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My 87-year Mom locked out of account

SamFrommy
SamFrommy
Community Member

My mother (yes 87) has been using 1password for about two years in the stand alone version. She recently told me she can't sign in. Here's what happened:

  1. She upgraded to the 1password account (she thought she was supposed to and started the trial on her Mac. Everything worked during the trial period.
  2. She did not pay for the subscription beyond 30 days so her account was frozen.
  3. She cannot sign into 1password with her existing master password on her Mac.

My question:
A. Would she be prompted to create a new master password with the subscription? She didn't think she changed the master password but maybe she did if prompted.
B. If the account is frozen, I thought she'd still be able to get into her primary vault but as I said the master password no longer works.
C. We can't input her payment into for her 1password account because she can't sign into it online.

What do you guys suggest short of starting again and losing all her existing vault data?


1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Sync Type: Not Provided

Comments

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @SamFrommy: Thanks for reaching out! I think there may be good news here.

    A. Would she be prompted to create a new master password with the subscription? She didn't think she changed the master password but maybe she did if prompted.

    Yes, when signing up for a 1Password.com account, she would have been prompted to choose a Master Password, so it's completely possible that she chose a different one than she'd been using previously. If it helps, we do enforce a minimum of 10 characters, so if her original Master Password was less than that she would have had to use a different one.

    B. If the account is frozen, I thought she'd still be able to get into her primary vault but as I said the master password no longer works.

    Again, there may be two different Master Passwords involved here: the Master Password for the local (Primary) vault, and the Master Password for the new 1Password.com account. Definitely bring that up with her and make sure she tries any she may have used.

    C. We can't input her payment into for her 1password account because she can't sign into it online. What do you guys suggest short of starting again and losing all her existing vault data?

    Please have her try the tips in this guide as they may help her gain access again:

    https://support.1password.com/master-password/#recover-your-master-password

    And while it doesn't sound like this is the case, if she's part of a 1Password Family (or Team) plan, another Owner, Organizer, or Admin can help recover the account, to create a new Account Key and Master Password:

    https://support.1password.com/recovery/#begin-recovery

    And perhaps most importantly, even if she's unable to get back into the account, if she'd previously been using the standalone version for some time, she'll probably have backups of that data and be able to restore it and "start over" with what she had before signing up for the account. Let me know what you find. I look forward to hearing back from you! :)

  • SamFrommy
    SamFrommy
    Community Member

    I think this is unsolvable. She is certain she input the correct password during the trial period and 1password was functional during the trial period. No problems. It was only after the trial period ended that the master password no longer worked. Is there any possibility that in freezing the account, it also froze the ability for the user to input the correct password?

    Also, she's not on the family plan. Finally, she has a back up but the software she's using (sadly) only saves 30 days, which wasn't long enough to get to a period before the trial began.

    I also had her change languages to see if that might be an issue, but it didn't appear to be.

    Thanks,

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    I think this is unsolvable. She is certain she input the correct password during the trial period and 1password was functional during the trial period. No problems. It was only after the trial period ended that the master password no longer worked. Is there any possibility that in freezing the account, it also froze the ability for the user to input the correct password?

    @SamFrommy: No. The Master Password isn't known by us (or 1Password) at all. It's used as an input to encrypt the data, and therefore needed to decrypt it. The only way for the Master Password to be affected would be if she'd changed it (this should be possible even when the account is frozen). However...

    Also, she's not on the family plan. Finally, she has a back up but the software she's using (sadly) only saves 30 days, which wasn't long enough to get to a period before the trial began.

    Even if the full system backup only goes back 30 days, there should still be local backups of 1Password data hanging around unless they were deleted for some reason (by default 1Password keeps many months worth of backups). Open 1Password for Mac and go to File > Restore and see what she has there.

    I also had her change languages to see if that might be an issue, but it didn't appear to be. Thanks,

    Good call. Definitely worth a try. Give my suggestion above a shot as well. I think there may still be hope. :)

  • SamFrommy
    SamFrommy
    Community Member
    edited May 2017

    Brenty, I was optimistic. Now not so much. Under my 1 password 6.7, I clearly see a restore option under the File > Restore. But my Mother's 1password curiously has no such option. Under File, all items are greyed-out and in any case, there is no "restore" option.

