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Sync password failure every time FF is restarted

  • 2 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

jetkins
jetkins
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Every time I restart FF on either of my two PCs (both running FF38.0.1 under Windows 7 64-bit), I get a yellow bar at the bottom of the window with the message "Sync encountered an error while syncing: Incorrect account name or password. Sync will automatically retry this action" and a "Preferences" button. Clicking the button takes me to the Sync preferences where I see my Firefox Account name already filled in. Clicking the "Sign in" button allows me to enter my FF account password, and Sync is then happy for the duration of that session. However, next time I restart FF, I have to go through the same rigmarole again.

This has been going on for some weeks now - it's not something that just arrived with 38.0.1. I initially thought it might have been an incompatibility with LastPass, but today I verified that it happens even if I start FF in Safe Mode with all extensions disabled. I even did a Refresh on one of the machines, and it's still displaying the same behavior after re-entering my FF account details.

Every time I restart FF on either of my two PCs (both running FF38.0.1 under Windows 7 64-bit), I get a yellow bar at the bottom of the window with the message "Sync encountered an error while syncing: Incorrect account name or password. Sync will automatically retry this action" and a "Preferences" button. Clicking the button takes me to the Sync preferences where I see my Firefox Account name already filled in. Clicking the "Sign in" button allows me to enter my FF account password, and Sync is then happy for the duration of that session. However, next time I restart FF, I have to go through the same rigmarole again. This has been going on for some weeks now - it's not something that just arrived with 38.0.1. I initially thought it might have been an incompatibility with LastPass, but today I verified that it happens even if I start FF in Safe Mode with all extensions disabled. I even did a Refresh on one of the machines, and it's still displaying the same behavior after re-entering my FF account details.

All Replies (2)

guigs
guigs
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Since this happens each session, I am suspicious of the cookies. How often do you clear cookies? Are they set to be accepted until they expire?

In regards to LastPass, if you uncheck syncing passwords does this continue to happen if you close and open Firefox a few times (this would create a new session)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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In case you use "Clear history when Firefox closes" or otherwise clear history.

  • do not clear the Passwords

Note that clearing "Site Preferences" clears all exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, software installation, passwords, and other website specific data.

The Sync version used in Firefox 34 and later uses the password manager to store the name (e-mail) and password to be used to connect to the Sync server. The chrome://FirefoxAccounts entry in the password manager stores the authentication data (kA and kB) in JSON format.