Locked out of account

alfiewatkin

Hi there,

I have a situation. I recently purchased 1Password and have been using it on Mozilla and windows. I went to change my master password and used the 1Password generator set to random password with letters/numbers/symbols at 100 char length. I then wrote it down and copied it to a txt file. My 1Password was set to require a password after 5 or so minutes of inactivity. Upon putting in my new master password I am prompted that it may be a typo. I can’t login now. I have tried entering the older master password to no luck. Usually, I would also save passwords to Mozilla whilst I’m in the process of changing them all, and then eventually delete them so 1Password is the only place they are kept. It seems the 1Password extension has scrubbed my Mozilla, or at least made the saved passwords inaccessible.

I have my emergency pdf, email, every master password (there were only 2). I’m completely stuck on what to do.

The 1Password guides have gotten me nowhere. Is this an issue with using 100char passwords? Does 1Password have a char limit e.g 65char so my master password will just be the first 65chars of what I thought was my master password?

I would appreciate any help. This is very distressing. I feel like I took every precaution, although one could argue a 100char master isn’t the smartest idea.

I made a lot of changes to passwords and some of my 2FA is through 1Password. I’m very concerned if I’ll ever be able to access some of these accounts again now, as there are no saved passwords in any of my browsers anymore (locked behind 1Password extension).

mallory.j_1P

Hi @alfiewatkin, I'm sorry to hear about the trouble and can certainly understand your concern. Are you able to sign in to 1Password.com by any chance?

Tertius3

Since you need to enter your master password quite frequently, you cannot use a generated 100 characters random text for that. That's simply not feasible. Your master password must be memorable by you. It's the one single password you need to memorize and not need to write down to remember it. Every other password can be random text, but not this.

If a password is so complex that you begin to save it to some text file, in clear text, this is a way bigger security risk than using a less complex but memorable password you only save in your brain (and in case of emergency on a piece of paper you lock away together with all your other important paper documents).

In case you manage to access your account again (which isn't possible, if you made a typo at writing down that password in the first place), consider change your password to something you are able to learn by heart, not forget, and are fine with entering a few times a day to every once in a while (depending on the security settings you set).

GreyM1P

Hi all.

We generally recommend using an account password made up of four or five words, generated using 1Password's password generator set to Memorable. It will be the only password you should ever have to remember.

You don't need to include uppercase letters, numbers, or symbols. For example, doorbell humpback effete typify would make a suitable account password (just not now that it's in public!), and is easier to remember than random characters, or words with letters substituted.

There's more guidance on this here: How to choose a good 1Password account password.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or would like any further help. :)

DenalB

Hey @GreyM1P !

I would love to use the password generator to generate memorable passwords. But the problem is that these passwords consists of English words only. So, if you are a German customer like me, a memorable password isn't really a memorable password.

I'm pretty sure that there is a feature request for using memorable passwords in native language, already. Hopefully, this could be possible in a future release of 1Password and its password generator. Then it would be easy to generate such a memorable password as master password. 😉

GreyM1P

Hi @DenalB

We have an open feature request for this, so I've added a vote to it on your behalf. :)

— Grey

ref: IDEA-I-39

DenalB

Thanks a lot, @GreyM1P . 👍

Tertius3

I would also like a German password dictionary. I'm not using any memorable password from the generator because of the English words. They are not memorable, because they feel alien and foreign.

GreyM1P

@Tertius3 – Added a vote for you too. :)

ref: IDEA-I-39