    Here is a screenshot of what happens when she clicks File:

  • SamFrommy
    SamFrommy
    Community Member

    Also, I had her check for backups in Preferences > Backup. But curiously, there is no Backup icon in preferences.

    She has these icons: General | Security | Accounts | Watchtower | All Vaults | Browsers | Update

    I wonder if it she installed a new version of 1password and it didn't sync with her data in the old version which is residing somewhere else on her iMac?

    Thanks,

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
    edited May 2017

    @SamFrommy: Thanks for that information. I think you may be right. 1Password will only have a Restore option (and Backups) if it had local vaults previously. It's theoretically possible that there could be another 1Password/database there somewhere, but generally if you install a different version (Mac App Store, for instance), it will pick up the database already present. At this point, my fear is that 1Password hadn't been used on that Mac prior to setting up the 1Password.com account, or that everything was deleted for some reason (a lot of folks seem to use "cleaner" apps, which will often do this). And if she'd been using 1Password somewhere else and migrated the data without creating a backup first, then it will exist only in the account now...and there would be no way to access it without the proper credentials.

    At this point, I'm feeling less optimistic, but we don't need to throw in the towel yet! I do have one idea, but I'm not even going to mention it unless I can be sure it has merit. The best thing to do will be to restart the Mac and generate a diagnostic report so we can look at the logs to see if there's something we can use:

    Sending Diagnostics Reports (Mac)

    Please send it to support+forums@agilebits.com with a link to this discussion and your username in the email so we can 'connect the dots', and post your Support ID here so we can confirm that we've received it. Thanks in advance!

  • SamFrommy
    SamFrommy
    Community Member

    This is now part of support ID #XPR-34349-631

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @SamFrommy: Thank you! I see that we've received your email, so we can continue the conversation there. I'll take a look at the diagnostics and get back to you shortly! :)

    ref: XPR-34349-631

  • SamFrommy
    SamFrommy
    Community Member

    Benty! Wow, it worked. Was an ordeal and I had to set up screen sharing so I could work remotely on her computer but the mission was a success. Restored the backup and her old password worked! Thanks for your help.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni
    edited May 2017

    @SamFrommy: Awesome! Thanks for the update! And thank god for screen sharing. You wouldn't believe how relived I was to verify that there were backups. Then again, you and your mom were probably just as relieved. :lol:

    Anyway, while I'd encourage you to add her to your 1Password Families plan so you can recover her account for her if needed in the future, she could always make a home-made Emergency Kit and entrust you with it for some DIY recovery. Just be sure she has a backup somewhere else, as if her computer had died we'd have been less successful. Anyway, we're here if you ever need us! :)

  • SamFrommy
    SamFrommy
    Community Member

    If I sign up for the families plan and add her, will her vaults automatically migrate? I don't want to have a repeat of what we just went through...

  • @SamFrommy If she just has one vault, she should be prompted to migrate that to her family account when she signs in to the app on Mac or iOS. She can also manually move her items over, which just requires selecting them all and moving them:

    Move items between vaults

    Let us know how that goes! :)

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @SamFrommy: Indeed, and the most important thing is that as part of your 1Password Family, she'll have you as a lifeline to recover her account. Cheers! :)

  • SamFrommy
    SamFrommy
    Community Member

    I have two vaults in 1password, Primary and my wife's vault. If I sign up for families I see how to migrate the primary vault. But can I migrate my wife's vault to a new account in her name?

  • Frank
    edited May 2017

    Hi @SamFrommy - Good question! If you sign up for a 1Password Families account and invite your wife to join the account, you can migrate her vault over as well. Each member of the family by default receives a Personal & Shared vault. You can move the data over to the Shared vault then your wife can move everything over to her new Personal vault. Anything you want to share with each other can be added to the Shared vault so you both have access to this data.

    We'll be happy to help out if you have any additional questions! :smile:

This discussion has been closed.