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Primary password does not work

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  • 0 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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Configured primary password to access TB some days ago. Seems to work fine. However just opened TB by mistake and so clicked Cancel on the password entry pop-up. Instead of cancelling the Open command it opened TB and showed me the folder structure though not any emails. Also popped up password entry option again. Clicked cancel and a few more times and then just had complete access to TB. Changed to try to view another mailbox and again asked for password. Again cancel and now can see that mailbox and its emails fine.

Configured primary password to access TB some days ago. Seems to work fine. However just opened TB by mistake and so clicked Cancel on the password entry pop-up. Instead of cancelling the Open command it opened TB and showed me the folder structure though not any emails. Also popped up password entry option again. Clicked cancel and a few more times and then just had complete access to TB. Changed to try to view another mailbox and again asked for password. Again cancel and now can see that mailbox and its emails fine.

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This seems to be connected to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1050765 which is 7 years old but states that this is by design. And very odd that this is still the case.

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Primary Password is not a password to open Thunderbird. Primary Password does not prevent seeing emails etc. Primary Password is designed specifically to prevent people who have access to your computer and your computer User Account desktop from being able to access the stored passwords. Primary Password protects your stored passwords.


So if you have not entered the Primary Password then you should not be able to get to see stored passwords. You may say "and then just had complete access to TB.", but I doubt you can access your stored passwords without that Primary Password. Even if a nefarious person gained access to your computer desktop and found out how to remove the Primary Password using info at the link below, Thunderbird would protect you by completely removing all stored passwords at the same time. Info in this Article: