[makondo]

No, no and no. Had no time yet. It wasn't something i couldn't fix (for me) and i just didn't find the time needed for searching/testing. Yet. Came across this thread and seeing how everybody says 'no problem' thought i'd mention my experience.

Dorus,
the steps are simple but probably irrelevant now with RC (i updated to RC from 3.5beta99, not installed fresh): create a new profile, install 3.5beta4 or 99. Copy signons2.txt, signons3.txt and key3.db from a 3.0.11 profile backup. Start Fx and look at passwords - there'll be none. I can clearly see them in my backup copies though.
This happens in RC profiles which i updated to RC from betas, didn't try a new one yet. In those 2 profiles, i can see only passwords i manually saved.

EDIT: OK, did a new profile, fresh for RC.
Before opening it, copied signons2.txt, signons3.txt and key3.db from a FEBE full 3.0.11 profile backup (the passwords are there, in signons files, i can see them). Started Fx/Options/Security/Saved passwords - blank!
BTW, i don't see signons.sqlite in 3.0.11 profiles. Didn't exist then? Dont't remember.

Can someone file a bug, please.

[the-edmeister]

I'd really like to know what the big rush to get all the Firefox data files into an SQLite format is?
SQLite is supposedly a good format, but I wonder if the Mozilla developers are experienced enough with implementing it?
There are major problems with bookmarks (still) being lost, and if they can't get that fixed, why screw up more of Firefox with their poor implementation of SQLite databases?



Ed

[Dorus]

No, no and no. Had no time yet. It wasn't something i couldn't fix (for me) and i just didn't find the time needed for searching/testing. Yet. Came across this thread and seeing how everybody says 'no problem' thought i'd mention my experience.

Dorus,
the steps are simple but probably irrelevant now with RC (i updated to RC from 3.5beta99, not installed fresh): create a new profile, install 3.5beta4 or 99. Copy signons2.txt, signons3.txt and key3.db from a 3.0.11 profile backup. Start Fx and look at passwords - there'll be none. I can clearly see them in my backup copies though.
This happens in RC profiles which i updated to RC from betas, didn't try a new one yet. In those 2 profiles, i can see only passwords i manually saved.

EDIT: OK, did a new profile, fresh for RC.
Before opening it, copied signons2.txt, signons3.txt and key3.db from a FEBE full 3.0.11 profile backup (the passwords are there, in signons files, i can see them). Started Fx/Options/Security/Saved passwords - blank!
BTW, i don't see signons.sqlite in 3.0.11 profiles. Didn't exist then? Dont't remember.

Can someone file a bug, please.

Ok, this is what i did:
1. make a new profile with FF3.0 (dont open it)
2. copy signons2.txt, signons3.txt and key3.db from old (3.0) profile, couldn't find signons.sqlite either
3. open FF3.5rc: Passwords imported!

Then i read your edit, and tried this:

1. make a new profile with FF3.5 (and open it)
2. copy signons2.txt, signons3.txt and overwrite key3.db (all from old profile)
3. open FF3.5rc: No passwords!
... (close FF3.5rc)
4. Delete signons.sqlite
5. open FF3.5rc: Passwords imported!

As you can see, we got the same problem again as we had with bookmarks during the 2.0-->3.0 update, FF only import the passwords once. To force it to import your passwords again, delete signons.sqlite. Seems like a simple step that can be added to the KB.

[makondo]

Dunno, Ed, but Mozilla is heading right into a major disaster with this one (well, loosing bookmarks makes it a nice couple).
What good saving a couple of secs. on tabs opening does if you going to loose your bkmrks and passwords? Who cares how the icon looks if i can't use the browser that looses my most important data?
Somebody out there needs to check their priorities.

OTOH, i'm surprised that i don't see many posts about this. Could it be something specific that RazorBoy and i share? But that also means there are more people who will be hit with this w/out realizing what hit them.

[makondo]

Dorus,
thanks, i'll try it in a bit. But it is still a bug. You can't really expect millions of people out there to do this. Some will just peel off with some nasty remarks all over, i'm sure. And here - get your clippings ready!

