Passwords are lost under Linux but not Win10
At the moment I have a triple boot machine. Linux running FF, V56, on a hard disk, Linux running FF, V67.0.4, on an SSD and Win10 running FF, V67.0.4, on an SSD. The reason for three is that I'm transferring the Linux on hard disk to Linux on SSD. Going forward it will just be the two SSD installs.
There is a single profile that resides on the Win10 SSD that the Linux installs can see, via mounting the Win10 partition. Up until recently, V56 of Firefox was working fine, except for the usual bugbears of huge memory usage etc. Now with some free time, I've decided to finish off the hard disk -> SSD transition. I now have a problem with PW's being "lost". Bear in mind all three installs are seeing the same ONE profile.
Linux - V57 can read/display the passwords correctly and log me into sites. Win10 - V64 can read/display the passwords correctly and log me into sites. Linux - V64 CAN NOT display the passwords hence can't log me into sites.
Everything else comes across fine. All of my bookmarks are there, under all three boots. The same cookies are there under all three boots. Just the Linux V64 can't seem to find the passwords. There is one file that has the appendage "corrupt" and that is "content-prefs.sqlite.corrupt". I have cleared the cache multiple times.
Any thoughts on what is wrong?
Andrew
Chosen solution
So after being away for a bit, I'm now back home and managed to fix this, thanks to the linked question, 1260190, above. The steps are as follows:
1) Create a new profile in Linux - this is a throw-away profile after things are set up and working.
2) Create a new profile in Win10 - this too is a throw-away after things are set up and working.
3) The profile that contains all the goodies, and now can't be accessed due to the new enhancements is in d:\XXX\internet\firefox\myNormalProfile. Create a new dir at the same level, d:\XXX\internet\firefox\platformSpecific. Beneath this, create two more dir's linux & win10.
4) From your new profile under Linux, step 1), copy the files compatibility.ini and pkcs11.txt to the ......platformSpecific\linux dir.
5) From your new profile under Win10, step 2), copy the files compatibility.ini & pkcs11.txt to the ......platformSpecific\win10 dir.
6) I've just realised that the machine I'm doing this on is only used by me hence has only one login, whether it be Linux or win10. If you have multiple logins, you will need to do this for each login.
7) Under Linux edit ~/.bashrc and add the line:
cp /mnt/win10/data/XXX/internet/firefox/platformSpecific/linux/* /mnt/win10/data/XXX/internet/firefox/myNormalProfile
All of the mounting is so that I can see the win10 partitions from Linux. If you are dual booting Linux & win10 and sharing firefox profiles, I'll assume you're smart enough to work out what I'm doing mountwise. The "data" bit in the path is my win10 d drive.
8) Under win10 create a little *.bat file in the ...platformSpecific\win10 dir
copy compatibility.ini ..\..\myNormalProfile
copy pkcs11.txt ..\..\myNormalProfile
and then create a link to it in the startup dir for the machine.
9) Now when either of the OS's boot they will copy their respective compatibility.ini & pkcs11.txt files into the profile that contains all of the goodies.
10) Now turf out the two throw-away profiles from 1) & 2)
So this is how I've gotten around this feature. Nice of Mozilla to break about 12 years of easy sharing. A bit of thought could have prevented this problem from happening, but who am I to complain, I only use the software, and have worked as a code monkey for close to 30 years, I'm not some developer with minimal real world experience that has to justify their existence and obviously knows better than me.....
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (4)
You can't share a profile between Linux and Windows because some files contain absolute paths. In this case it is likely a problem with pkcs11.txt. You will have to use separate profiles and possibly use Sync.
You can't share a profile between Linux and Windows because.... - so have I been in an alternate reality for the last 12 or so years? Because that is how long I have been sharing this actual profile between Linux & Windows! Or is this some problem that has been introduced in the latest enhancements that Mozilla have decided to foist upon us? If so, then it's pretty poor design.
Two profiles - not a chance. One profile is enough to deal with, with what can only be described as the worst configuration system I've come across, which includes plenty in the last 30 years of IT. Trusting a third party with my bookmarks and passwords, Sync, yeah, that's not going to happen.
Why does pkcs11.txt use absolute paths? What is wrong with using system/environment variables. Mozilla talks about freedom & choice, so how about some platform/OS independence.
Andrew
Modified by BlueyTheDog
The pkcs11.txt file stores data used by the Software Security Device (Password Manager). This device operates independent in its own processor thread for security reasons and uses UDP ports to communicate.
- Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
Certificates : Security Devices
I forgot about compatibility.ini that stores the path of the Firefox version that last used this profile. That will cause Firefox 67 and later to refuse to use the profile across platforms.
You would have to use Bash script on Linux and a Cmd script on Windows to swap the correct pkcs11.txt and compatibility.ini in place.
See also:
- /questions/1260190 Firefox 67 breaks shared profile between Ubuntu and Windows10
Chosen Solution
So after being away for a bit, I'm now back home and managed to fix this, thanks to the linked question, 1260190, above. The steps are as follows:
1) Create a new profile in Linux - this is a throw-away profile after things are set up and working.
2) Create a new profile in Win10 - this too is a throw-away after things are set up and working.
3) The profile that contains all the goodies, and now can't be accessed due to the new enhancements is in d:\XXX\internet\firefox\myNormalProfile. Create a new dir at the same level, d:\XXX\internet\firefox\platformSpecific. Beneath this, create two more dir's linux & win10.
4) From your new profile under Linux, step 1), copy the files compatibility.ini and pkcs11.txt to the ......platformSpecific\linux dir.
5) From your new profile under Win10, step 2), copy the files compatibility.ini & pkcs11.txt to the ......platformSpecific\win10 dir.
6) I've just realised that the machine I'm doing this on is only used by me hence has only one login, whether it be Linux or win10. If you have multiple logins, you will need to do this for each login.
7) Under Linux edit ~/.bashrc and add the line:
cp /mnt/win10/data/XXX/internet/firefox/platformSpecific/linux/* /mnt/win10/data/XXX/internet/firefox/myNormalProfile
All of the mounting is so that I can see the win10 partitions from Linux. If you are dual booting Linux & win10 and sharing firefox profiles, I'll assume you're smart enough to work out what I'm doing mountwise. The "data" bit in the path is my win10 d drive.
8) Under win10 create a little *.bat file in the ...platformSpecific\win10 dir
copy compatibility.ini ..\..\myNormalProfile
copy pkcs11.txt ..\..\myNormalProfile
and then create a link to it in the startup dir for the machine.
9) Now when either of the OS's boot they will copy their respective compatibility.ini & pkcs11.txt files into the profile that contains all of the goodies.
10) Now turf out the two throw-away profiles from 1) & 2)
So this is how I've gotten around this feature. Nice of Mozilla to break about 12 years of easy sharing. A bit of thought could have prevented this problem from happening, but who am I to complain, I only use the software, and have worked as a code monkey for close to 30 years, I'm not some developer with minimal real world experience that has to justify their existence and obviously knows better than me.....