Is there a way to force Firefox 4 to offer to remember and to remember user ids and passwords for sites that use the autocomplete mechanism to block such offers and rememberings?
locked by a moderator on 2-7-2012 - has outlived its usefulness
In Firefox 3.6.16 (and presumably other earlier versions) one could force FF to offer to remember user ids and passwords for many sites by editing the file ...\Mozilla Firefox\components \nsLoginManager.js to ignore site- requested autocomplete disabling (_isAutocompleteDisabled returns false).
FireFox 4 does not use that file or any similar that I was able to find.
Can the result (FF ignores site attemps to turn off autocomplete) be achieved in some other way or by editing some other file?
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Chosen solution
This bookmarklet makes the browser ignore autocomplete="off" temporarily, allowing you to save passwords even on sites that use autocomplete="off".
Remember Password bookmarklet:
https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/forms.html#remember_password
All Replies (20)
Alon - Thank you. I appreciate your expertise and your willingness to help; and your patience.
I think that Eclipse would take me much further into unknown territory - java programming, learning a Java runtime environment (JRE) - than I am able to go now. I would be interested in knowing which version of Eclipse you recommend. eclipse-SDK-3.6.2 from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads, perhaps.
The problems I have (discovered so far) with Firefox 4 are:
1. Previously remembered passwords are not supplied for some sites.
2. Previously remembered user ids are not supplied for some sites.
I might have been able to work through these problems, but gave up and went back to 3.6.16 when I found I could not tolerate:
3. The right-click menu for links has:
Open Link in New Tab Open Link in New Window
The order was reversed in FF 3.6. I find it a significant amount of extra effort to click on the second item in a list rather than the first. I rarely use tabs, as they are not consistent with my browsing methods.
So I'm going to stay with 3.6 until my fear of 3.6 security problems exceeds my distaste for the extra effort of using FF 4.
Thanks, ral
Dear Alon, could you please send me the file at pacrobe0 at yahoo dot com? THANKS!
I am unable to extract & edit the file without corrupting it. How do I do it with windows. I have tried Winzip, Winrar & 7zip. Any help would be appreciated!
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I would like it too, please!! I've spent the last 3 hours trying to get Firefox 4 to act right. I don't have any fight left... llhaskell@comcast.net
I will sing your praises and build monuments to you for your modified file!! :)
Thank you Alon. Can you please email me the modified omni.jar file to sbushnak at gmail . com
May I make a suggestion. Can you upload this file to a website so everybody can download it without bothering you for it?
Here is the link - http://www.2shared.com/file/ZiZce99q/omni.html
Thanks Alon.
Alon: i download your omni.jar from http://www.2shared.com/file/ZiZce99q/omni.html. There is no difference in the nsLoginManager.js file from the one delivered by Foxfire. Any way i used your omni.jar and my passwords are NOT remembered.
Has anyone tried using the Bookmarklet that I posted as the first response in this thread?
A bookmarklet available from a secure page that was created by one of the original Firefox developers.
I am curious why you guys insist on "re-inventing the wheel" or making a simple process so difficult?
Have you thought about the first update from Mozilla possibly replacing that omni.jar file and then you have to do this all over again?
No malice intended to Alon, but you're gonna a trust a security file hacked by a stranger with little prior involvement in this "community"? Why not just download a free "smiley" program or some free screen savers while you're at it.
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Hey Alon,
I would love to also get a copy of that recomplied omni file. Could you send it to me at mitko@oskov.com Thanks!!
To: the-edmeister: I'm confused by your comments. Here you seem to dislike the the change the omni.jar method yet in other of your webpages you show us how to edit the and replacing that omni.jar. What are you saying here? Are now saying not to do it because security issues?
BTW: I've used your method and Alon's details to redo the nsLoginManager.js file and to do a new created omni.jar runs but does not put the usrname/psw into the fields under FF4 as it did in FF3. What is going on with FF 4? I'm about ready to go back to FF 3.
