Dropbox OTP not working

Vicker
Vicker
Community Member
in Mac

I tried to switch my Dropbox OTP from Google Authenticator to 1Password. 1Password for Mac 6.8 was used. The OTP scanned the QR code from Dropbox correctly and able to generate OTP, however Dropbox report invalid code when tried to verify it.

As the data is synced through 1Password.com, I also tried to use the OTP generated through 1Password Android, also failed.

1Password Version: 6.8
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: OS X 10.12.6
Sync Type: 1Password.com
Referrer: forum-search:Dropbox OTP not working

Comments

  • Ben
    Ben

    Hi @Vicker,

    Thanks for taking the time to write in. I'm sorry to hear about the trouble. I can confirm that 1Password supports the OTP used by Dropbox (I personally use it), so let's see if we can figure out why it is not working on your specific setup.

    Have you tried re-scanning the QR code? From a different device, perhaps?

    If you edit your Login item for Dropbox the One-Time Password field should contain a string that looks like this:

    otpauth://totp/Dropbox:wendyappleseed@dropbox.com?secret=ZXBKPQIPPPFOZFKWXNWHXZ5ZAY&issuer=Dropbox

    The email address and the secret will be different, but overall it should look something like that. Let's make sure of two things: first... let's make sure that what you have begins with "otpauth" like that one does.

    If that doesn't make it work, let's simplify it. If you look at that value you'll see inside of it

    secret=ZXBKPQIPPPFOZFKWXNWHXZ5ZAY

    Let's remove everything except the secret itself, as that's the important part. So in this case that would leave us with

    ZXBKPQIPPPFOZFKWXNWHXZ5ZAY

    Your secret is going to be different, obviously.

    One other thing to check is that the date, time, and timezone is correct on all of your devices. TOTP relies on accurate time keeping in order to generate authentication codes, so it is critical that everything is accurate and in sync there.

    Please let us know how it turns out.

    Ben

  • Vicker
    Vicker
    Community Member

    Hi @Ben,

    Thanks for your support.

    I tried to alter the field as you suggested, sadly none of them worked. But as you mentioned about date, time, and timezone, I double-checked my Mac's config. First of all, the timezone and the time are both accurate. Then, I tried changing some of the following fields.

    For the automatic date and time setting
    Changed from Apple Americas/U.S. (time.apple.com) to Apple Asia (time.asia.apple.com)

    For Time Zone
    I switched off "Set time zone automatically using current location", which selected "Hong Kong Standard Time" as Time Zone with "Kowloon - Hong Kong (China)" as Closest City. Then I manually changed Closest City to "Hong Kong - Hong Kong (China)".

    After these changes, the OTP works!!!!

    As that doesn't quite make sense to me.... I tried to revert all the things and try to reproduce the error again. Sadly, not able to make the error anymore. Anyway, the OTP works perfectly now. Thanks, Ben. I shall report again if the same problem occurs.

    BTW, just my 2cents, I don't think that relates to my Mac's time zone issue... Unless the time zone is used during scanning of QR code instead of during OTP generation. As I've mentioned, I tried to generate a code using Android app and still fails...

    Cheers
    Vicker

  • Ben
    Ben

    Thanks for the update, Vicker. I'm glad to hear you were able to get this resolved. If we can be of further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us.

    Ben

This discussion has been closed.