Backup and changing password
I'm signed in on desktop and phone (they are synced), but I forgot my password, and I don't have a recovery key. I want to reset the password to avoid losing data, just to prevent. If I back up my desktop profile, then reset my password, will this backup be enough to recover all my data? Or is there something that it's stored just online/on cloud by firefox that won't be recovered?
All Replies (5)
Resetting the password of the Sync account only clears data stored on the Sync server and this makes it impossible to use it to restore data in the profile folder. You would have to generate and use a recovery key.
Resetting the password shouldn't affect data stored in the profile folder on your computer, but it never hurts to backup your current profile.
cor-el said
Resetting the password of the Sync account only clears data stored on the Sync server and this makes it impossible to use it to restore data in the profile folder. You would have to generate and use a recovery key. Resetting the password shouldn't affect data stored in the profile folder on your computer, but it never hurts to backup your current profile.
I'm not sure this is an answer to the question? I think the question is whether data on the Sync server, which is erased when a password is reset, can be restored from a local profile backup. Key to this question is whether there is data stored on the Sync server that is not available in the local profile of a recently synced browser. As I read it, this answer seems to pertain to the inverse problem, restoring a local profile from the Sync server. Also, it's not possible to create a recovery key if you forgot your password...
I have this same question. It boils down to this: If I reset my password the data on the Sync server is lost, I understand that. But if I have a device that is still logged in to my Firefox account and has access to all the passwords and browser history that I want to retain, and I reset my password, what happens? a: The data on the server is lost and on the first sync after changing the password, all the local profile data is overwritten with the empty data from the server b: The data on the server is lost but on the first sync the device sends all the information from the local profile to the server so you can access it from other devices c: Something else.
If you disconnect all devices and then do a password reset via the Firefox Account website then your data will be uploaded to the Sync server (initial sync) once you reconnect using the new password.
You can backup your personal data on a device that has all beforehand and verify that you have all important data in this backup than there shouldn't be a problem.
That is a relief to hear! Thanks! Just to be sure, by 'disconnect' you mean sign out of the Firefox account on all devices? Or temporarily disconnect them from the internet?
When searching the forum for an answer like this, I read a lot of frustrated messages from users who wanted to change their password without losing their data. And also several replies that stated this was not possible at all. I think it would be a great idea to include this possibility of restoring data in the message that you get when you want to change the password. I'm willing to propose an alternative message in English and Dutch. An even better idea would be to make this restoration an automated optional part of the password reset process. I am not able to meaningfully contribute to that though, so hopefully somebody else finds this worth while.
Yes, with disconnect I mean to logout of Sync or click the Disconnect button on the Firefox Account Settings page.
Most threads about issues with lost data is about users that rely on using Sync as a backup to restore personal data like logins and that is not reliable and will always fail if you have forgotten the password or can't connect to the account for other reasons like email access.
In your case you still have the data on at least one device, so you should be able to re-upload this data, but safest in this case if to backup all data to prevent losing data if Firefox thinks that it needs to download data from the Sync server instead of doing the initial Sync.