Can't login to forum on gaming computer, but no problem on this laptop

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1

I can’t login to the forum any longer on my gaming computer (Win11 Pro 23H2)
It prompts me to sign in to my Microsoft account, but when I click in the space to enter my username it just flickers once. I can’t type anything into that field.

I use a local account to sign in to Windows, not a Microsoft account.
I also use a local account on this laptop, and I’m signed into the forum (obviously.)
This is a new problem.

I normally use Chrome, but I also tried it in Edge (which shows that I’m already signed in to my Microsoft account.

I’m signed into the Xbox App as BegottenPoet228 as usual, and have no problem launching the sim.

Any ideas what could be causing this weird behavior?

ETA: It’s got to be something with Windows on that computer. I know this because I logged out of the forum on this laptop, and was able to sign in to my Microsoft account normally.

I’ll scrub the internet for help, but if anyone here has an idea I’m all ears.

2

Have you deleted all your browsing data ?

3

I deleted it for the Microsoft Account signin page.
I’ll try deleting all of it.
Thanks for the suggestion.

4

Well this is bad.

I signed out of the Google account on the gaming computer (which turns sync off) and deleted all the data which also deleted all the saved passwords in my Google Password Manager. No problem.

I went to the laptop to grab the password for google.com
Again, no problem.

I signed in to Google on the gaming computer and turned sync on.

Went back to the laptop and all my passwords are now gone from its Password Manager.
Not good… Why the heck would it sync the empty list and not the list containing all my passwords?
Aaaarrrggghhh…

Off to search whether there’s a way to recover.
BTW - deleting all the data did not solve the original problem.

ETA: Apparently, Google syncs to the most recent UserData. When I emptied the browser data, that became the Password data that my other computers would sync to.

I was able to find a method to restore the C:\Users%username%\AppData\Google\Chrome\UserData folder from a Macrium backup.

I also made sure to export a CSV file containing the passwords. It won’t always be current, but it’s easier to import that file than it is to restore a backup.

5

Please disconnect the Honeycomb yoke from the USB port or USH hub.
Also, disconnect all USB devices except for your mouse and keyboard.

One of the connected devices might be causing the issue.

If you have any devices from Honeycomb Aeronautical, there’s a strong chance that one of them is causing the issue.

6

Follow up. This has baffled some pretty smart folks on Experts Exchange.

I’ve made a little progress: It’s not yet fully resolved, but after Microsoft updated Edge I can login using Edge, which doesn’t prompt me for a Microsoft username/password (because I’m already signed in to my Microsoft account.)

But I still have the same weird behavior when I try to login using Chrome.

It has been suggested that Chrome still has a expired forum token (whatever that means) and the only way to fix this weird problem is to repair/reinstall Windows.

I think I’ll just use Edge when I visit the forum on my gaming system.

7

I had a similar issue once with Microsoft Edge. When I clicked on the login field, the cursor would appear and then immediately disappear. I physically disconnected my Honeycomb Alpha Yoke from the USB port and after that, I was able to log in successfully.

8

I can’t login to the forum on my PC at all, I click LOG IN and it just loops in an endless loading cycle.

I’ve tried; deleting cache, data, passwords, logging off Xbox live, logging out of outlook, even downloading two different browsers so fresh installs but the issue is exactly the same.

9

I couldn’t log into the forum once and had the same crazy problem. I ended up just going to the MS live page (something like login.live.com ). Once I logged in there, I just opened a new browser tab and accessed my saved forum page and it let me in without having to log in.

10

Tried that and that didn’t work either :neutral_face:

11

To reiterate: I can’t login to the forum using any browser but Edge.
It’s almost as though Microsoft is not updating its token for any other browser.

12

The only thing I could suggest would be to go to the live login page and successfully log in, then open one of the other browsers that don’t work and try again.

13

Unfortunately, I’m seeing some bizarre behavior when I try that.

I’m unable to enter data into the Microsoft account sign in window. When I click in the field for account name I see a list of Microsoft365 accountsfor a brief moment, but the Microsoft Live account I use here isn’t listed. Worse yet, I can’t type anything into the field. I have the same problem if I navigate to the Microsoft login site. I’ve tried Chrome, Edge, and even a brand new install of Brave. I’ve disabled ad blockers.

I’m signed into Xbox Live, and MS-Store, and Edge shows that I’m signed in to my Microsoft account, but I still can’t login to the forum.
Signing out of my account on Edge didn’t change anything, and I still can’t login to my Microsoft account (because I can’t enter my username.)

It seems like it might an issue with my local account profile (which is not a Microsoft account.)
I didn’t want to do this, but I created a new user profile using my Microsoft Live account, and I still can’t login to the forum with anything but Edge.

