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Password reset question

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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Is it true that resetting password will result In losing history and bookmarks?

Ive used for years on laptop which just died. Trying to install on iPad and it doesn’t like my password. The reset page says I might lose hx, bookmarks as well as saved passwords. Noooooo!!  If this is really going to happen, is there any way to work around it?  

Thx

Is it true that resetting password will result In losing history and bookmarks? Ive used for years on laptop which just died. Trying to install on iPad and it doesn’t like my password. The reset page says I might lose hx, bookmarks as well as saved passwords. Noooooo!! If this is really going to happen, is there any way to work around it? Thx

All Replies (3)

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This is not about losing data on your computer, but about losing (invalidating) data stored on the Sync server.
Firefox encrypt your personal data locally with a key that is derived from the password of Firefox Account before uploading this data to the Sync server.
Only this password can be used to decrypt this data, so any change to this password like a password reset does will make it impossible to decrypt it.

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I’m sorry I don’t quite understand the reply. I’m not a techie so am obviously missing some concept in here. could you try again?

I read the response as implying that when I log into Firefox on the computer using the new password , the Sync server won’t Decrypt the data so I would lose the history etc.

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So if you have forgotten the password for the Sync account and you need to reset this password to gain access then you will lose the data stored on the Sync server as only the old password can decrypt it.

Note that Sync isn't meant to be used as a backup and best is to backup your personal data locally.