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I can’t stay logged into Hotmail / Live.com website.

  • 17 replies
  • 35 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by wakywaky

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Firefox used to keep me logged into the Hotmail.com email site (https://login.live.com), but now it always logs me off when I quit Firefox. I have clicked "Keep me logged in" on this page. I have set Security panel > checked Remember passwords for sites, and there is nothing in my Exceptions list. In Preferences > Privacy I have set Remember History so I accept all cookies. I am not using Private Browsing. There are two live.com cookies showing in my Firefox cookies list. But, when I look at Security > Saved passwords nothing that looks like a Live.com, Hotmail.com or MSN site is listed is there.

I can stay logged in after quitting and restarting the browser for another account I have in Hotmail using Safari 5.1.5.

Any suggestions as to how I can stay logged in to Hotmail with Firefox 11.0?

Firefox used to keep me logged into the Hotmail.com email site (https://login.live.com), but now it always logs me off when I quit Firefox. I have clicked "Keep me logged in" on this page. I have set Security panel > checked Remember passwords for sites, and there is nothing in my Exceptions list. In Preferences > Privacy I have set Remember History so I accept all cookies. I am not using Private Browsing. There are two live.com cookies showing in my Firefox cookies list. But, when I look at Security > Saved passwords nothing that looks like a Live.com, Hotmail.com or MSN site is listed is there. I can stay logged in after quitting and restarting the browser for another account I have in Hotmail using Safari 5.1.5. Any suggestions as to how I can stay logged in to Hotmail with Firefox 11.0?

Chosen solution

If you no longer want to use that corrupted profile and have a backup of data that you want to keep or have already moved it to a new profile then you can remove that profile using the Profile Manager


See these articles for some suggestions:

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (17)

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Just to clarify: the Saved Passwords feature will fill in your username and password in the login form. That is a different approach than keeping the site's cookie. If the site finds its cookie, it won't present the login form.

Do any other cookies get cleared when you close Firefox? If so, the bulk clearing could be an add-on or external security/privacy software.

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Make sure that you have an allow exception and keep the live.com cookies.

Websites remembering you and automatically log you in is stored in a cookie.

  • Create an allow cookie exception (Firefox > Preferences > Privacy > Cookies: Exceptions) to keep such a cookie, especially for secure websites and if cookies expire when Firefox is closed.

Make sure that you do not run Firefox in Private Browsing mode.

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Yes, I have Firefox > Preferences > Privacy > Cookies: Exceptions > Allow: login.live.com No, I do not run Firefox in Private Browsing mode. Quitting Firefox still logs me out of Hotmail.

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jscher2000

I only ever get the Login/Sign in page from Hotmail upon restarting Firefox, and I don’t even get the Sign in page with the ID and password filled in (like I do for https://support.mozilla.org and https://accounts.google.com). So, the Saved Passwords feature doesn’t seem to work only for login.live.com.

I also notice that I get logged out of both https://support.mozilla.org and http://www.google.com when I quit Firefox. I show cookies for support.mozilla.org and lots of Google cookies until I quit Firefox, then these cookies are erased. Yet I have: Preferences > Privacy > History > Remember history, so all cookies should always be saved, no?

Before this test I disabled all Add-ons.

Modified by agd21

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I have set my history drop-down to "Use custom settings for history," which allows access to individual settings for history and cookies. If you do that, do the individual controls look like you would expect -- keep cookies until they expire, blank checkbox for Clear history when Firefox closes?

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When I set my history drop-down to "Use custom settings for history," the individual controls look like you would expect -- Accept cookies and Keep cookies until they expire, and blank checkbox for Clear history when Firefox closes. However, when I close Preferences then re-open Preferences > Privacy the history drop-down menu has reverted to Remember history. wtf?