One of the Experts on ‘Experts-Exchange’ said this:

How the Microsoft account validation process works:

It’s exactly that, it’s a process, just another means of validation, it doesn’t log you in globally, it logs you into sites based on the site rules - not Microsoft’s - but uses their authentication, so if you log into the forum and the forum auth token/cookie expires after 28 days it doesn’t matter that you used your MS login somewhere else the day before that, you’ll get prompted to re-authenticate.

14

I have what seems to be the same problem.

I now have 3 Windows 11 PC’s to try this on: PC #1 is a laptop that I was using for FS and the one that I originally set up for FS 2020, FS2024 and my Forum account. This is the only one that allows me to sign into the Forum. PC#2 is a brand new gaming machine that I have just set up this week and runs FS2024 fine, but I can’t log into the Forum on that PC. PC#3 is another laptop that I used for testing, and I cannot sign into the Forum from that one.

All three machines use the same Windows account. I think this is significant.

What Happens: On PC#2 and #3, Using either Chrome or Edge, after I click “Sign In” on the Forum page I get a delay of about 5 seconds where a little circle icon rotates on the screen, then a very VERY quick flash of something on the screen that looks like it might be what I should see but that instantaneously disappears and the rotating icon returns to the screen. This sequence repeats itself ad infinitum.

What I did, but has not worked: Logged out of the Forum on PC#1. Shut down that machine. Deleted all cookies, cache, history, etc. from the other PC’s, logged into MS account live.com on each of those PC’s, then ran Edge and Chrome on each but still can’t log into Forum from either of them.

I notice that when I go this Forum website on PC#1 then it never asks for me to enter my credentials (password or username). I wonder if credentials linked to this PC itself and not to my MS account, are being stored by the Forum website and perhaps that is why it won’t let me login from another PC. I don’t see any way to un-save any saved credentials that may be stored in the Forum website.

This is not a show-stopper but very annoying. I’m a regular user of the Forum, almost every day, and I may not always have access to the one PC that allows me to log in here.

15

I think this is close to the truth. Why can I login to the forum using Chrome on this laptop, and login to the forum using Edge on my gaming computer, but can’t login to the forum using Chrome on my gaming computer?

It’s very puzzling. I tried uninstalling Chrome. If you try that, DON’T try syncing the new Chrome to your Google account. I tried that, based on some advice, and it wiped out all the saved passwords and bookmarks on the three computers I have Chrome synced.

16

As you know, I had the same problem - I couldn’t log in to the forum through Chrome. I’ve already fixed it now though :wink:

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17

Many thanks to @TenPatrol for his expert help with this. Yesterday, after many months of trying unsuccessfully to get logged in to the forum when using Chrome, I finally found success using his method.

It’s extraordinary to me that it was this difficult. But the result is what matters. Recognize that I spent a lot of time back and forth on Experts Exchange (a paid service) and no one there had a solution for me. TP, I need to buy you a beverage someday.

Here’s the method he shared with me. As you can imagine, it took me many tries to get the ‘CLICK’ ‘TYPE’ ‘CLICK’ ‘TYPE’ ‘CLICK’ ‘TYPE’ ‘CLICK’ ‘TYPE’ ‘CLICK’ ‘TYPE’ timing down. Keep at it, though - because in the end, it worked.

IMPORTANT: Disconnect all devices except your keyboard and mouse.
Then open Chrome and go to

https://login.microsoftonline.com/

If it looks like you can’t type anything, it might only seem that way. Click the left mouse button in the empty email field and at the exact same moment press the first letter of your email address on the keyboard.

Then repeat the same thing for every next letter - click the field with the mouse and press the next letter on the keyboard at the same time - until the whole email address is entered.
After entering the email address, click Next. When the page redirects, click on the password field and enter your password.

If again it looks like you can’t type anything, do it the same way as above - click the field with the mouse and at the exact same moment press the letter or number on the keyboard for each character of your password.

After logging in, don’t close the tab. Open a new tab instead and go to https://forums.flightsimulator.com/

Once it redirects to the forum, click Login, and click the name of your email, then login to the forum normally.

18

Happy to help :slight_smile:
It’s honestly surprising that even the experts from a paid service couldn’t help, but at least it’s sorted now :slight_smile:

I’m really glad I could assist - I managed to reproduce the issue on my end, which made it much easier to figure out two possible solutions fairly quickly.

Just to add some context - while I had some free time and was a bit bored, I reproduced the issue on my own system (even risking breaking it :smiley: ) to help out. After that, in private messages I shared two solutions that worked for me when dealing with the exact same problem with Chrome and logging in.

The first one was basically disabling anything related to synchronization (account sync, saved passwords, etc.), and even reinstalling Chrome with all data removed. In short, turning off anything that could interfere with sync. That worked for me.

@BegottenPoet228 didn’t want to lose any data and sync settings, so this suggestion wasn’t suitable for him - which I completely understood.

So I reproduced the issue again on my side, and once I managed to trigger it, I came up with a second solution - the one described above - which also worked for me.