Set up a desktop Firefox sync from an android Firefox sync
I am having trouble setting up Firefox sync on my desktop (which I had to replace) having only an active Firefox sync on my Android tablet. I can't find a way to either insert the usual three four character codes to pair the devices, nor to recover the sync key to enter it manually on the desktop. Googling the problem, I found suggestions from a year ago to use certain plugins (the most recent was about:synckey) to display the key, but unfortunately they are no longer compatible with the newest firefox (I am using v17). So my question is: can this be done? Or shoud I harvest all my bookmarks from the Android device as long as I can and reset the sync account?
Chosen solution
Use the accounts menu in android system settings instead of the one in Firefox settings, it is different and has a pairing option. (credits go to Nawak)
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See if you can "pair" those two devices - they need to have Firefox running on both devices at the same time.
https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/add-a-device-to-firefox-sync
Thank you for your reply. However, that guide assumes you have a desktop version of Firefox to insert the codes into and start the pairing to the second device (which can be a desktop Firefox or an Android Firefox), while I need to do the other way around, that is start the pairing from the Android Firefox. If it is possible, how can I insert the pairing codes in the Android Firefox?
Unfortunately also your "fixed" xpi doesn't get installed because of incompatibility. I also took your idea and tried the usual trick of modifying the maximum allowed version in the install.rdf, but again it didn't work. Still, thank you, that was worth trying. At this point I think that I will just copy my bookmarks from the tablet and reset the account.
I've bumped the maxVersion of the aboutsynckey-11-fnfx file, so it should install now.
You should see the extension on the Tools > Add-ons > Extensions page (no restart needed) and see the extensions page if you type about:sync-key in the location bar and the sync key if sync has been set up.
Do you mean the link you posted above? That is the one I tried (I have also checked again now), but it doesn't work for me, on Android it says it can't install because is not compatible with firefox 17. Note that on the desktop (also version 17) it works. It seems strange, because on the other thread (that you linked) it worked for the other user.
Chosen Solution
Use the accounts menu in android system settings instead of the one in Firefox settings, it is different and has a pairing option. (credits go to Nawak)