How to recover a Gmail password stored in Firefox in Windows Vista?
October 7, 2022 8:57 PM Subscribe
I need to access a Gmail account that I haven't accessed in about a decade.
I need to access a Gmail account that I haven't accessed in about a decade. I think I used Firefox on a Windows Vista machine which I hadn't even turned on for a couple of years. There is a gmail button on the favorites bar. Firefox doesn't seem to remember the gmail login name or password. Firefox 3.0.19.
I also tried the Chrome that's on the machine. There's no gmail favorite. When I go to gmail.com I can't even enter the email address into the field that requests it.
I need to access a Gmail account that I haven't accessed in about a decade. I think I used Firefox on a Windows Vista machine which I hadn't even turned on for a couple of years. There is a gmail button on the favorites bar. Firefox doesn't seem to remember the gmail login name or password. Firefox 3.0.19.
I also tried the Chrome that's on the machine. There's no gmail favorite. When I go to gmail.com I can't even enter the email address into the field that requests it.
Go to Firefox settings, look for "saved passwords" or "saved logins". If the password is saved, that's where you would find it.
posted by flimflam at 10:11 PM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by flimflam at 10:11 PM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
I believe at some point Gmail switched from using the gmail.com domain for the website to mail.google.com, so it's possible that the password is still stored, even if it's not suggested on the login prompt. The advice to look for "saved passwords" in the settings should be correct.
That said, I don't know that the Gmail account even exists anymore if you haven't been logging in regularly. The information I'm seeing says that Google may expire accounts that are inactive for more than 9 months. (They apparently changed that policy to grant a longer grace period recently, but that doesn't help you.)
posted by Aleyn at 12:03 AM on October 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
That said, I don't know that the Gmail account even exists anymore if you haven't been logging in regularly. The information I'm seeing says that Google may expire accounts that are inactive for more than 9 months. (They apparently changed that policy to grant a longer grace period recently, but that doesn't help you.)
posted by Aleyn at 12:03 AM on October 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
Authentic 2008 instructions for searching saved passwords in Firefox 3. Search for both “gmail” and “google”.
posted by kyten at 5:05 AM on October 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by kyten at 5:05 AM on October 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
It's been a few years since I used these tools, but try ChromePass and PasswordFox!
posted by gregr at 7:22 PM on October 8, 2022
posted by gregr at 7:22 PM on October 8, 2022
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posted by Mitheral at 9:45 PM on October 7, 2022 [1 favorite]