Firefox forgets password

mmaximalen · Post by **mmaximalen** » October 9th, 2007, 10:33 am

FF v. 2.0.0.7 and other versions that I've used have this bug.

I'm pretty sure that it's a bug because when I switch to IE, it does not repro.

When browsing password-protected WEB-based content (yes, I'm talking about catalogs that require authorization, not about forms), FF sometimes 'forgets' the password that was entered in "Authentication Required" window with remember the password option checked.

1) The web site / server DOES NOT time out
2) Reproduces in SAME session. It just takes you to refresh a page for FF to forget a saved password (Yes, the user/pass combination WAS previously saved and could be viewed from Password section in Security menu).
3) Repro with Apache/1.3.33 -based WEB Server (have not checked with other versions).

More info:

4) When opening the SAME location in a new tab, FF asks for password again, with USERNAME AND PASSWORD FIELD EMPTY (even though they were SAVED by Password Manager and could be viewed from Tools -> Options -> Security -> Show Password window), like if the saved password was wrong. Once the CORRECT User/Pass combination was entered (with Remember Password checked or unchecked - doesn't matter), FF prompts for password again and again and again and so on - like it did not send the information the user have entered to Web server. If you press Cancel (401 - "Authorization Required" page appears) and refresh a page, FF will ask for password again - entering the SAME user/pass combination may work - authorization will be successful and the correct page will open.
If you will try refresh a page, the glitch will repro again.

Please do not come up with answers like "it's your FF configuration's (I've changed it many times) or WEB server's fault and not FireFox'es" - when I'm getting tired of filling the same Login and Password I end up using a different browser (IE for example), and it does not fails with User/Pass combination that was successful just a minute ago NO MATTER HOW OFTEN I REFRESH A PAGE or to witch pages/sub-catalogs i navigate.

mmaximalen · Post by **mmaximalen** » October 10th, 2007, 5:16 am

Well, Mozilla developers, are you planning to fix this century-old bug in your software, or you don't even have enough courage to admit this bug has persisted in Firefox code in countless number of builds?

Tony-E · Post by **Tony-E** » October 10th, 2007, 5:24 am

You tend not to find many Mozilla developers here, just end users. This site is NOT a part of the Mozilla foundation - http://www.mozillazine.org/about/

mmaximalen · Post by **mmaximalen** » October 10th, 2007, 5:34 am

Thanks for the info.

Well I better find some Mozilla developers somewhere soon. This bug (or 'feature' "you have the wrong password, let me erase that for you") is really starting to get on my nerves, but I still don't want to dump Firefox. Do you happen to know where I could throw them a link to this post?

Tony-E · Post by **Tony-E** » October 10th, 2007, 5:36 am

If you want to report a bug you should use bugzilla, though you should first search it to make sure it is not already listed.

makaiguy · Post by **makaiguy** » October 10th, 2007, 6:25 am

Odds are that this is a cookie problem, but since you don't want any answers that involve your configuration ....

(Do note that security programs you have installed on your system can also mess with cookies ...)

old FatJohn · Post by **old FatJohn** » October 10th, 2007, 6:45 am

mmaximalen wrote:Please do not come up with answers like "it's your FF configuration's (I've changed it many times) or WEB server's fault and not FireFox'es" - when I'm getting tired of filling the same Login and Password I end up using a different browser (IE for example), and it does not fails with User/Pass combination that was successful just a minute ago NO MATTER HOW OFTEN I REFRESH A PAGE or to witch pages/sub-catalogs i navigate.

What an ass.

dickvl · Post by **dickvl** » October 10th, 2007, 6:28 pm

Current versions of Firefox store the url where the password manager saved the name and password and if the two do not match then Firefox won't fill the name and password.
You can check that in the file signons2.txt.
That url is stored as the last line in a section.

