Help me recover missing passwords
On last Tbird "upgrade", all email accounts (34 of them) had their "Saved Logins" removed. These must be hidden in one the profile files, somewhere and hopefully, recoverable, but the generic cut & paste answers on Googlenet ASSume that ..."Thunderbird will prompt for password if it was lost..." Not so!..
QUESTIONs: If I install a older version of Tbird, will it wipe out everything, except "Saved Logins" - update already did that job! Is there a file I can try to recover without risking losing all the mails? Is Mozilla going down the tubes - is that why there is only 0,09% support except those volunteers that lend their time to help?
All Replies (11)
Try looking in Thunderbird instead of Firefox.
1 - Please look at the image, and tell me what that logo/icon is in the top left of the screen cap., Is that looking like Fire fox to you?
Second: = Please read the step-x-step using Tbird that I provided. If you did that, you would probably see a list of your identities and if you click "Show Passwords" - it may show your passwords to you Mine stopped showing anything - as the screen cap of Thunderbird CLEARLY shows,
I hope you and christ1 can muster the moment and simply, just try the step-x-step in Thunderbird instead of arguing, without testing.
Just as I thought. Abusers christ1 and Airmail realized their error and that it IS a Thuderbird problem. The least they could do is apologize to other users for creating mass confusion over Thunderbird and it's password system - instead of trying to hack my account here.
Tbird is one of the best email clients left where we can add security to protect ourselves from the abuse of webmail hosts. I fervently hope that Tbird becomes commercial and uses professionals for support, rather than depend on Trolls and stalkers.
These 2 characters tarnished the fine image of those volunteers here that are open to being wrong, open to the idea that some questions are from computer savvy people - people that understand a great deal about email, but not the finer nuances of a email client as powerful as Thunderbird.
The content of your saved logins dialogue is not consistent with it being displayed by Thunderbird. In particular, Thunderbird's dialogue does not have a "last changed" column, and I am also surprised at the reference to "sites".
Where is this "step by step" procedure you claim to have described? It is not in this thread.
Modified
Hmm, no, I got that wrong. My saved passwords page now looks like yours. But I have attached an image of an older one showing what it has looked like previously. The "last changed" column in yours is new. (I still think "sites" is inappropriate to an email client.)
There is no explicit tool for naming and associating the password store file. If you have such a file, it is clearly broken.
Do you have a logins.json?
Thunderbird's data is stored separately from the program. Your data is stored in its profile and in principle, this remains intact as you uninstall, re-install, upgrade or downgrade the program itself. There are occasional changes to the technologies used and consequent changes to the structure of the profile, but incremental changes in Thunderbird cater for this by applying conversions.
I remain convinced that large jumps from an ancient to a new Thunderbird might fall foul of some changes, but some contributors to this and other forums disagree.
I try to store login data externally to the program where they are used. Do you not have copies of these lost passwords?
If the relevant file or files is or are broken, lost, moved or renamed then there seems little chance that any up/downgrading will have any useful effect.
Zenos said
I remain convinced that large jumps from an ancient to a new Thunderbird might fall foul of some changes, but some contributors to this and other forums disagree.
I have proof :) It does gimp things up. Here is why I say this:
1 - All password info in Security - Passwords vanished.
2 - in any accounts Sent mailbox, all show good dates and times, and subject. But most any sent emails contains the same contents of what was previously in only one sent email. i.e. Contents are now all the same, except for a few.
3 - Most received emails open to blank contents. Except new emails.
4 - If I sent you an email right now with the subject Test and the body says "Hello World", it is what you would see, but the body in my sent email copy, would contain the contents of an older email sent to someone else, with a different subject, different content. That OR, the body of the sent email on file is empty.
What I did since then.
I have a zip of the entire upgraded Thunderbird folder from apps>roaming plus I backed up the profiles using Mozbackup, plus I copied and CRC checked every file of Profiles folder.
1 - I uninstalled Thunderbird via Programs and Features) 2 - cold-start. 3 - removed Tbird from registry 4 - cold start. 5 - looked for and installed older version (5.0) 32 bit - same bit as before. I've no idea what the version was before the last upgrade. 6 - As I've done in the past, I created one mail account which creates the new profile. 7 - Closed Tbird and copied the mail folders from old to the new profile folder. 8 - I expected Tbird would, as it had in the past, when re-opened, would show all the other mail boxes. Not the case any more. So I dragged the old profile folder in under Profiles,. Not sure what or who, but they showed up. I only had to add the mail-servers, id, and password to every account.
9 - Then I realized, that most emails were passed through a blender first :)
Zenos said
I try to store login data externally to the program where they are used. Do you not have copies of these lost passwords? If the relevant file or files is or are broken, lost, moved or renamed then there seems little chance that any up/downgrading will have any useful effect.
Zenos said
............... Where is this "step by step" procedure you claim to have described? It is not in this thread.
1 - Open Tbird 2 - Click "Tools" 3 - Click "Options" 4 - Click "Security" 5 - Click "Passwords" 6 - Click "Save Passwords" 7 Click "Show Passwords" 8 Click "Yes" Voila! Thunderbird table of "Site" (mailbox://mail.domain.ext, "Username" (email user name that is), and "Password"
Mine, as in the Thunderbird image, are all empty.
I look forward to and am about to read and follow your other 2 replies. Thank you for your time and input.
Modified
Not too long ago there was a user who lost all passwords in TB, and it turned out they had a separate password manager program or add-on that was incompatible with a TB update. Disabling the program made the passwords reappear in TB.
sfhowes said
Not too long ago there was a user who lost all passwords in TB, and it turned out they had a separate password manager program or add-on that was incompatible with a TB update. Disabling the program made the passwords reappear in TB.
I never use third party password managers. My brain is my manager - not some unknown space on a hackable cloud (AKA someone elses' computer network system).
Thank you though for bringing it up. Perhaps others searching for an answer like my issue that does use a Password Manager will see this and bazinga, fixed! :)
Modified
I've no idea what the version was before the last upgrade.Oh dear.
Zenos said
I've no idea what the version was before the last upgrade.Oh dear.
Was my reply of Posted Today at 11:17 AM of any help to you? I answered your question in detail.