InformAction Forums

Hi. This is my first post.

I used to be able to use NoScript with FF's Sync feature up until January or February 2015. Sync took place for bookmarks and browsing history between my Ubuntu laptop and an Android smartphone running a mobile version of FF. Then Sync just stopped functioning. I have a feeling NoScript may be the cause of this.
Obviously I have a Mozilla's sync accountand my sync devices are or at least were correctly identified after Sync experienced its major overhaul 18 to 24 months ago (I believe).

I now run FF 39.0.3 with NoScript 2.6.9.3 on my laptop and FF 39.0 on my Android OS device. Sync'ing is impossible. Everytime I try to use sync by clicking on Sync, I get a page where a "Get started" features prominently. Clicking on it causes a blank page to appear on FF (laptop side). It reads:

Firefox Accounts requires JavaScript.

From the menu Tools> Setup Sync, I get exactly the same thing.

So, it looks like my setup is gone, since FF proposes me to "get started" all over again. I don't know why and it does not matter to me. Resetting my account and starting over. The problem is when I try to do that. Javascript appears to be "disabled" and I never get past the frigging message: "Firefox Accounts requires JavaScript" !

I looked at the about:config flag page and could confirm that Javascript is properly enabled in FF.
I tried disabling completely NoScript and to sync Same problem.
I also looked at NoScript trying to whitelist whatever Mozilla' account page the warning message above implicitly could refer to. I could not because I have no domain name or IP address for that, just a FF internal page address that starts with about:accounts...., which is already in the whitelist.
Then I tried to temporarily "allow all top level site by default". No change in behavior. Javascript is still seen as disabled, when I try to sync.

The only thing I haven't tried has been to remove NoScripts altogether.
I am stumped.

This may be very lame, but can anybody put me on the right tracks or help me troubleshoot the issue ?
Cheers,
-cedric

Cbhihe wrote:I tried disabling completely NoScript and to sync Same problem.

Then this issue is not NoScript related.

I don't use Sync & I'm not even a Firefox user, so not sure I can help much...
All I can think to suggest is Standard Diagnostic but be careful not to lose all your data trying that...

To be clear, does "disabling completely NoScript" mean that you went to Tools-Addons, clicked on Disable, and selected "Yes, remove ALL protections"?

If so, then uninstalling will make no difference.

"disabling completely NoScript" mean that you went to Tools-Addons, clicked on Disable ??

... Yes and in doing so, if I did it well, I removed all protections.

I am told it is not NoScript related. Nevertheless I would like to try something else before giving in to that opinion.
Namely I'd like to remove NoScript completely from my FF and try that sync'ing that way, report the result before freshly re-installing NoScript.

How should I proceed to make sure I do not lose my whitelist and existing NoScript settings ?
Does the export button visible at the bottom of the option settings windows serve the purpose of backing up _all_ settings ?

-cedric

Well you can outright remove NoScript if instead of Disable you click Remove. NS settings will still be saved.

But even if that does work your issue is still not NoScript related, NoScript can't do anything like that when it's disabled. The ONLY time I've had to actually remove an addon (when disabling wasn't enough) was when my browser's status bar was messed up from the browser caching the XUL of the disabled addon, your issue would involve the actual addon's code which would have no effect if it's disabled.

@Barbaz: I get it.
In the meantime I followed the sound advice received here, saved my NoScript settings (just in case) and did a Standard Diagnostic of Firefox. I eventually ended up disabling two add-ons:
- ADB Helper
- Valence
I have no use for them. The fact is they were installed without my consent by Mozilla on the occasion of some package upgrade.

Restarted FF with NoScript perfectly enabled and ... PROBLEM SOLVED ! I regained access to my sync account.
Apparently NoScript was indeed not the culprit. The thing is having done this, I really don't know what I have done and why it now works.

All this was a little like a Windows 95 troubleshooting recipe:
- switch off yr engine
- open yr door, get out of the car, close yr door.
- open yr door, get on the car, close yr door.
- switch on yr engine.
Congrats on having chosen Windows, you're good to go !

Thanks g{uy,al]s for the help and sorry for having barked up the wrong tree.
-cedric

No problem, thanks for letting us know the results and glad you're back up & running