Problems with password manager on Firefox 3.0.2 & 3.0.3

I have been having problems with Firefox's Password Manager following the release of version 3.0.2.

There was a known issue and version 3.0.3, which supposedly included a fix, was released last week, but like a lot of users I was still having problems.

The problem first came to light before 3.0.3 was released and I realised that the 'Remember This Password' toolbar was no longer appearing when I was trying to log on to web sites. Neither could I get a couple of add-ons (TwitterFox & Google Reader Notifier) to accept passwords when configuring preferences. (Unlike other users, however, I was not having problems logging directly into websites).

A helpful discussion with TwitterFox's developer, Kazuho Okui, put me on to a potential fix. But this did not resolve my problem, so I resolved to wait for a patch or an update to Firefox.

When 3.0.3 was released, I thought this would clear the problem once and for all, but it wasn't the case.

So, further research led me to another possible fix, which has reportedly worked for some people.

Still no joy.

But this morning, I managed to fix it and the fix is below.

Now, you are welcome to try this fix, but I know that people using many different OSes have been affected and this was trial and error, so I offer no guarantees nor warranties - try it at your own risk. I would be happy to answer any questions, but really, I'm just a Joe Six-pack user when it comes to Firefox, not a developer, so please bear that in mind, too.

Note: I have not deleted any files, simply renamed them, so that you can recover reinstate the file if necessary.

FIX:

Firstly, I'm running 3.0.3 on Win XP Home SP3.

I had tried saving signons3.txt as UTF-8 encoding, but it did not work. And I was still getting errors of the type:

''this._storage is null Source File:
file:///C:/Program%20Files/Mozilla%20Firefox/components/nsLoginManager.js Line: 479''

in the Firefox Error Console.

However, I had noticed that signons3.txt (in the Profile folder) was blank, but signons2.txt had password details (it contains details of sites for which you have chosen not to remember the password as well as those you have), so with Firefox closed, I renamed signons3.txt as signons3.old.

I then opened signons2.txt in Notepad and saved it as signons3.txt.

I restarted Firefox.

And now I have the Remember This Password toolbar back and it is accepting passwords on sites and for add-ons.

I have since restarted Firefox several times and I am pleased to say that it is all working fine.