Are you talking about the Firefox built-in Password Manager, or a separate program?

Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox. A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh).

Is the problem still there?

You can also follow this link: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/password-manager-remember-delete-change-and-import

FredMcD said

Are you talking about the Firefox built-in Password Manager, or a separate program? Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox. A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?

I am talking about the (supposedly) built-in Firefox Logins Manager. (I am under the impression, from reading all the Help pages at Mozilla, that the name of the function changed recently.) NOT about an Addon or a separate program, thanks!

And alas, starting in Safe Mode was no help. I still did not see the Key icon and was not asked if I wanted to save a login when I went to several pages that use them. Thanks for your suggestion.

Azharul Islam said

You can also follow this link: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/password-manager-remember-delete-change-and-import

Thank you for your suggestion. Of course I went to Help and read all the pages I could find, before posting here. As far as I can see, I have all my Preferences set to allow Logins to be saved and used. But the function does not exist for me.

Perhaps this version of Firefox has problems on my operating system? I'm stumped.

I had (what sounds like) a similar problem very recently where I would lose my history and saved login settings when I closed Firefox. The logins were still saved, but the settings had changed. After tearing my hair out for several days, I discovered that my antivirus (Trend, at the time) had a password manager that was making the changes. Even though I had never used that part of the program, it was still taking action. Even after I uninstalled Trend (and installed another AV I had), the password manager was still left running in the background, even after rebooting. Since uninstalling the password manager, I haven't had this problem. You might check to see if your AV and other security programs might be being a bit overenthusiastic. I hope this helps.

Make sure that you do not run Firefox in permanent Private Browsing mode (Always use Private Browsing mode; Never Remember History).

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Private+Browsing

• Firefox > Preferences > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history"
• Deselect: [ ] "Always use Private Browsing mode"

cor-el said

Make sure that you do not run Firefox in permanent Private Browsing mode (Always use Private Browsing mode; Never Remember History).

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Private+Browsing

• Firefox > Preferences > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history"
• Deselect: [ ] "Always use Private Browsing mode"

Thank you for your suggestion. As mentioned above, I have read all the Help Pages at Mozilla. My Privacy page has "Remember History" chosen, and always has. Ah me!

starhugger said

I had (what sounds like) a similar problem very recently where I would lose my history and saved login settings when I closed Firefox. The logins were still saved, but the settings had changed. After tearing my hair out for several days, I discovered that my antivirus (Trend, at the time) had a password manager that was making the changes. Even though I had never used that part of the program, it was still taking action. Even after I uninstalled Trend (and installed another AV I had), the password manager was still left running in the background, even after rebooting. Since uninstalling the password manager, I haven't had this problem. You might check to see if your AV and other security programs might be being a bit overenthusiastic. I hope this helps.

Thank you for your suggestion! Being a Macintosh user, I (possibly foolishly) do not use any third party Anti-Virus protection. Loie has Norton AV on her Toshiba/Windows 8 laptop, but I have none. Thanks, though, for lending a hand.

With all the "traps" out there, an anti-virus is highly recommended.

Mac Malware Scanners https://discussions.apple.com/message/29938930#29938930

You can also try https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/index.html

Are there currently any passwords listed in the Password Manager?

Are there any passwords that have an empty user name or password or that otherwise look corrupted.

It is possible that there is a problem with key3.db (encryption key) and logins.json (encrypted names and passwords) in Firefox. You can open the logins.json file in the Scratchpad (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer) to check its content. Click the "Pretty Print" button to format the file for readability. If there are names and encrypted passwords in logins.json then there is likely a problem with the key3.db file that stores the encryption key. You can rename the key3.db file (key3.db.old) and logins.json file (logins.json.old) or move these files to another folder to make it possible to undo the action. Rename/remove a possible signons.sqlite file (signons.sqlite.old) used by older Firefox versions. You need to set a new Master Password after renaming or deleting key3.db and all currently saved passwords are lost. If that has worked then you can remove the renamed files that are no longer needed. Otherwise you can rename the files to their previous names (key3.db and logins.json).

You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory:
  Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

cor-el said

Are there currently any passwords listed in the Password Manager? Are there any passwords that have an empty user name or password or that otherwise look corrupted.

I assume you mean the Saved Logins button on the Preferences > Security page? If so, no, there are none listed at all.

It is possible that there is a problem with key3.db (encryption key) and logins.json (encrypted names and passwords) in Firefox. You can open the logins.json file in the Scratchpad (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer) to check its content. Click the "Pretty Print" button to format the file for readability. If there are names and encrypted passwords in logins.json then there is likely a problem with the key3.db file that stores the encryption key.

Yes, I used the Pretty Print function to see dozens of encrypted Logins in my current logins.json file.

You can rename the key3.db file (key3.db.old) and logins.json file (logins.json.old) or move these files to another folder to make it possible to undo the action. Rename/remove a possible signons.sqlite file (signons.sqlite.old) used by older Firefox versions. You need to set a new Master Password after renaming or deleting key3.db and all currently saved passwords are lost. If that has worked then you can remove the renamed files that are no longer needed. Otherwise you can rename the files to their previous names (key3.db and logins.json).

Well, I tried that and nothing happened! I assumed that renaming/removing the relevant files would force Firefox 46.0.1 Mac 10.11.3 to create new, clean, working files to replace the missing ones. Firefox did not create new files. And of course with no key3.db in my Profile folder, it wouldn't let me create a new Master Password. But I never had one in the first place!

This is weird, it's like some new update of Firefox has left out Logins management/capability entirely.

I don't know if this is relevant, but apparently Firefox is remembering logins and passwords for sites such as Amazon, and this forum, because I can go to those sites and be automatically logged in. I USED to be able to go to some sites that require login-pages and have the appropriate name/password entered. That doesn't happen. Nor can I see any entries in the Password (Saved Logins) Manager.

Maybe I give up? Blah.

But thank you for your help!

A detail like a website remembering you (log you in automatically) is stored in a cookie and is different that storing a user name and password in the Password Manager.

You can use these steps to make a website recognize and remember you:

• You can create a cookie "Allow" exception to keep specific cookies, especially in case of secure websites and when cookies expire when Firefox is closed.
• Tools > Options > Privacy > "Use custom settings for history" > Cookies: Exceptions

What is the value of signon.rememberSignons on the about:config page?