Unknown Master Password is Set at Initial Startup (Firefox)

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Revision as of 23:40, 1 December 2004 by Hodges (talk | contribs)
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This procedure works on Win XP, for what it's worth. I didn't test it on *nix.

Problem:

Upon initial installation, Firefox apparently believes it has a non-null Master Password in effect, and the user is unable to change it using..

Options->Privacy->Saved Passwords->Change Master Password

..because the password is unknown to the user.

This situation may only occur when one imports an existing Mozilla suite profile's passwords at Firefox install time, but I'm not sure.


Solution:

Shut down Firefox.


Rename..

\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\key3.db

..to some different name, e.g. key3.db.orig.


Then, if you want to actually set a Master Password you can use, re-launch Firefox, and use either..

Options->Privacy->Saved Passwords->Change Master Password

..or the..

chrome://pippki/content/pref-masterpass.xul

..dialogs to enter your desired password.


Otherwise, the insidious unknown default Master Password is now disabled.