Hi Gabe, I don't know whether you can expect a change like this in the near future. Many more people seem to be annoyed that Firefox requests credentials before they plan to use the Password Manager. I guess the solution is to have a preference for only unlocking on demand?

Mozilla has a product suggestion site at https://connect.mozilla.org/. If you have time, I think it would be a good idea to post this request there to get into the current feedback stream. Use the "Ideas" section of the site (at https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/idb-p/ideas).

In the short run, though, maybe there is an add-on to fake it?

Hi Gabe, I don't know whether you can expect a change like this in the near future. Many more people seem to be annoyed that Firefox requests credentials before they plan to use the Password Manager. I guess the solution is to have a preference for only unlocking on demand? Mozilla has a product suggestion site at https://connect.mozilla.org/. If you have time, I think it would be a good idea to post this request there to get into the current feedback stream. Use the "Ideas" section of the site (at https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/idb-p/ideas).

Hi @jscher2000. Thanks for replying.

Yes, that's exactly why I say that many people get annoyed by that (in fact, doing a search on the matter, people generally ask the opposite, how to make Firefox stop asking for the password).

Of course, in a situation using your own device, there are no problems, but when it comes to using Firefox on someone else's device (even with a portable version), it seems logical to me that it would ask for the password when starting Firefox.

In the short run, though, maybe there is an add-on to fake it?

An extension could also serve as a discreet solution, that is, that the extension saves a generic username/password entry in the user profile, which does not interact with anything. I imagine that this could also work today directly from the Firefox password manager, saving something random.

But I would like that configuration to exist through about:config; I understand that it existed at some point but has been obsolete for a few versions.

If you use Sync then Firefox asks after a short delay for the Primary Password, since the credentials to login are stored in logins.json but are hidden from showing in the Password Manager (about:logins). Of course,like you probably know, this doesn't prevent accessing Firefox if you cancel this prompt.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-primary-password-sync

... But I would like that configuration to exist through about:config; I understand that it existed at some point but has been obsolete for a few versions.

I can't recall that ever existing as a built-in feature.

Gabe Pérez said

... But I would like that configuration to exist through about:config; I understand that it existed at some point but has been obsolete for a few versions.

I can't recall that ever existing as a built-in feature.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was this: security.ask_for_password.

There should be a setting in Firefox similar to security.prompt_for_master_password_on_startup, which Thunderbird currently has.

If you use Sync then Firefox asks after a short delay for the Primary Password, since the credentials to login are stored in logins.json but are hidden from showing in the Password Manager (about:logins). Of course,like you probably know, this doesn't prevent accessing Firefox if you cancel this prompt.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-primary-password-sync

Hi, @cor-el

Yes, I understand that the master password doesn't lock down the entire profile, it only safeguards access to passwords and other private information. It doesn't prevent someone from using Firefox altogether. (I recall there was an extension a while back that could lock down Firefox with the master password, but it's no longer supported).

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer said

I can't recall that ever existing as a built-in feature.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was this: security.ask_for_password.

The oldest source code I'm aware of was for Firefox 45 ESR. That preference exists, but there's no code that implemented it, so the preference had no effect:

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-esr45/search?q=ask_for_password&path=&case=false&regexp=false

There was a bug report filed against Firefox 9 in 2012 that the preference had no effect there: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=719705

So it has been a while, if it ever functioned in Firefox (versus the Mozilla Suite, from whose code Firefox was developed).

I think that those security prefs were handled in NSS and not directly in Firefox.

• https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=specific&order=changeddate%20desc%2Cbug_id%20desc&chfieldto=Now&content=%22security.ask_for_password%22