If you can not stay logged in then it is more likely that you have a problem with cookies that get lost or are blocked as makaiguy wrote above.
You can check: Websites_report_cookies_are_disabled_(KB)

glenndm · Post by **glenndm** » October 11th, 2007, 2:54 am

Hello,
I have the same problem.
A system crash destroyed part of my applications settings and thoroughly messed firefox and thunderbird. (I suspect (my use of) firefox had something to do with the crash)

I completely clean reinstalled firefox (was 2.0.0.6 now 2.0.07)

Now when I log to https passworded site (f.e. online-banking), the sites reask the logins after a few minutes or clicks.
(the passwords come from rsa codegenerator devices)

-the 2.0.0.6 version (before the crash) did work correctly as does internet explorer
-I deleted all cookies. problem persists
- the cookie created by such a site has expiry date "end of session".

suggestions are welcome
glenn

dickvl · Post by **dickvl** » October 11th, 2007, 10:04 am

Which security programs do you run? (Webroot Spy Sweeper?)

glenndm · Post by **glenndm** » October 11th, 2007, 10:56 am

*security tools in use:
-spybot SD, adaware Lavasoft, spywareblaster, Hijaakthis
- sysinternals tools
- AVG file server edition
- kerio firewall 2.15
specific to firefox: adblock

my problems began after the DEFAULT section of the system files got damaged (%windir%/system32/config/default) resulting in blue screen.
I got this when rebooting windows because firefox would not start anymore. Before rebooting, windows was (apparently) working fine

I have a sneaking suspicion firefox had something to with the crash. My system is a windows 2000 terminal server. Often firefox (or thunderbird) is still running on the console, when I log in from elsewhere with the same credentials and run firefox in the remote session.
I remember seeing warnings "firefox appears to be running, but a window cannot be opened" (or words to that effect). I then normally kill the active console process. Perhaps firefox didn't like to be treated as such.

anyway, my machine now also seem to do strange little (annoying) things which could perhaps be traced back to profile corruption.
I fear a full system reinstall will be needed to appease the gremlins

glenn

NoobieDoobieDo · Post by **NoobieDoobieDo** » October 11th, 2007, 4:38 pm

I noticed the same issue start about 2 months ago or so (still using 2.0.0.6 then).

It seems like about every 3 or 4 days firefox forgets that I'm logged into about 10 web sites or so, it's very annoying.

I've been using Firefox for a long time and didn't start experiencing this problem until very recently which is strange.

It still has all the data cause if I start to type my login name(s) it'll auto populate the user/pw fields.

Please don't bother asking me any questions because I wont answer them.

This is a problem with Firefox, not my system or some application I installed.

On a side not this may be a Windows FF problem. I don't recall having this issue in Linux.

Fix it.

jasn · Post by **jasn** » October 20th, 2007, 5:44 am

Count me in as another long-time user that all of a sudden keeps needing to re-enter user names and passwords every time I boot FF. If I close the program and restart, I'm doing it all over again. I've checked all of my option settings: I can see the stored user names and passwords for the sites I'm having problems at; I am not clearing private data on close; I do not have cookies blocked; and my spyware is not pinching off FF settings either. I can boot IE and not have this problem.

Based on this thread and a few others around it doesn't seem to have an obvious fix.

kharisma · Post by **kharisma** » October 20th, 2007, 5:42 pm

Ever since the (automatic) update of Firefox to 2.0.0.7, Firefox constantly mixes up stored passwords.

When I look in password manager, they are all correct, except that the password for some site I was recently at is now listed as belonging to a different site and username altogether.

e.g.
I use an online ftp editor which has several logins and passwords for the same site, for the various websites I manage. Almost invariably, when I go to login, the password for the username I was logged into yesterday is now substituted for the username I want to log into today.

This is the case for a number of urls, although it does tend to be more the case for urls for which I have multiple user names and passwords.

Sites where I have just the one username are generally ok.

This problem has only arisen since the update to 2.0.0.7 Before that I could log in accurately every time.

Now I have to be constantly retrieving the correct password from my own records and pasting it in over the one that Firefox erroneously entered.

Anyone else having this problem?

dickvl · Post by **dickvl** » October 20th, 2007, 5:52 pm

That could be a problem caused by some security software that removes lines from signons2.txt and that causes all the other entries to shift.

You need to look at programs on your computer that perform such kind of actions.

Firefox forgets password

Firefox forgets password

Re: Firefox forgets password

same problem

Firefox mixes passwords up