Check your

• SYNC Status - 'about:sync-progress in URL

If your Firefox Version if 29 and above are NEW SYNC

• To check type about:accounts in URL

Your reply is as inscrutable as the entire syncing operation. What the hell are you talking about? I don't even know how I'll know if sync is working. What will I see? Obviously it isn't working as the log lists nothing but errors.

When I put in the first line above, I get: "Your data is now being encrypted and uploaded in the background. You can close this tab and continue using Firefox." But nothing happens.

When I choose Sync Now from the tools menu I get a notice along the bottom that says "Sync encountered an error while syncing. Wrong recovery key. Sync will automatically retry this action."

The instructions for this product are TERRIBLE.

I would first recommend to make a back up of your profile before taking any more steps. This is to prevent data loss. Keep this link handy as well: Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles

As for the error message, I am happy to help. What is strange about this error is that in the new sync there is no recovery key. Have you updated to the newest sync? Since this is logically misleading I will investigate this error further in the new sync.

However in the meantime:please follow these instructions on setting up an account on the new sync. Sync your Firefox bookmarks, history, passwords and more

Correction: updating does not automatically update sync.

What would be more interesting to see are the error logs, but without connecting to an account this may be difficult.

• How do I turn on sync logs:

1. Open about:config and turn on: services.sync.log.appender.file.logOnSuccess and services.sync.log.logger.engine.bookmarks
2. Restart Firefox and look at: about:sync-log
3. Logs and error messages will be located here: about:sync-log

1406470700351 Sync.ErrorHandler DEBUG Flushing file log. 1406470700353 Sync.Service DEBUG Exception: Aborting sync, remote setup failed JS Stack trace: sync@enginesync.js:85:7 < onNotify@service.js:1255:7 < WrappedNotify@util.js:143:1 < WrappedLock@util.js:98:9 < _lockedSync@service.js:1249:1 < sync/<@service.js:1240:7 < WrappedCatch@util.js:72:9 < sync@service.js:1228:5 1406470700358 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.service: success.status_ok => success.status_ok 1406470700363 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.service: success.status_ok => success.status_ok 1406470700364 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.service: success.status_ok => success.status_ok 1406470700874 Sync.ErrorHandler DEBUG Log cleanup threshold time: 1405606700873 1406470701025 Sync.ErrorHandler DEBUG No logs to clean up. 1406470838401 Sync.Tracker.Forms DEBUG Saving changed IDs to forms 1406470838979 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406470873750 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471134047 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471167703 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471178366 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471185006 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471186720 Sync.Tracker.Passwords DEBUG Saving changed IDs to passwords 1406471188937 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471197461 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471205324 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471208661 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471223643 Sync.Tracker.History DEBUG Saving changed IDs to history 1406471458162 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.service: success.status_ok => success.status_ok 1406471458163 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.service: success.status_ok => success.status_ok 1406471461055 Sync.ErrorHandler DEBUG Beginning user-triggered sync. 1406471461055 Sync.Service DEBUG User-Agent: Firefox/30.0 FxSync/1.32.0.20140605174243. 1406471461055 Sync.Service INFO Starting sync at 2014-07-27 10:31:01 1406471461055 Sync.Service DEBUG In sync: should login. 1406471461056 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.service: success.status_ok => success.status_ok 1406471461056 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.service: success.status_ok => success.status_ok 1406471461057 Sync.Service INFO Logging in user bob@ 1406471461057 Sync.Service DEBUG Caching URLs under storage user base: https://sync-55-us-west-2.sync.services.mozilla.com/1.5/4175510/ 1406471461059 Sync.BrowserIDManager INFO Fetching assertion and token from: https://token.services.mozilla.com/1.0/sync/1.5 1406471461059 FirefoxAccounts DEBUG already verified 1406471461060 Sync.BrowserIDManager DEBUG Getting an assertion 1406471461061 FirefoxAccounts DEBUG enter getAssertion() 1406471461061 FirefoxAccounts DEBUG getKeyPair: already have a keyPair 1406471461061 FirefoxAccounts DEBUG getCertificate already had one 1406471461061 FirefoxAccounts DEBUG getAssertionFromCert 1406471461065 FirefoxAccounts DEBUG getAssertionFromCert returning signed: true 1406471461066 Sync.BrowserIDManager DEBUG Getting a token 1406471461715 Sync.BrowserIDManager DEBUG Successfully got a sync token 1406471462352 Sync.Resource DEBUG mesg: GET success 200 https://sync-55-us-west-2.sync.services.mozilla.com/1.5/4175510/info/collections 1406471462352 Sync.Resource DEBUG GET success 200 https://sync-55-us-west-2.sync.services.mozilla.com/1.5/4175510/info/collections 1406471462352 Sync.Service DEBUG Fetching global metadata record 1406471462353 Sync.BrowserIDManager DEBUG _ensureValidToken already has one 1406471462626 Sync.Resource DEBUG mesg: GET success 200 https://sync-55-us-west-2.sync.services.mozilla.com/1.5/4175510/storage/meta/global 1406471462626 Sync.Resource DEBUG GET success 200 https://sync-55-us-west-2.sync.services.mozilla.com/1.5/4175510/storage/meta/global 1406471462627 Sync.Service DEBUG Weave Version: 1.32.0 Local Storage: 5 Remote Storage: 5 1406471462627 Sync.Service INFO Sync key is up-to-date: no need to upgrade. 1406471462627 Sync.Service DEBUG Fetching and verifying -- or generating -- symmetric keys. 1406471462629 Sync.BrowserIDManager DEBUG _ensureValidToken already has one 1406471462734 Sync.Resource DEBUG mesg: GET success 200 https://sync-55-us-west-2.sync.services.mozilla.com/1.5/4175510/info/collections 1406471462734 Sync.Resource DEBUG GET success 200 https://sync-55-us-west-2.sync.services.mozilla.com/1.5/4175510/info/collections 1406471462735 Sync.Service INFO Testing info/collections: {"passwords":1405977158.86,"addons":1405980762.79,"tabs":1405977159.5,"clients":1405980762.4,"crypto":1405977076.77,"forms":1405977139.53,"meta":1405977161.02,"bookmarks":1405977136.85,"prefs":1405977159.12,"history":1405977156.62} 1406471462735 Sync.CollectionKeyManager INFO Testing for updateNeeded. Last modified: 0 1406471462735 Sync.Service INFO collection keys reports that a key update is needed. 1406471462736 Sync.BrowserIDManager DEBUG _ensureValidToken already has one 1406471462843 Sync.Resource DEBUG mesg: GET success 200 https://sync-55-us-west-2.sync.services.mozilla.com/1.5/4175510/storage/crypto/keys 1406471462843 Sync.Resource DEBUG GET success 200 https://sync-55-us-west-2.sync.services.mozilla.com/1.5/4175510/storage/crypto/keys 1406471462844 Sync.CollectionKeyManager INFO Updating collection keys... 1406471462844 Sync.CollectionKeyManager WARN Got exception "Record SHA256 HMAC mismatch: should be e0a3cc1927ee4495567727ddc9da57d3f314b6d817bb7274ca8dcb0ecea00df2, is 9450d6d99dbdb303ce9ec3ed191e3e87479442446792763a44e70a0deb552135" decrypting storage keys with sync key. 1406471462845 Sync.CollectionKeyManager INFO Aborting updateContents. Rethrowing. 1406471462845 Sync.Service WARN Got exception "Record SHA256 HMAC mismatch: should be e0a3cc1927ee4495567727ddc9da57d3f314b6d817bb7274ca8dcb0ecea00df2, is 9450d6d99dbdb303ce9ec3ed191e3e87479442446792763a44e70a0deb552135" fetching cryptoKeys. 1406471462845 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.login: error.login.reason.recoverykey => error.login.reason.recoverykey 1406471462845 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.service: success.status_ok => error.login.failed 1406471462845 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.sync: error.sync.reason.credentials_changed => error.sync.reason.credentials_changed 1406471462845 Sync.Status DEBUG Status.service: error.login.failed => error.sync.failed 1406471462845 Sync.Service WARN Failed to fetch symmetric keys. Failing remote setup. 1406471462845 Sync.Service WARN Remote setup failed. 1406471462846 Sync.SyncScheduler DEBUG Clearing sync triggers and the global score.