@Mastps - sorry, I don't recall ever advocating the editing of the omni.jar package. I do recall asking in one thread over at MozillaZine about which zip utility program was best to open the omni.jar (I was looking for other files, related to the about:home search container) - nothing related to the nsLoginManager.js file recently
I do recall posting about editing the nsLoginManager.js file when it was in the \components\ folder in Firefox 3.6 & earlier version, but that was related to disabling Private Browsing in Firefox 3.0 - 3.6. But I dropped using that advice due to the possibility that it might have affected more than just PB; information given to me in a Bug report related to PB.
I am curious why that bookmarklet apparently wasn't used by anyone posting in this thread. That is what I have always used to disable autocomplete - "off" to force the save of a username / password.
Sorry the-edmeister, i got you confused with someone else. I've been looking at a lot webpages to try and find solution to my problem. _____________________________________________ Anyway, moving on, I guess the rest of us like the automation of having our usrname/psw come up right away when we start a site. In FF 3 it works and in FF4 it doesn't. Alon says he has a solution - i down load his omni.jar into Mozilla Firefox. FF4 accepts it BUT my usrname/psw do NOT come up automatically like it used to FF3. Sooooo,,, can anyone tell how do I get my usrname/psw to come up automatically in FF4???
@the-edmeister:
I don't use the bookmarklet because:
1. I don't understand it,
2. It requires extra effort, and
3. The alternative - editing the .js file is - simple, clear and works perfectly in FF 3.6, which I'll be using till the bugs in FF 4 (a. Previously remembered passwords are not supplied for some sites. b. Previously remembered user ids are not supplied for some sites. c. Tabbed browsing cannot be disabled and the right-click menu for links has 'Open Link in New Window' the 2nd item.) are fixed. Redoing the edit on an update takes maybe 2 minutes.
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See if the explanation here helps you understand what a bookmarklet is all about.
http://www.bookmarklets.com/about/
I can see that bookmarklets have some potential, but I don't have time to dig into the site to get a full understanding and I didn't see any that met a present need.
Thanks, though. I've bookmarked the site.
I see no changes to your posted nsLoginManager.js in the omni.jar it is identical to the one that comes with Firefox.
Please repost the one with your patch to isAutoCompleteDisabled() to always return false.
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I found out how to create a modified omni.jar file more easily. The instructions are on this site: http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2011/04/26/edit-files-inside-firefox-4-omni-jar-to-auto-save-password
Basically you use a python script to deoptimize the jar/zip file, edit it to make your desired changes, then use the script again to optimize the jar/zip file.
However, in Firefox 4, after updating the _isAutoCompleteDisabled() to always return false, I'm still not getting passwords to save on sites that block it.
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the-edmeister - thank you for vote of confidence…
Guys, I’ve re-uploaded the modified file to http://www.2shared.com/file/Dc0W8s5U/omni.html please try it, and let me know how it goes.
The only thing I’ve modified inside the nsLoginManager.js file is the isAutoCompleteDisabled function (from TRUE to FALSE), see below (lines 791-801):
/* * _isAutoCompleteDisabled * * Returns true if the page requests autocomplete be disabled for the * specified form input. */ _isAutocompleteDisabled : function (element) { if (element && element.hasAttribute("autocomplete") && element.getAttribute("autocomplete").toLowerCase() == "off") return false;
BTW, I’ve looked at the method described at http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2011/04/26/edit-files-inside-firefox-4-omni-jar-to-auto-save-password, and I must say that it looks a lot easier from what I’ve done (although I haven’t really tried it yet).
I’ve updated my FF to 4.0.1 and I now see that the modified omni.jar does NOT work anymore…(not even if I take the original 4.0.1 omni.jar, and modify it).
However, I’ve found a small add-in that solved my issue - https://addons.mozilla.org/af/firefox/addon/saved-passwords-button/