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Thunderbird does not remember passwords after upgrading old version (24.3.0) to 91.8.1

  • 9 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by info8134

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Hello!

After upgrading from a very old (but perfectly working) version of Thunderbird (24.3.0 on Windows 7) to 91.8.1 (on the same Windows 7 system), Thunderbird can no longer remember my passwords.

Apart from this everything in the new version works. Emails are retrieved fine when I enter the passwords manually.

Symptoms:

  • always asks me for my passwords, even when I have checked the "Use Password Manager to remember this password" checkbox.
  • no stored passwords show up in "Saved Passwords ..."
  • When I try to set a primary password (I did not use one so far), I get an error "Unable to change Primary Password".

What I tried after searching for solutions:

  • Remove files cert*.db and key*.db from my profile. Does not make any difference.

best regards

Edwin

Hello! After upgrading from a very old (but perfectly working) version of Thunderbird (24.3.0 on Windows 7) to 91.8.1 (on the same Windows 7 system), Thunderbird can no longer remember my passwords. Apart from this everything in the new version works. Emails are retrieved fine when I enter the passwords manually. Symptoms: * always asks me for my passwords, even when I have checked the "Use Password Manager to remember this password" checkbox. * no stored passwords show up in "Saved Passwords ..." * When I try to set a primary password (I did not use one so far), I get an error "Unable to change Primary Password". What I tried after searching for solutions: * Remove files cert*.db and key*.db from my profile. Does not make any difference. best regards Edwin

Chosen solution

Woohoo, I think I solved the problem:

As I already noted above, I could not find the file pkcs11.txt in my old profile. I noticed that the new, empty profile created by the re-install did have this file. So I made an experiment:

  1. Copy the file pkcs11.txt from the new profile to the old one.
  2. Edit the copy: Under "parameters=configdir", there is a path to the (new) profile directory stored in this file. I changed the path to point to my old profile directory (using 8.3-format directory names as was stored by Thunderbird in the new profile. I don't know whether this is necessary. Note: You can display the 8.3-names using DIR /X on the command line.)

Now everything seems to work! Thunderbird remembers the passwords, they show up under "Saved Passwords" and I could even set the primary password, which did not work before!

P.S.: To switch between profiles, you must run Thunderbird with the "-p" switch to get into the Profile Manager. On Windows, use Win+R and type "thunderbird.exe -p" to start the Profile Manager.

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All Replies (9)

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Reinstalling Thunderbird worked here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1367928

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P.S.: I found many proposed solutions suggesting to delete certain files but some of them do not appear on my system:

  • cert9.db is there (and gets recreated)
  • key4.db is there (and gets recreated)
  • pkcs11.txt is NOT there
  • session.json is NOT there [CORRECTION: I did find this file now and it is also recreated by Thunderbird.]

Modified by edwin.steiner

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Stans said

Reinstalling Thunderbird worked here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1367928

I tried uninstalling and re-installing Thunderbird. The re-install created a new, empty profile. Within this empty profile, I tried to set a primary password and it worked, so I assume saving passwords would also work in this new profile.

However, I really want to keep using my existing profile. I started with the Profile Manager and selected the old profile with all my settings. Now Thunderbird again failed to set a primary password and failed to remember my passwords.

Apparently there is some incompatibility between the new Thunderbird version and my existing profile from the old version. Is there any way I can transfer my profile to the new version, avoiding this problem?

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Chosen Solution

Woohoo, I think I solved the problem:

As I already noted above, I could not find the file pkcs11.txt in my old profile. I noticed that the new, empty profile created by the re-install did have this file. So I made an experiment:

  1. Copy the file pkcs11.txt from the new profile to the old one.
  2. Edit the copy: Under "parameters=configdir", there is a path to the (new) profile directory stored in this file. I changed the path to point to my old profile directory (using 8.3-format directory names as was stored by Thunderbird in the new profile. I don't know whether this is necessary. Note: You can display the 8.3-names using DIR /X on the command line.)

Now everything seems to work! Thunderbird remembers the passwords, they show up under "Saved Passwords" and I could even set the primary password, which did not work before!

P.S.: To switch between profiles, you must run Thunderbird with the "-p" switch to get into the Profile Manager. On Windows, use Win+R and type "thunderbird.exe -p" to start the Profile Manager.

Modified by edwin.steiner

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I was going to suggest you copy everything from your old profile folder to the new one, except for the cert*.db, key*.db, pkcs11.txt and sessions.json files.

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You can switch profiles using the inbuilt Profile Manager UI too. See Profile Manager - Create and remove Thunderbird profiles

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Stans said

You can switch profiles using the inbuilt Profile Manager UI too. See Profile Manager - Create and remove Thunderbird profiles

Thanks, good to know.

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Cookies are enabled. Signing in with Google has no effect. I complete the form, but no sign in occurs. Same with my Comcast email account, I enter the user name and password, but no sign in occurs.

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Hello,

I also recently upgraded from V2.x to recent 102.3.3 and it is not possible to save passwords or set a Primary password. I'm on Win7.

Nothing suggested on this or other posts works, so this must be a bug in the program.