Why would Chrome/IE not persist cookies but Firefox works just fine?

Question

A user of our application has IE8, Chrome 15 and Firefox 8.

When the user logs into our application (or any web application that uses cookies to persist the login state) with Chrome or IE, they are immediately redirected to the login page. However, this works fine in Firefox.

I've triple-checked Chrome's cookie/content settings including re-installing and blowing away the profile, but nothing works. The user was working fine in Chrome on this past Friday.

It is nothing specific to our application because all sites that use cookies do not work for the user.

Is there something that IE and Chrome share for content settings or is there some other issue?

Solution

Are you 100% sure you deleted the Cookie folder, and that it was for the right user on the system?

http://ellisweb.net/2008/09/where-does-google-chrome-store-user-history-profile-and-bookmarks/

Comments

[Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007]

Does it work as expected on that computer when logged in (into Windows) as a different user?

[TheCloudlessSky]

@techie007 - Didn't try a different user, but I could.

[TheCloudlessSky]

@harrymc - No they haven't changed the folder and yes I've reinstalled Chrome completely (including blowing away their profile folder).

[harrymc]

My only other idea is to check the permissions on the cookies folder.

[iglvzx]

@TheCloudlessSky Can you download Google Chrome Portable and let us know if you still have problems with cookies?

[TheCloudlessSky]

@iglvzx - Good idea, I'm going to be trying all of these suggestions later tomorrow!

[TheCloudlessSky]

@iglvzx - I just tried chrome portable and it still doesn't work..

[iglvzx]

@TheCloudlessSky Interesting. It may not be the browser then. Perhaps the user's PC has a virus or some funky IP/hosts settings. Or maybe they made their Anti-virus software blacklist all cookies?

[TheCloudlessSky]

@iglvzx - I thought so too. I uninstalled all virus scanners, triple checked hosts/proxy settings/reset all IE zones... I also ran hijack-this so see if there was anything out of the ordinary, and there wasn't.

[iglvzx]

@TheCloudlessSky Have you tried Safe Mode? I'm starting to get paranoid for you. Try using a browser on a Linux LiveCD... ô.o

[iglvzx]

@TheCloudlessSky Check the Control Panel to see if there is any cleaning/maintenance utilities. I know CCleaner can be run from the command line automatically.

[TheCloudlessSky]

@iglvzx - Yeah - I'll try Safe Mode. I'm pretty sure using a LiveCD would fix the problem since it would bypass the OS all together. I'm going to be able to get into the office where this is happening on the weekend, so I'll update this post if there is any more details. Thanks for your help!

[iglvzx]

let us continue this discussion in chat

[TheCloudlessSky]

See my comments on the OP and you'll see that I even tried portable Chrome...

[harrymc]

A wild shot : check the computer's date and time (as well as timezone). See this article.

[TheCloudlessSky]

That's a good idea - I'll check when I have a chance this weekend.