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Master Password Entry screen locks me out of TBird

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  • Last reply by Matt

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Forgot Master Password. Master Password popup disables ALL screen activity except password entry. Not possible to reset master password by navigating to OPTIONS/SECURITY/PASSWORDS. Also not possible to exit Thunderbird via normal means (needs hard exit via Task Manager in Win10) This program behaviour is not what is described in the help literature that I have been able to find. What next (other that total uninstall) ?

Forgot Master Password. Master Password popup disables ALL screen activity except password entry. Not possible to reset master password by navigating to OPTIONS/SECURITY/PASSWORDS. Also not possible to exit Thunderbird via normal means (needs hard exit via Task Manager in Win10) This program behaviour is not what is described in the help literature that I have been able to find. What next (other that total uninstall) ?

Chosen solution

Perfect. All good worked like a charm. Thanks for the leg up :D

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Open the profile folder in File Explorer, with TB closed:

C:\Users\winusername\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\8charstring.default

AppData is hidden by default; show hidden items on the View tab of Explorer.

Delete key4.db,, logins.json and cert9.db (or move them to another folder). This will erase all your account passwords, but you should be able to launch TB without being asked for a master password.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Master_password

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Chosen Solution

Perfect. All good worked like a charm. Thanks for the leg up :D

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Just to be clear; Pressing escape removes the prompt. you might have to press it multiple times depending on how many passwords are accessed to start Thunderbird.

Or you could use a command line option to start Thunderbird in offline mode so no passwords are asked for.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Command_Line_Options