There might be times when you have lost or forgotten the Master Password of Mozilla Thunderbird. Just like this happened with me when I upgraded my email client to latest version Thunderbird 3. After upgrading the client started asking me for Master Password which I didn’t remember, I tried some of my common password but it didn’t work so I searched for solution for it.
There are two ways you can reset or change your master password :-
If you remember your password your previous Thunderbird 3 password you can change by going to
“Tools -> Options -> Security -> Change Master Password “.
Second is if you have lost or forgotten your password even then you can reset it but Do take a note that by doing so all the saved Email Account passwords, personal certificates and private keys shall also be deleted.
For resetting lost or forgotten password in Thunderbird 3 Choose Tools – Error Console, paste the expression:
openDialog(‘chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul’)
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a good post and very impressive. I need it. Thank you.
Awesome man.. Thanks a lot. The second method saved me the day. i had forgot my pwd and was stuck. I had a dozen email accounts to be re-configured and it would have been a pain, without your master pwd reset snippet. Thanks once again.
Welcome to Softpoint.in. I am glad that the posts on my blog has helped you out.
openDialog(“chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul”) doesn’t work with the german version. You have to change ” in “. After this, it works.
Thanks for the tip as i use only English version was not aware of this.
openDialog(‘chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul’) this works for me.
Changed the double quotes by single quotes.
I’m not using the English version too.
Thanks for the tip.
Thanks mate, was searching for this since last 2 days. Ur post was really helpful. Thanks
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Thanks Manpreet…that was a good tip!..really helped
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I have called technical support and he gave me this link. I never set a Master password I always hit cancel so cannot change my password as I didn’t have one. I have tried what you have suggested open Dialog (“chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul”) BUT I cannot click evaluate as it does not work. Please help. Thanks, Linda
Try this expression in error console openDialog(“chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul”) I have tried it on latest version of Thunderbird it’s working perfectly. Also make sure that you are using the latest stable version not the beta version of Email client.
It did not work for me until I re-typed the quote marks in the console myself. Must be a font issue?
Yes, you are right it’s a font issue. Glad that your problem is solved
It worked for me! Thanks!
I am glad that the posted trick worked for you.
I did it, clicked Evaluate, but it does not work…:(
I have English version 3.0.4
it shows:
Error: illegal character
Source File: javascript:%20openDialog(%E2%80%9Cchrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul%E2%80%9D)
Line: 1, Column: 12
Source Code:
openDialog(“chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul”)
Just re-type the quote marks in the console. This should solve the problem
openDialog(“chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul”)
Tried all the above but all I am getting is:
potentially vulnerable to CVE-2009-3555
Any ideas would be gratefully received
John Patterson
To get it to work you must use ‘single quotes’ for English version as well. Of interest to others, I never used a master password in the prev. version of TBird. This is some kind of programming glitch in version 3 Thunderbird.
The expression:
openDialog(“chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul”)
does not work. Turn off “smart quotes” in your editor.
Looking at my comment, it appears the “smart quotes” are on for this entire page/site. Maybe modify the text to use the " (") expression ?
All you have to do is delete the “quotes” used on this page and replace them with single quotes from your keyboard…in other words do not use the quotes that result from copy and paste here manually key in a singular quote and your Thunderbird 3 will rock like it should…best damn email client on the Net except for Master Password issues.
I’ve been using the Internet for 16 years and I will state today that it is increasingly quirky to the point that I waste many work days trying to fix bugs in the system. Such as this “smart quote” thing…totally ridiculous that a quote cannot be a quote.
BTW, I appreciate this post even though your “smart quotes” made for a few minutes of living Hell…turn ‘em off when giving instructions next time as this is a great and quick fix when explained and documented correctly.
Well Manpreet,
I surely wished this would work! I am using 3.1 and surely it does not work…
The result is “illegal character” and the green arrow points at the ” right before “chrome – I have upgraded and not being able to disable the password is prevent me from sending eMail – I have tried all the eMail clients over the years and Thunderbird is the fastest as I require a large amount of retain eMail and the other programs are just dinosaur slow when refreshing is concerned. I would like to stay with Thunderbird but cannot resolve this problem.
Thanks, Buddy Your post has saved me. I just had to replace the quotes that too has mentioned in your comments
I never had aMaster Password till I upgraded to the new thunderbird version. Wish I had not.
There is no way to reset the Master unless you have a previous one…
Is that right? What would I do now?
I think this is more something people would like to know/Hoping to get a reply from you.
Thank you and be well.
Ara
Ara,
Glad the my post had helped you out.
I just read your advice regarding the way to enter new MASTER PASSWORD in case we have lost the previous one, but unfortunately the process doesn’t work as far as my PC is concerned.
In fact, the writing of following expression :
===
Choose Tools – Error Console, paste the expression:
openDialog(‘chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul’)
===
Erreur : illegal character
Fichier Source : javascript:%20openDialog(%E2%80%98chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul%E2%80%99)
Ligne : 1, Colonne : 12
Code Source :
openDialog(‘chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul’)
====
OR
====
Erreur : syntax error
Fichier Source : javascript:%20chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul
Ligne : 1, Colonne : 41
Code Source :
chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul
===
So I couldn’t succeed in the result and the problem remains.
I had similar disfunctionning when Mozilla Thunderbird asked for updating the previous version. The software doesn’t accept the MASTER PASSWORD.
Now if you think to other process or contact I could know about in order to solve the problem, I thank you in advance for your advice by e-mail.
Best regards,
F. BRU
Ok I forgot my master password and can not access any of my important work emails.I made this password years ago and do not remember it for the life of me. I used your code and it worked but it STILL wont let me access any of my emails STILL asking for password.How do I actually put in a NEW password after i rest my master password. Thank you
Thanks for your useful tips!