Are you using Sync as this is a possible reason to ask for the Primary Password ?

Using Sync is a possible reason to ask for the Primary Password at startup. This is because the credentials to login to the Sync account are stored in the Password Manager and you need to enter the Primary Password to unlock the passwords and connect/login to the Sync account.

I do sync bookmarks (not passwords). But that doesn't address my question (and your answer came instantaneous, it'd be nice for a Firefox human to read this and answer). Should users have to choose between sync and repetitive prompts for the master password? I'm saying fine, go ahead and prompt me to enter the master password at start up, and then once more if you must when I go to a site with a saved password, then give me the option for "don't ask again (until you restart Firefox)." If I want to suspend sync this session, fine, include that in your warning message, just please give users the choice without repeated prompts, it was probably 10 of them when in frustration I posted my question.

For Sync you should only have to enter the PP once at the start of the session as during the seesion signedInUser.json is used. If you cancel a PP prompt then you get signed out and will get the prompt to enter the PP once again when required like when you open a webpage where you have saved a login.

Thanks, but you're still not addressing the point Cor-el. I understand that you give the prompt once at the start of the session (good so far) and then "once again when required like when you open a webpage where you have saved a login." But it's not once, it's every time you open such a page. And it's not "required," I can login in by entering the password. Please, after you prompt once, offer the user the option to not be prompted again, at all, during he session. It's simple programing, what's the problem?

Normally you wouldn't be prompted once you have entered the PP during a session. If you cancel a PP prompt then you lock the passwords and you can expect a PP prompt.

If you do not want to see a PP prompt then you can disable the Password Manager.

• Settings -> Privacy & Security: Logins and Passwords: [] "Ask to save Logins and Passwords for websites"

With the PW manager disabled you can still fill a login via the right-click context menu (Fill Login/Password) if the passwords are unlocked by entering the PP via the prompt you get if you open the PM manager window (about:logins page).

Now I understand, there's really no way to get Firefox to genuinely read, consider and reply to the substance of a user's request. Good to know, I give up.

Rick Kane, unfortunately I do not think that this is the correct forum for feature suggestions and ideas. You might be better off going here: https://connect.mozilla.org/

FWIW, as a fellow user I do agree that the Primary Password prompt needs to b less intrusive, with an option to suppress it for the current session etc.

I would also like an option for it to appear unobtrusively at the top of the page, so it can be ignored until if and when you choose to focus on it and deal with it. Maybe even with a timeout where this PPW section or notice disappears if not interacted with within a certain time limit.

Rather than the current obtrusive dialogue box that must be dealt with as soon as it appears.

Thank you TechHorse. I'll try that link. And that's a great idea, an obtrusive prompt that can be harmlessly ignored, or appreciated, user's choice. I thought that maybe since Cor-el's title says "moderator," they had some inside relationship.

Almost all contributors are normal Firefox users just like you that use their free time to answer questions. Most of the time we can try to replicate a problem as give a suggestion on how to fix it. When there is no known solution then we try to find workarounds that aren't to difficult or can be dangerous when not understood properly.

This isn't easy to solve in a way that it works. I'm sure that you have seen cases where you open several links in the background and it appears that the website displays a notice to accept cookies, but you only notice this when to go to its first tab. This requires to accept the cookies in all tabs you opened since all the page have this notification and this isn't (can't be) passed to the other tabs that would have to be reloaded. If you would have opened the first link in the foreground and confirm you accept cookies then you could have opened subsequent links with ease.

The same with the password prompt. Firefox checks the page when it opens and if there is a login form and you have saved a login for this origin (protocol and hostname) then Firefox wants to get possible usernames and passwords to be able to auto-fill or suggest those. This is a tab modal dialog, but unlocking the logins is global and you likely get a new PP prompt if you decline and go to another tab. Easiest to avoid issues is to disable the Password Manager like I posted above and possibly use the context menu to select a login. This works for websites, but not for Sync as Firefox needs to connect to Sync to be able to download date from the server and upload new data when necessary. The only thing that is annoying is that it takes a few seconds before you get the prompt to enter the PP for Sync and this usually interferes when you are typing in the location bar.

Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply, and your interest (and expertise) in helping Firefox users. I do like the program, perfect is not the expectation. I feel like I've raised the question, and hopefully from you or other users, and Mozilla workers who monitor such things, it can be looked into with care and expertise.

Which for me for Firefox is zero, so to prove that, I would wonder, since for any new tab Firefox is ascertaining whether "you have saved a login for this origin (protocol and hostname)," it is acquiring information that resides within my Firefox (not tab specific), whether that lookup could in effect find a flag that says "no" if the user had responded "don't ask again" to any previous Firefox-generated prompt?

(Your point about cookies is interesting. I'll experiment. I often just ignore the first cookies prompt, because I cringe at saying "ok to all cookies" but it can be a hassle to dive deeper and say anything else. As I cheer EFF and other efforts at Internet privacy, I hope it evolves to where we can easily, and once, say "no, please don't" to cookies we are even allowed to reject. This is off topic some, I realize, except as it relates to a principle of simple user choices.) Thanks again!

I have the same issue, Firefox ask for the master password every startup intead of to ask for the password only to the first access to the stored data as wrote currently in the help: "Important: After you have defined and set your primary password, you will be prompted to enter it once for each Firefox session, when Firefox needs access to your stored passwords. This also applies if you want to add, remove or show a password."

But... I currently have to press "cancel" at every firefox startup.

To have a password for the Sync has no sense because all bookmarks are visible and every modify made from other user will be synchronized to the next access. It makes more sense to have an option to secure entire profile (I would never use), obviously Sync included.

I hope will be possible solve this discomfort