Very Happy it's now requesting Primary Password upon start [pc]

[Myhrddin]

I'd already been spoiled with Seamonkey and Thunderbird immediately asking for the Primary Password to be entered and very glad that now Firefox doesn't leave me wondering how long it'll be before I can get that entered and go about my business.. It's asked right during FF startup each time I've brought it up today.

...And the Angles Swang...!

Thank you Moz/FF Team.!!

[joeytwiddle]

Personally, I wish Firefox didn't ask for my password on startup. But I acknowledge that you do like it!

Anyway, reading up, it appears that password is necessary for Sync, so I must accept this behaviour, if I want to keep using Sync.

Ironically, I use Sync, and dislike the startup password request, for the same reason: Because I am often rebooting between OSes.

[Myhrddin]

I wonder, since you appear to be swapping in/out of programs and OS's and don't frequently need your password file unlocked.. Maybe clicking cancel would speed you along until there was a request made for something to be retrieved that does require access. ..just a thought..

[joeytwiddle]

You are absolutely right. I usually just hit Escape when it pops up. But it still annoys me a little!

I guess sync is only happening on those occasions when I do unlock using the password. But I am ok with that.

[joeytwiddle]

For a long time, I thought it was a bug, asking for password on startup. Since I wasn't trying to perform any login.

I only learned yesterday, after googling around, that sync always requests the password on startup.

[rsk5]

If you click cancel at the prompt for the primary password, the prompt keeps coming back, again and again, endlessly. Some people want to always use the master password system (with or without sync), some people want to use just sometimes. So this is obvious, simple programing: give user's the choice, with the first prompt, "don't ask again (until you restart Firefox)."  Or put the prompt unobtrusively in the upper right corner, where users can ignore it, or use it whenever they choose. User choice.

[Myhrddin]

That sounds like a workable solution. There would need to be a little disclaimer about it being unable to sync until the password file is unlocked to get access to the sync login but, with one of those check-boxes you would be able to tell it "Do not show this again." and be on your way until some action requires a login.

[joeytwiddle]

I like this idea, but I would take it further. I want an option to permanently disable the prompt on startup. Because I restart Firefox a lot (mostly rebooting), and this prompt is just so annoying.

Removing the password from my account and making my sync insecure is not a good solution!

Of course I would like the prompt when I start a sync, need to load/save login details, or add/remove extensions.

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The above is a fairly simple mitigation of the annoying popup. However...

For me the ideal solution would be this:

- Firefox syncs my bookmarks, extensions, settings, etc. without needing a password (perhaps using a low-security key that it stores in the config). This could be a read-only sync, with the exception of tabs and bookmarks, which would always sync.

- Whenever I want to do something more sensitive, THEN it asks me for a high-security password. That could include things like: using saved logins, changing extensions, or changing settings.

Of course, the option for 100% locking everything behind a primary password should remaing available for those users who need it.

And since this is a complicated feature, I would really love the simple mitigation I described initially, just to get rid of that popup when starting the browser. That would 90% solve the problem, for 10% of the work. 😉