Facebook password forgotten, "change password" email never arrives

September 22, 2018 8:32 PM

To make a long story short, I changed my Facebook password about two months ago, promptly forgot it, went to change it again, and the "change password code" never arrives.

- I have checked the Spam folder. It is not there.
- I have checked the "Social" and "Forum" tabs in my gmail account. It is not there.
- I have checked the secondary account (Yahoo Mail) that is listed on my FB account.
Spam folders and all. It is not there.
- I have checked all the accounts, folders, and tabs.
- I have re-sent the email numerous time. Did you know: on the "resend password to reset email" page, there is a little link that says "Didn't receive the code?" Surprise, surprise! If you click on it, it will send you back to the "resend password to reset email" in one infernal loop.
- Here's the funny thing: when I go to my FB security page, it says that they have not sent me any emails in the last two weeks. It has said this every time I request the emails. Their system seems to both act as if it has sent me the "reset password" email and acknowledges that it has done nothing of the sort.
- Lastly, it does not appear that anyone else seems to have access to my account -- at least not that I can tell. (I suspect that the original mystery "friending" was just due to my own absent-minded and mistaken clicking.) If someone had hacked my Gmail account as well, and was intercepting or erasing the "reset email" after it arrived, they would have to be really quick about it since I am checking for it simultaneously.

Some of you probably know that Facebook help is non-existent.

(Perhaps some of you even work at Facebook!? If so, help!?!?)

My only other recourse is to try to get the podcast Reply All to take it on as a "super-tech-support" issue. The thing is, I can't even quit Facebook without the password. I also can't login (or logout) of apps that I've joined through my Facebook account.

Help!?

P.S. It is saved in my browser (Chrome), apparently, since Facebook just stays open. Is there a way to view it in my browser?

posted by zebrabananafish to Technology (6 answers total)

It sounds like you're continuously logged in while you do this, so--wild guess--maybe there's something odd to do with your established session. My other hypothesis is maybe some plugin is interfering. Have you tried using another browser or an incognito window to send a reset email? That would address both of my guesses.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:02 PM on September 22, 2018

If it's in Chrome and you're logging in to Facebook and Chrome supplies the password, you can get it. Bring up Chrome's setting page, and under the People heading, you'll find a key icon and "Passwords". You'll be able to expose your passwords after entering the password for logging into your computer.

If you're just been continually logged into Facebook without a password being asked for, then if you changed your password and didn't update it in the Chrome password manager, then Chrome won't know your new password.
posted by ShooBoo at 10:42 PM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

Do you have two-factor authentication setup on Facebook? Facebook recently asked me for something like a code from an email they'd never sent and I tried entering the authentication code from the app I used for 2FA with Facebook and it worked. I guess they hadn't updated their site's copy to reflect that feature, even though it's clearly in use. Anyway, if you do, maybe try the code from your authenticator app.
posted by DyRE at 4:30 AM on September 23, 2018

I had this same issue recently (within 2 months). I tried for 3 months to send the notification to myself (I was logged in on a single computer, but logged out everywhere else, and the computer was is danger of failure).
The only solution I found was to finally cave and give Facebook my cell number so that it could text me my code. I am assuming that the 'email you a code' feature being disabled is a feature, not a bug, in Facebook's eyes.
posted by Sauter Vaguely at 8:30 AM on September 23, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions! In response, one by one:
Wobbuffet, thanks for this suggestion. I just tried that today and it still didn't work (no email was sent).
ShooBoo, so I tried this and it's still the old password :-/
Dyre, hm, I don't have an authenticator app. I actually don't use FB on my phone because I don't like all of the permissions it requires.
SauterVaguely, I sometimes suspect that this whole thing is an intentional "bug" that is meant to require me to give them my phone number. Which makes me even more angry and stubborn. I don't want to give FB my phone number (and that is exactly why I have not over the last 2-3 years they've been asking me to!). If I end up having to do that just to change my password, I'm going to fully disable my account with them.
posted by zebrabananafish at 12:49 PM on September 23, 2018

Are you 100% sure that the email Facebook has on file for you is the same account you've been checking? Because there was somebody who accidentally attached my email to their Instagram account and boy was I getting a lot of reset codes.
posted by aimedwander at 8:17 PM on September 23, 2018