edit: took out personal email

Hi bobgri, Was talking on irc and asked about this. It was concluded that it looked like bug 1042109 and logging out of the account and back in again helped the other user that reported that bug.

Please make a back up of your profile first to prevent data loss Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles and please post back if this helps.

This is frustrating. One I'm on version 30, so I should be on the latest Sync. Two, I'm told to copy and paste the profile folder but when I do I'm told that it's open and can't be copied, yet, there is a folder with that name that WAS copied to my desktop.

SO I will try to "Exit" Firefox and see if I can sync. That's what you're telling em to do, correct?

OK, I am back in, which leads me to my next question. How do I know it's syncing and how do I use sync once it does? Is there a file created that I access from my other computer? Nowhere can I find any instruction on how to use sync.

I love engineers. My son is one. But software engineers can't explain anything to the average person.

Hi bobgri, I am glad to hear you are back in. There is two ways to check if it is syncing. [about:sync-progress] page as well as going to the about:config page and searching for the entry services.sync.lastsync and there will be a date in the string column.

How to use sync: basically you can attach the account that you created to any device using Firefox. The page about:accounts will take you to the sign in page for sync and it will merge the addons, passwords, bookmarks etc from all of the devices. If you uncheck one, none of the devices attached will sync that feature. If you want to manage it: go to "3bar" menu and click Options > Sync and it will take you to a page with check boxes to mark what to sync and what not to sync. If you want to remove the account that menu is the place to do it. That's it. If anything goes wrong please refer to: Firefox Sync troubleshooting and tips

Or feel free to ask any other questions on how it works, we are happy to help.