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locked out of sync account

  • 21 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 15 views
  • Last reply by John99

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My sync account has locked me out. I really need to access the bookmarks for my job today. I would appreciate any assistance offered.

Here is a screen shot of the error message I am receiving.

My sync account has locked me out. I really need to access the bookmarks for my job today. I would appreciate any assistance offered. Here is a screen shot of the error message I am receiving.
Attached screenshots

All Replies (20)

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Have you tried requesting a new link?

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how do i go about requesting a new link? it will not allow me to log in and when i attempt to reset my password each email sent to me (i waited an entire day to attempt it again today) simply states that the reset link has expired (as pictured above). does sync just not work?

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do you mean a new link to reset the password? if yes, then yes. i did that today and am still receiving the same error message.

if not, are you meaning to clear the account associated with my email and start completely over? if yes, i have no idea how to go about doing that and searching online has not been fruitful.

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I've called the big guys to help you. Good luck.

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thanks, FredMcD

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Sorry I am no expert on Sync, but a you are needing a quick solution I thought I would at least comment.

When did you last use Firefox Sync ? I seem to recall it only saves data for some limited time maybe 3 months.

Firefox Sync is intended to Sync between your devices. It is not intended for the Server to be used as a backup device. If anything is a backup it is any other device that you Sync with.

Do you have another device that has the bookmarks on it. Or any bookmarks backups. (Including any other hard drive with Firefox on it, or a backup image of that) If so we may be able to help you get bookmarks off that. See

Are you having problems with the bookmarks on your current device? You appear to be posting from a 64 bit Windows 7 PC running an outdated Firefox 43.

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Thanks so much for your desire to help, John99.

I signed up for sync last Friday (March 19th) b/c I would be moving computers at my job. I have a ton of bookmarks on my old computer and saved that folder to my profile. Unfortunately, due to our in-house security set-up, I cannot import those files.

I figured the perfect solution would be to sign up for sync and just sync my bookmarks. Between Friday morning and Monday, I forgot the password I used and the password reset function is giving the above error message and has done so since Monday.

I attempted again today to reset my password, however, when I follow the provided link, I receive the above error message.

I have updated my Firefox to the 45 version, or so I think. My employer does not support Firefox, but IE is, well, just horrible.

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You should be able to backup your work computer's bookmarks and then copy them to some device, or even email them as an attachment. Before doing that you need to consider do you have authority to do that without breaking Company policies.

Work related data including bookmarks may not be allowed to be taken outside the Company's control. Look at recent newsworthy events relating to H Clinton and emails ;-)

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Thanks, John99. That is exactly what I stated above. Company policy will not allow me to import the bookmarks from one work computer to another work computer.

I need help resetting my password for sync so that I can access my bookmarks on my new work computer.

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If you did get Sync to work it would appear you could be violating Company policy. You need to consult the Company IT department.

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Thanks, John99. That will not be the case. Thanks so much for the insight, though.

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Your screenshot shows a dialog box for Reset password link expired.

Sorry, your Sync data is gone! The Sync password is used to create the encryption key for your data; change the account password and the new "key" wouldn't be able to de-crypt your data; rendering that "blob" of data useless, so it is automatically deleted from the Sync server.

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Can you access the Sync account here?

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Greetings Ed-meister & Cor-el,

@ed: Haha! That is fine. I can still access my old computer to obtain the bookmarks. I just am trying to get past that error to actually resetting my password.

@cor-el: I do not have the password associated with the account and cannot log in.

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Just set up Sync again.

Please remember it needs another Firefox device to Sync with. That way you do not lose your Synced information.

The second device could be Firefox on an Android Phone, or even just another Windows OS user account; on the same PC. You ought to be able to create an account from

about:preferences?entrypoint=menupanel#sync 

(That will not be clickable, paste in to the addressbar. Or use the menu options menu -> sign in to Sync ) See also

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Thanks, John99. I appreciate the suggestion. However, I would really like the use only my work email for the account. My work email is not accessible at home and my home email is not accessible at work.

Does there not exist a way to unlock the account associated with the email? Is there no way to contact mozilla themselves? Hmmm.

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No, there is no way to "unlock" a Firefox Account to change the email address - that is the username for connecting to Sync and the username can't be changed.

The intended manner to "change" an email address for a Sync account is to create a new account using the correct email address; and it sounds like you will need to do that from work.

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Thanks, Edmeister. I actually do NOT wish to change the email address. I just want to be able to reset the password by unlockin the account.

Thanks for your feedback, guys. It seems you have access to the same information that I have from googling my problem. This is probably going to be something that Mozilla will have to do from their end.

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Sorry but No Mozilla can not do anything from their end.

As nearly everything at Mozilla is open yes you can find out a lot by googling. We can even tell you how to set up your own Sync servers, not that it is something you will wish or need to do.

What you need to understand is Sync is designed to be very secure. So even staff working on the server holding the data are not able to decrypt the information without the vital info from you. That is access to your email account. If you can not get the info no one can. Modern security is very strong, and very important. Mozilla has been trying to raise awareness of this recently see the simple very user friendly short clips: https://advocacy.mozilla.org/encrypt/social/3

Need specifically info about Sync this is a blog explaining the security

Another more detailed explanation of Firefox Sync and its security

Another short one

  • Firefox Sync’s New Security Model https://blog.mozilla.org/services/2014/04/30/firefox-syncs-new-security-model/ Including this
    Given the importance of your password, we’ve designed Firefox Accounts such that Mozilla’s services never see your password’s clear text. Instead, Firefox first strengthens the password through client-side stretching with PBKDF2, and then derives several purpose-specific keys via HKDF. Neither your password nor the derived “unwrapping” key are ever transmitted to Mozilla. You can read more about the protocol in its technical description on GitHub.
    That's a complicated way of explaining it is encrypted end to end so no one sees the data but you.
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Thanks, John99, that is a lot of words. However, you are still not understanding the problem nor my request.

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