[LoudNoise]

Dorus
What happens if you install over an old profile? Is the problem happening only if you move the old password files into a new, previously, opened profile? If that is the case that might be why few people are seeing the problem.

[Uncle Spellbinder]

My wife just lost all her passwords. All is OK though as her profile is backed up. She did it as the average end user would probably do.
Installed 3.5 over her current install of 3.0.11. All bookmarks are fine, all passwords are gone. I tested the same way and had no issue.
So if a bug exists, it's intermittent and might effect some while others are fine.

In any event, as I said above, if this is in any way a prevalent issue, these forums will be flooded with angry users.

[makondo]

OK, it worked. I didn't open the profile inbetween. I simply replaced signons2 and sigons3, then deleted signons.sqlite. Opened Fx - passwords are there.
Thanks, Dorus!

However you install a new version, on top or bottom, this has never happened (to me) before and should not. Here we go again telling people they have to uninstall previous version, install the latest ... a bucket of cr..ackers! This is 2009, 10 years to develop a browser capable of updating w/out the need to un/reinstall? C'mon.

[Dorus]

Dorus
What happens if you install over an old profile? Is the problem happening only if you move the old password files into a new, previously, opened profile? If that is the case that might be why few people are seeing the problem.

Correct, or at least that what my (short) bug hunting showed me.

However, other people in this topic reported that simply updating a FF3.0 profile to 3.5 caused them to lose passwords too. It's important to notice that NO passwords where ever lost, and removing signons.sqlite should make Firefox 3.5 import the 3.0 passwords. But it could indicate that importing 3.0 passwords sometimes fails.

I would be interested in reports where removing signons.sqlite does not make the passwords appear again, while the passwords are there when you open the same profile with 3.0 (make sure you are working with a backed-up profile). Possibly password import fails on certain (corrupted?) sigons files.
If that's the case, a bug rapport, with the problematic password file attached would be very useful (trough there is a privacy concern there, but I'm sure there are ways around that).

[RazorBoy]

No, no and no. Had no time yet. It wasn't something i couldn't fix (for me) and i just didn't find the time needed for searching/testing. Yet. Came across this thread and seeing how everybody says 'no problem' thought i'd mention my experience.

Dorus,
the steps are simple but probably irrelevant now with RC (i updated to RC from 3.5beta99, not installed fresh): create a new profile, install 3.5beta4 or 99. Copy signons2.txt, signons3.txt and key3.db from a 3.0.11 profile backup. Start Fx and look at passwords - there'll be none. I can clearly see them in my backup copies though.
This happens in RC profiles which i updated to RC from betas, didn't try a new one yet. In those 2 profiles, i can see only passwords i manually saved.

EDIT: OK, did a new profile, fresh for RC.
Before opening it, copied signons2.txt, signons3.txt and key3.db from a FEBE full 3.0.11 profile backup (the passwords are there, in signons files, i can see them). Started Fx/Options/Security/Saved passwords - blank!
BTW, i don't see signons.sqlite in 3.0.11 profiles. Didn't exist then? Dont't remember.

Can someone file a bug, please.

Ok, this is what i did:
1. make a new profile with FF3.0 (dont open it)
2. copy signons2.txt, signons3.txt and key3.db from old (3.0) profile, couldn't find signons.sqlite either
3. open FF3.5rc: Passwords imported!

Then i read your edit, and tried this:

1. make a new profile with FF3.5 (and open it)
2. copy signons2.txt, signons3.txt and overwrite key3.db (all from old profile)
3. open FF3.5rc: No passwords!
... (close FF3.5rc)
4. Delete signons.sqlite
5. open FF3.5rc: Passwords imported!

As you can see, we got the same problem again as we had with bookmarks during the 2.0-->3.0 update, FF only import the passwords once. To force it to import your passwords again, delete signons.sqlite. Seems like a simple step that can be added to the KB.

Didn't work for me at all. Passwords still didn't import. Filed a bug report:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=500822

[makondo]

Good , thanks! BTW, is it possible to add a link to this thread there?

[zpao]

I just commented in the bug, but if there's anybody else out there seeing this issue that has some time to reproduce & give us some output, please take a second to read my comment there.