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My Desktop Fx29 - Sync broadcast a message: "Sync failed to to bad recovery key". What ????

  • 5 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by John99

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Platform:

 Desktop: WinXP or Lx Trusty Tahr 14.04 (dual boot laptop)
 Mobile: Android 4.1.2

- I installed Fx 29.0.1 everywhere and have a Sync account. - I receive regular "broadcast" messages, i.e. popups appearing at the base of my display, reading:

 "Sync could not proceed, because the recovery key was not recognized."

- Additionally, I have sync'ed my Desktop with Mozilla servers and tried (afterwards) to sync my mobile Fx (on Android) to download all that sync'ed data. When I do so, and starting with 0 MB data attached to Fx on my Android platform, the data shoot up to 23 MB. However there is no trace of it, i.e. I cannot visualize my sync'ed bookmarks on my Android cell phone. Why ? - Where do I see the paired devices being sync'ed ? (I tried to look at about:home and about:sync-tabs to no avail)

I have spent hours reading all I could find. Can anybody really help ?

Platform: Desktop: WinXP or Lx Trusty Tahr 14.04 (dual boot laptop) Mobile: Android 4.1.2 - I installed Fx 29.0.1 everywhere and have a Sync account. - I receive regular "broadcast" messages, i.e. popups appearing at the base of my display, reading: "Sync could not proceed, because the recovery key was not recognized." - Additionally, I have sync'ed my Desktop with Mozilla servers and tried (afterwards) to sync my mobile Fx (on Android) to download all that sync'ed data. When I do so, and starting with 0 MB data attached to Fx on my Android platform, the data shoot up to 23 MB. However there is no trace of it, i.e. I cannot visualize my sync'ed bookmarks on my Android cell phone. Why ? - Where do I see the paired devices being sync'ed ? (I tried to look at about:home and about:sync-tabs to no avail) I have spent hours reading all I could find. Can anybody really help ?

All Replies (5)

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Just to make my request for help a bit more accurate, the actual message I get is from my Desktop Fx (under either Win or Lx) is : "Sync encountered an error while syncing: Wrong recovery key. Sync will automatically retry this action. followed by a button "(Preferences)".

When I click on the button, it takes me to my Fx > Options> Sync tab. There if I clik the "(Manage)" button, I get: You are logged on as: _my login email_ Then just below "Change password" and "Close account" are the two only choices I am given.

I have read, re-read and re-re-read the two posts below as well as the various help requests from others:

* How to update to the new Firefox Sync ?
* How do I set up Firefox Sync ?

Nothing at all in those Stickies helps. Nor did I find anything particularly useful in previous posts. I know I am not alone in experiencing problems of that sort. I am stumped as to what the problem is. Cheers, -ced

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.. and just to make sure, I just cancelled my Sync account for the nth time and renewed it per the procedure for Sync under Fx 29.x.: i.e. provide an email, a password and my year of birth, check my confirmation email and .... As soon as I confirmed my email, the sync popup message quoted in my previous post appears at the bottom of my Fx screen. "Sync encountered an error while syncing: wrong recovery key. Sync will automatically retry this action. followed by a button "(Preferences)"

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Hi -ced, Are the two devices you are syncing on the new version of Firefox Sync? On Firefox for Desktop the recovery key is only in the previous sync version. Please try Update Firefox to the latest release

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Yes, everything is up to date, running Fx vers. 29.0.1 to be exact.

It makes no sense whatsoever. One thing I thought about, since discussing it elsewhere, is the Mozilla server may experience large and variable delays in recognizing/propagating version changes in user config. So users who have had an older version of Sync (pre Fx 29.x) would not see their Sync version status reflected immediately in the server. In my case I had problems with my 3 platforms until suddendly the Linux Fx 29 started to function, then (about 2 hours later) the Android Fx 29. Both went from pure crappy behavior to perfect sync in a matter of 2 to 2.5 days without me changing a thing to anything, except my state of mind...

I am still stuck with a broken Sync on my Win-xp though...

I am not against me having made some kind of mistake, but you must admit, there is not much one can err about in the process of setting up Sync (new version). It is elegantly simple, although not very secure (IMHO). So could that quirkiness be related to a server problem ? -ced

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Just thought I would add cross links to the OP's other open threads

The last post does relate to Sync issues and even Ed has noticed problems

.... I was using Sync for synchronizing my Firefox data between 4 versions of Firefox for testing purposes on the same PC - Release, Beta, Aurora, and Nightly - and it was working smoothly until Firefox 29 was released. Go figure, now that all 4 versions are on the same version of Sync for the first time in 24 weeks I start having problems, and with three separate accounts.