In Windows 11, why is Firefox saving my IDs but not my passwords?
Recently I had to refresh Windows 11 on my Dell desktop. It defaulted to McAfee antivirus. I uninstalled McAfee and reinstalled Norton 360 which I had before. I reinstalled Firefox. I have version 123.0.1. I imported my FF bookmarks after exporting them from another computer. Now, FF remembers my IDs but not my passwords. When I log in to a website, FF offers to save my password and when I click yes it pops up a bubble saying "Password saved!" However, next time I go to that website, although it remembers my ID, it does not recall my (supposedly saved) password. In this support site, I see most users with this problem say FF will not remember either their IDs or passwords, whereas FF remembers my IDs, so my problem may be different. In FF help, I see that another password manager could be keeping FF from saving passwords. To the best of my knowledge I have never used another password manager. What is keeping FF from saving my passwords, while remembering my IDs? Is there a Windows Registry setting or a FF About:Configuration setting I need to change? Is re-installing FF a last ditch option?
Modified by wmblaney
All Replies (7)
Can you find this login in the Password Manager if you visit about:logins via the location/address bar ? You can possibly add as new login for this origin (protocol and hostname).
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/password-manager-remember-delete-edit-logins
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-login-firefox-password-manager
Note that some webpages use a login form that Firefox doesn't recognize properly and remembers the username as legacy saved form data.
Suggestions in a login drop-down menu that have a key icon in front are login suggestions. Suggestions in a drop-down menu without a key symbol are autocomplete saved form data.
No, I cannot find this or any other login in the Firefox Password Manager. Firefox advises it has saved zero passwords. Firefox advises this could be due to a conflict with another password manager, I have Norton 360 which comes with a password manager that I am not using. I have a query into their community support.
Suggestions in a login drop-down menu that have a key icon in front are login suggestions that you can inspect and edit in the Password Manager.
Suggestions in a drop-down menu without a key symbol are autocomplete saved form data.
Suggestions without a key icon are part of autocomplete saved form data that you should be able to remove by selecting this item with the cursor Down key and pressing Delete (Mac: Shift+Delete).
If Firefox offer to store a login, then you should see a key icon in the address bar with a drop-down panel attached. Can you attach a screenshot that sows this save dialog?
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem
- use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
Start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration or if userChrome.css/userContent.css is causing the problem.
- switch to the Default System theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
- do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Troubleshoot Mode start window
To Cor-El: --
"If Firefox offer to store a login, then you should see a key icon in the address bar with a drop-down panel attached.Can you attach a screenshot that sows this save dialog?"
I have attached the screenshot. It shows the prompt FF gives me, to save my password to the website I've reached. There is no key icon. When I click "Save" I get a blue bubble saying "Password saved!". However, next time I go to log in, it recalls my ID but not the password I thought I'd saved.
"Suggestions in a drop-down menu without a key symbol are autocomplete saved form data." Therefore, this is an autocomplete saved form data, correct?
When you said "remove by selecting this item with the cursor Down key and pressing Delete" I don't understand. Why would I want to remove it?
You say to "Start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration or if userChrome.css/userContent.css is causing the problem."
I will perform this step after posting this. I'll post another reply if and when I see any results. Many thanks for your support, much appreciated!
Modified by wmblaney
Do you see logins in the Password Manager (about:logins) ?
You can add a new login manually.
- click the '+' at the top of the about:logins page
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-login-firefox-password-manager
You can try "Use Saved Password" in the right-click context menu of a username and password field to see if Firefox recognizes this as a login form.
To Cor-El -- Thanks for your continuing support! FF may not be saving my IDs either; earlier I said FF remembered IDs but not passwords. When I refreshed Windows 11 it came with McAfee which I uninstalled and installed my existing Norton 360 account. Today I downloaded and ran the McAfee Software Removal Tool and it took a few minutes to perform tasks I had not seen in the earlier uninstall. But the problem remains. I had to reinstall Firefox and now I have 124.0.1. I looked for password functionality In Edge, which showed up in the Windows refresh, thinking it might be inhibiting password save in FF but I am not saving passwords in Edge either. I don't have Chrome installed. I use FF in a Windows 10 computer at work using a secondary FF ID and it remembers passwords. As far as I can tell I am syncing the two locations. I've been browsing in Regedt looking for password settings, looking for a setting which tells FF not to save passwords but there are so many search hits none seem related to the issue. I asked Google if Norton saves passwords and it answered, "Norton Password Manager's intuitive password vault can store logins, credit cards, addresses, and notes. Norton stores all vault information in the cloud, and it offers unlimited syncing between mobile and desktop devices." Maybe there is a Norton setting which inhibits FF password saves; I will look there next. But why does FF offer to save a password and show a blue bubble with a checkmark saying "Password saved!✔️"?
To Cor-El -- I restored my ability to save passwords. I went into troubleshooting and saw the option to refresh Firefox instead of running troubleshooting without losing my data, like bookmarks, etc. I ran the refresh and that solved the problem. It didn't tell me what problem the refresh fixed but that's OK. Running Firefox troubleshooting and in that option refreshing Firefox instead should be one of the top items on the list of possible fixes!