Question Copy a cookie from machine to another (solved)

[Perene]

I have a few Google accounts that I only used for Drive storage (free 15 GB each one). The problem with not using often is the fact these accounts have no cellphone in them so sometimes Google doesn't ask what the recovery email is to allow me to regain access to the account.

It will ask for a random phone number, to send a SMS and verify (but the problem with that is this: a single number is limited to a few accounts). Multiple uses will lock said account perhaps for WEEKS.

In Google's world if you erase cookies/temp files and/or switch device, browser, IP (mine is dynamic and changes every X days) then something is wrong and the "device" was not recognized.

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So I had an idea:

- Apparently Google's cookies expire 2 years after creation date. So if I am logged into my account now, if I don't erase the cookies it will not log me out during that time.

If that's the case then I simply would need to copy the Google related cookies and paste them in the browser's folder again.

That would mean that even if I switch machine (both being PCs), operational system, IP, etc. the cookies themselves would keep me logged into that account.

Is this idea going to work? If it will, then how do I copy these cookies? And where they should be inserted (which folder?) Currently I am using OPERA. Edge and Firefox are also installed.

 

[Perene]

I was able to find a Firefox extension that can indeed save cookies and restore them once they are all erased after exiting the browser.

GitHub - ysard/cookie-quick-manager: An addon to manage (view, search, create, edit, remove, backup, restore) cookies on Firefox.

An addon to manage (view, search, create, edit, remove, backup, restore) cookies on Firefox. - ysard/cookie-quick-manager

github.com

It saves as a .JSON file. So what I need to do is log into a Google account, select all cookies (option: SAVE ALL TO FILE) and then export. To import I need to use the option RESTORE COOKIES FROM FILE.

I read this link about copying a cookie from a machine to another: https://superuser.com/questions/186...om-one-browser-to-another-or-same-browser-fro

But the Chrome (or Chromium) extension didn't work (Cookie Editor), when I tried to use it.

So far importing the JSON file was able to restore the session from the Google account I was logged when saved.

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About Google's issues, unfortunately they don't care about fixing these bugs.

I had a similar problem with a defunct phone number (another reason I don't like to use a phone number for the recovery process), because Google skipped the recovery email question and insisted in verifying my account sending a SMS. Believe me when I say it took me a month (yes, a MONTH!) to regain access to these accounts again.

So here's the takeaway from these experiences:

- Google servers freak out and treat you as a hacker/someone trying to steal the account, if you don't use enough. When I say use enough is log frequently, often.

- If you create a Google account, then erase all cokies, and months later return to it Google will say you are logging from an unknown device.

It doesn't matter if:

1) Our ISP is dynamic, so it may be the case that our IP changes every 2, 3 days;

2) We change the browser

3) We change the device used for login;

4) We erase all cokies/temporary files

5) We even change our ISP and location (our city, state, country...). Also note that dynamic IPs often point to another near location from the same state, so one day you might be using this IP: 1.2.3.4 from Manhattan, New York, and days later using 1.5.3.2 from Queens. That doesn't matter, yet Google think it does...

So, what Google should do?

- Ask what the recovery email is.
- Ask to send a SMS code only if (again: only if) you created your Google account providing a cellphone number. Google allows us to remove and not configure ANY NUMBER for it.
- Ask the last password we remember.

What is in fact happening?

Google is locking users out of their accounts all of sudden, and for no reason at all, asking a random phone number to send a SMS code to verify.

If you happen to have 3, 4, 5 accounts, the same number can't be used again and again.

I am not wasting more time trying to explain these imbeciles all these bugs, because they don't care about fixing them, and that's why their help forums are flooded. It's not because someone was indeed hacked and lost/had the account compromised. It's because Google can't stop with these antics and is more concerned about implementing infinite gender options for account creation than fixing this.

That's why if this idea of copying the current session cookies always works, then I will have guaranteed accessing these again, within the next 2 years, which is when the cookies expire. I hope they all last enough and if I try using them 1 year later they don't break.

Google practically beg us to not change items 1) through 5), especially 4).

Important: Google stopped asking the account creation date a while ago (month and year) to clear access to them.