Forgotten Master Password - Unable to create new 1Password

macbuz

1Password 3.8.21 and Mac OS 10.7.5.

I have read the documentation regarding creating a new 1Password. In a nut shell, I trash the old keychain file, download 1P and put it in Applications. I launch the new download and am faced with the new screen, then I select a 'new file'. So far so good. 1Password appears and I put in my new master password and 1P opens. The problem comes when I 'restore data file from backup'. 1P closes, the backup occurs and 1P reappears - closed as it should. My new master password at this point fails. I have redone the procedure 4 or 5 times and always the same. It must be something with the old keychain, but it doesn't exist any more - so where is 1P looking and finding some remnant of my old forgotten master password?

Thanks for any insights.

sjk

Hi @macbuz,

I'm so sorry that you're having trouble with restoring your 1Password data from a backup. To unlock 1Password data from a backup you must use the same Master Password that was being used when it was created.

Do you still have access to your 1Password data anywhere else, like on an iPhone? Or is there any possibility of remembering your forgotten Master Password?

macbuz

Thank you. I've been away for a couple years and am trying to put things back together. Before I left, I must have had a moment where I created a variation on my password - the password hint helps but not enough. I know what it should be - should is the key word. At this point it's feeling like 'no possibility' of recalling the password. I'm usually quite careful with them. I'm very surprised to find myself in this situation. The password should be one of two including assorted variations.

My 1P data is in various places. There's a drive which I don't have access to at the moment that has Time Machine backups as well as CCC backups. The data exists on my iPhone but if I try to view an item it requests my master password which of course fails. There is also a sparsebundle of this drive (on this drive) which likely would have the data. So, there are numerous instances of the backup data. I'm unsure how to effect their use.

Thanks for your reply.

Megan

Hi @macbuz,

I'm sorry to hear that you've been having trouble accessing your data. Unfortunately, as @sjk says above, your Master Password is required to restore your data from a backup. For your privacy and security, your master password is known only by you. We cannot reset it for you and you cannot change it without entering the old one. There is also no "back door" to access your data without the master password. If there were, that would be a security hole that criminals could exploit to steal your information.

If you think you know what the password is, but it is not being accepted, please try some of these tips.

• If you have accents such as è, î and so on, try replacing it with the regular character such as e for è and see if that’ll get you in.
• Try leaving the caps lock on and/or off. You can also try copying and pasting your master password in a text editor. Make sure it’s an editor that doesn’t sync to the cloud automatically (you wouldn’t want to expose your password in clear view). Copy the password and then paste into the master password field in 1Password.
• If you entered the password hint for this data file, 1Password will show it automatically in a prompt after every three incorrect attempts. Confirm it’s the right hint that you entered because if not, you may be looking at a different data file.

Please try each tip, for we have found them to be the most common causes of this problem. If you cannot remember the password, you will need to restore from a backup or start over. You can do a restore from File > Restore, or you can start over using this link.

http://learn.agilebits.com/1Password4/Mac/en/KB/start-over.html

If you've really never stored anything in your 1Password data file then starting over is really easy -- but you'll want to make sure and provide a good "password hint" so you don't forget the master password again.

macbuz

Hello Megan,

Thank you for the reply. As with the documentation regarding this, your 3rd paragraph confuses me. The documentation and para 3 say:

                       _ If you cannot remember the password, you will need to restore from a backup ..._

On the other hand you and sjk say I am out of luck without my 'old' Master Password. I did have considerable data in 1P, less than some and more than others.

I'm sorry for the confusion - I'm just reading two different statements. One says sorry you're out of luck without the password and the other says -

                       _ If you cannot remember the password, you will need to restore from a backup _

Again, I'm very sorry for the confusion.

Megan

Hi @macbuz,

I do apologize, I can see how this got you confused! The option to restore from a backup will work if you have recently changed your password: the idea is that an earlier backup will have the previous Master Password, and not the forgotten one.

We could certainly make this a bit clearer, and I'll be sure to pass this along to our document team.

macbuz

Hello Megan,

You hit on something I've wondered about today. So, I have a file full of backups dating back to whenever. If, my password changed somewhere mid-stream of those backups, would those earlier backups associate with previous passwords? Hoping I have this worded clearly.

Wording differently - if I change my password, would the backups prior to that change associate with the old password.

Megan

Hi @macbuz,

if I change my password, would the backups prior to that change associate with the old password.

Yes, you've got it right. A backup made when 'xyz' was your Master Password will require 'xyz' to open it, even if you change your Master Password to 'abc'. (Also, please never ever ever use either of those as a Master Password. Just saying :) )

sjk

Hi @macbuz,

Every 1Password backup is like a read-only "snapshot" of the database at backup creation time, only unlockable using the same Master Password active at that particular time.

As @Megan mentioned earlier:

… you'll want to make sure and provide a good "password hint" so you don't forget the master password again.

An example of a good Password Hint can be one that helps recall which Master Password to use for unlocking an associated restored backup.

macbuz

Thank you both - Megan and sjk. It appears there is hope, because my older passwords were simpler than my later one(s).

As I said earlier, I've been away for a couple years and am trying to put things back together. Things get pretty grey after that amount of time. So far this has been the most challenging and thats probably a good thing relative to security of the data. I really appreciate your help and guidance.

sjk

It's our pleasure helping you with this, @macbuz. :)

If you have any further questions or issues please don't hesitate to ask!

macbuz

Just a follow up - sometimes persistence pays, after countless combinations I finally hit on the old password. It was quite a rush after all the effort expended.

Thank you again for assistance rendered.

sjk

That's awesome, @macbuz !!

I can imagine the rewarding thrill of unanticipated success and satisfaction at the moment you finally watched 1Password unlock your data. :)

Thanks for bringing up how important it can be to retain memory of older Master Passwords for the purpose of restoring 1Password backups, which is something worth emphasizing in our documentation.

Cheers!