FF reports "Unable to change Primary Password"
After many years use I thought it about time I changed my Master now Primary PassWord, went to options and clicked change primary password, entered my current PW then my new PW twice. Up popped a box saying Unable to change primary password. No further help or suggestions so I am now not sure how to change my PW. I am still using my original PW with additional alpha numeric characters, like from:Popeye1 to Popeye234567 Could it be the use of Popeye or a bug? I would like to change many PW's but cannot change the Primary!
All Replies (3)
Can you change the Primary Password in the Security Device Manager ?
- Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
Certificates: Security Devices
In the left panel select "Software Security Device" There you can find a "Change Password" in the very right panel. You may have to switch to Full Screen mode or Zoom out the page to make this panel visible.
Are you possibly using a policy that locks the Primary Password ?
You can check the about:policies#active page to see whether policies are active (63+).
If this all fails then export the logins in Lockwise to a CSV file, so you can use this file to restore the logins.
Check this file to be sure it has all your logins. Keep a backup copy of logins.json and key4.db in the profile folder just to be sure.
You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.
- Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
You can reset the Primary Password to start with fresh files.
You may have to remove the two file logins.json and key4.db if this fails to work as well.
You can use the file with the exported logins to restore this data.
Note that you may have to set signon.management.page.fileImport.enabled = true on the about:config page to make the import item visible in Lockwise.
Thank you for your very fast and informative reply, I have tried the first option under "Software Security Device" but this did work and resulted in the same popup 'unable to change primary password'. I am not a company and as far as I know do not have Enterprise version.
FF is shown as up to date.
Seems I have to venture into the second series of possible fixes, however I am no expert and as there are nearer 100 logins and PW stored I am wary of doing something wrong and losing the lot! I know from painful experience one slip can make the whole thing go wrong. I will print out the links you have kindly supplied and do some reading before I attempt anything!
Thanks again.
If you keep a backup of logins.json and key4.db in the profile folder then you should be able to recover from mistakes by restoring these two file. Always make sure that Firefox is closed when you deal with files in the profile folder.
You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.
- Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data