Protect your Thunderbird passwords with a Master Password
Revision Information
- Revision id: 123094
- Created:
- Creator: Tonnes
- Comment: click -> select (panel), image spacing, period
- Reviewed: Yes
- Reviewed:
- Reviewed by: Chris_Ilias
- Is approved? Yes
- Is current revision? No
- Ready for localization: No
Revision Source
Revision Content
Thunderbird can save usernames and passwords that you use to access your mail accounts. If you share a computer with anyone, it is recommended that you use a master password.
After you have defined a master password, you will be prompted to enter it whenever Thunderbird needs to access your stored passwords.
Table of Contents
Defining a master password
By default, Thunderbird does not use master passwords to protect stored credentials. To define a master password:
- At the top of the Thunderbird window, click the menu and select In the menu bar, click the menu and select At the top of the Thunderbird window, click the , or click the menu button menu and select
and choose .
- Select the panel.
- Select the tab.
- Put a check mark next to Use a master password.
- The Change Master Password dialog appears. As you enter your master password, the Password quality meter indicates the difficulty of guessing the password. To create a quality password, your master password should include the following:
- At least one capital letter
- One or more digits
- At least one non-alphanumeric character, such as the following: @ # $ % ^ & * ( ).
- Also, remember to make your password something that is easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess to ensure that you, and only you, will be able to retrieve this secure information
- The password must be entered twice to confirm that you can enter it consistently.
- To set the master password, click .
- The master password is defined.
Changing or removing the master password
You can change or remove your master password at any time:
- At the top of the Thunderbird window, click the menu and select In the menu bar, click the menu and select At the top of the Thunderbird window, click the , or click the menu button menu and select
and choose .
- Select the panel.
- Select the tab.
- Click .
- Enter the current password to confirm you are authorized to change it.
- Enter the new master password twice.
- To remove the master password, leave the new master password fields empty.
- To accept the changed master password, click .
- The master password is changed.
Forgotten Password
If you have lost or forgotten your master password or you want to disable the feature, you can reset the master password. Resetting the master password will remove all stored password information. Upon resetting, you will lose all the stored information in the Password Manager, as this is a built-in security feature to prevent people from simply resetting your Master Password to gain access to your passwords.
- Choose .
- Paste the expression
openDialog("chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul")
- Press the Evaluate button.
- Accept when prompted with the confirmation dialog box.
Based on information from Master password (mozillaZine KB)