"User cancelled master password entry"

ejcheever
Hi,
I've seen some other posts on this but haven't been able to resolve my issue.
I haven't used my Zotero account for a couple of months. When I tried to log in to the desktop app I got the "master password" error. However I don't have the primary password enabled in Firefox nor am I currently logged in to Firefox on this PC.
  • dstillman
    Nothing to do with Firefox — those threads are from many years ago when Zotero was a Firefox extension.

    Can you provide a Debug ID for opening the preferences and trying to log in?

    Are you using any third-party security software that might be interfering with Zotero? There've been a few recent reports of this, after none for years, and I don't believe anything in Zotero 6 should have changed this, so we're trying to figure out what's going on.
  • ejcheever
    Sure! Here it is.

    I'm at work and I don't know what security software is used, but I can look into it.

    D351965706
  • dstillman
    5.0.85
    Oh, this isn't even Zotero 6 — you're on a version of Zotero from March 2020. So 1) you should upgrade and 2) this definitely isn't anything that changed in Zotero. You should talk to your IT department about both of these things.
  • ejcheever
    Ok thanks for the info. I'll have them run an update.
  • ejcheever
    Hi, My IT dept. said they ran an update but I got the same error when I tried to sync. Here's the Debug ID from this morning: D1224838641
  • david.northover
    I am getting the same error.
    Freshly downloaded linux client (v6.0.4), installed at /opt/zotero ala instructions.
    Debug ID D66987744

    Windows client (different machine) not having any problems, on same network.
  • david.northover
    Update on my previous post (once it passes moderation):

    The issue (in my case) was tied to the profiles in the .zotero directory.

    Zotero was able to successfully setup password and sync when run as root (after the required .Xauthority shenanigans to start at all) on the Linux machine, creating the separate root profile. root user had no profiles, and so created a new one; standard user had a pre-existing profile from an earlier version (Oct 2020 or so, probably 5.x) that I hadn't tried syncing with previously (as much as I can recall).

    Deleting the "Zotero" directory did nothing; same issue occurred. Deleting ".zotero" with the profiles (.zotero/zotero/XXXXXXXX.default) allowed me to login and sync after startup.

    I have the non-functioning profile directory .zotero backed up, can send it somewhere if you think it will be useful.
  • dstillman
    edited April 8, 2022
    Yes, nothing to do with the data directory ("Zotero") — it's about the profile directory. This might happen if you previously ran Zotero as root/admin and the login manager database was owned by root/admin, and then you ran as a normal user. In that case, fixing the permissions on all files in the profile directory so that they're owned and writable by the normal user would probably fix it.
  • dstillman
    (So, @ejcheever, you should check the permissions of the files in the profile directory, or ask your IT department to do so.)
  • Yixuan99
    D140426518
  • weimm
    The Debug ID is D207878618.

    user cancel master password entry.

    cannot sync

    Help pls
  • dstillman
    edited December 28, 2022
    Same answer as above. Check the permissions in your Zotero profile directory or figure out what else on your system might be interfering, and if you're still having trouble try a new Zotero profile (but you can still point it at your existing Zotero data directory in the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences).
  • adamsmith
    Just as an update should anyone else run into this, the error message for Zotero 7 & WIndows 10 says "User canceled primary password entry" -- I just deleted the profile directory and Zotero started fresh, which worked great for me. Presumably I could have fixed permissions, but Windows permissions are a mess.
  • heyweijia
    Just wanted to chime in to say that deleting the profile directory worked for Mac OS Catalina as well (I know I know but the Macbook Pro mid-2012 model still works like a charm after getting SSD and bigger RAM)
  • dstillman
    @heyweijia: When did the error start for you? Just after upgrading to Zotero 7?
  • heyweijia
    I just switched from Mendeley to Zotero 7. I installed Z then imported from Mendeley and tried logging in to start syncing. It kept giving me the same error "User canceled primary password entry". I tried giving full access to the profile directory folder and it didn't work. Reading on the forum led me here and adamsmith's solution worked.
  • dstillman
    edited August 9, 2024
    @heyweijia: Meaning this was a new installation of Zotero, with a new profile folder that had just been created? Or is it possible you had run Zotero before, on this or another computer from which you had transferred files?
  • heyweijia
    It's a new account I just created today. I did sign in Zotero on a Windows laptop at work a few hours earlier, which was successful. I didn't transfer files at that time though
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