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That is OK.
That means that all history and cookie settings are set to the defaults and that means that cookies are enabled.
The "Use custom settings for history" setting allows to see the current history and cookie settings, but selecting that setting doesn't make any changes to history and cookie settings.
Firefox shows the "Use custom settings for history" setting as an indication that at least one of the history and cookie settings is not the default to make you aware that changes were made.

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Thanx

So, can you offer any insight as to how I can stay logged into, or even get the Firefox Saved Passwords feature to work, for login.live.com?

Like I said, Firefox used to keep me logged in and after restarting Firefox my homepage (Hotmail inbox) would appear. Now I just get the (not filled in) login page.

What about just deleting Firefox and re-installing?

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Rather than deleting Firefox, try creating a new Firefox profile. In addition to bypassing current add-ons and custom settings, it should have complete fresh settings databases and a fresh cache folder.

Close Firefox and start up in the Profile Manager as described in Managing profiles. Any time you want to switch profiles, close Firefox and return to this dialog.

If the new profile works correctly, you can migrate key settings like bookmarks from your problem profile to the new one. See Recovering important data from an old profile.

Any luck?

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The new profile does keep me signed in to Hotmail after quitting and restarting Firefox ☺

I can’t migrate settings because https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Recovering%20important%20data%20from%20an%20old%20profile instructs to: • Hold down the Ctrl key while you click on a file you want to copy and choose Copy. • Open the new Firefox profile folder. • Hold down the Ctrl key while you click inside the profile folder and choose Paste Item.

There is no Paste Item choice when I do this.

I’d be happy just to migrate my bookmarks from Safari, but the support pages for this seem not to apply to my version of Firefox: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Importing%20bookmarks%20and%20other%20data%20from%20other%20browsers (e.g. “In the Library window, click Import and Backup” - doesn’t exist)

Can you tell me how to import bookmarks from Safari for Firefox 11.0?

Thanx.

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Sorry, I'm helpless when it comes to MacOS.

Does this "import wizard" still exist in Firefox 11/Mac? Importing bookmarks and other data from Safari | How to | Firefox Help

If not, you could use the two step:

(1) Export to a .html file from Safari as described in this article:

Safari 3.0 Help: Importing and exporting bookmarks

(2) Import the .html file into Firefox as described in this article:

Importing Bookmarks from an HTML File | How to | Firefox Help

Any luck?

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At the top of the Bookmarks Manager there are 3 buttons (Organize,Views,Import & Backup) on the toolbar next to the Back and Forward button.

  • The first (gear) button is the Organize button with basic edit menu items for bookmarks
  • The second button is the Views button that allows to change the sort order for viewing purposes (doesn't sort permanently).
  • The third (star) button is the Import & Backup button that allows to backup and restore a JSON backup and import and export an HTML backup and import bookmarks from other browsers.

Hover each button to see the tooltip or click each of them to see what they do.

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Actually, if your old profile has all your bookmarks, you can import a backup file from your old profile. You will need to navigate the restore dialog over to your old bookmarkbackups folder.

More info: Backing up and restoring bookmarks | How to | Firefox Help

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Thanx cor-el, your "The third (star) button is the Import & Backup button" was able to import bookmarks from Safari.

Two more questions: 1. Can I delete the Default profile that was corrupted? 2. How do I get rid of the "Getting Started" tab that opens to the right of my homepage tab upon opening Firefox?

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Chosen Solution

If you no longer want to use that corrupted profile and have a backup of data that you want to keep or have already moved it to a new profile then you can remove that profile using the Profile Manager


See these articles for some suggestions:

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Click "Tools:>Internet Options:>Avanced. Then click the button labeled "Restore advanced settings". It will set your browser back to the default before its first used, whether it be IE8, or IE9. You will have to close and restart the browser and go through the first use browser preferences setup again, but it will solve your problem.

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Click "Tools:>Internet Options:>Avanced. Then click the button labeled "Restore advanced settings". It will set your browser back to the default before its first used, whether it be IE8, or IE9. You will have to close and restart the browser and go through the first use browser preferences setup again, but it will solve your problem.