Transferring current vault to newly licensed (standalone) computer (wife’s)

bom13
bom13
Community Member

I am a longtime 1PW user and have finally convinced my wife she needs to run 1PW on her Mac & IOS devices. I already have much of her data in my vault as a backup. I don’t want to reproduce it all on her Mac. I’m hoping I can purchase a new standalone license and use the “usb drive” process to transfer my vault to her machine and then begin to add/delete from there and create a new personalized vault for her (with a new personalized master PW of her own).
My hope is that after transfer and editing my vault data on her machine....and then assigning a new PW, she can then begin syncing amongst her own devices.
She owns her own business and has multiple macs and multiple IOS devices. We don’t wish to use a family plan or to use a membership (I.e. cloud) license schema. She will sync using the standalone method and backs up her machines regularly to an encrypted NAS. I recognize a membership license would alleviate some of these processes, but for several reasons we wish to stay stand alone.
Will the vault transfer process (and setup) I outlined above work?
Thanks in advance for any feedback/ideas.
Brian


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

Comments

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @bom13: Well, I'm glad you're at least aware that you're "doing things the hard way". Not something I'd recommend, but how you spend your time is your business! What you're proposing sounds like it should work, provided you don't get any wires crossed. It's hard to say more than that since you haven't gone into any detail about which devices and sync method you might use, but you can find the options laid out here:

    Sync your 1Password data

    If you have any questions or considerations to add, just let me know. Have a great weekend! :)

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Brenty thanks for the response. She will be syncing using the WLAN process between her Mac & IOS devices. The same process I’ve been using across the same type of devices very successfully for quite a while. You provided a link to the sync process which I’m very familiar with. I simply want to know if she purchases a standalone license for both her Mac and IOS devices that I can transfer/copy my vault data to her machine, then edit appropriately and finally assign a new master PW to what will now be her vault data. I recognize this could all be done via the “family” product, however there are reasons that we don’t wish to go that way...yet. Are there any technical issues that would prevent or inhibit me from pursuing this methodology? If you need any more detailed information to answer, I would be happy to post to you directly if necessary.
    Thanks
    Brian

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Brenty thanks for the response. She will be syncing using the WLAN process between her Mac & IOS devices. The same process I’ve been using across the same type of devices very successfully for quite a while. You provided a link to the sync process which I’m very familiar with. I simply want to know if she purchases a standalone license for both her Mac and IOS devices that I can transfer/copy my vault data to her machine, then edit appropriately and finally assign a new master PW to what will now be her vault data.

    @bom13: Yep! That will even work with the trial version, you'll just run into restrictions after 30 days are up.

    I recognize this could all be done via the “family” product, however there are reasons that we don’t wish to go that way...yet. Are there any technical issues that would prevent or inhibit me from pursuing this methodology? If you need any more detailed information to answer, I would be happy to post to you directly if necessary.

    No problem! If you're already successfully syncing using WLAN Server in that environment, you'll probably be just fine. The only real impediment to doing so is the network environment. As long as everything is configured correctly, you'll be golden. :)

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Thanks Brenty for the feedback. As soon as she purchases her new licenses, I’ll begin the usb transfer process and hopefully we’ll have another happy 1PW convert!

  • :+1: :)

    Ben

  • sjk
    sjk
    1Password Alumni
    edited January 2018

    Hi @bom13,

    This caught my attention, from your first reply:

    She owns her own business and has multiple macs and multiple IOS devices.

    And the second:

    She will be syncing using the WLAN process between her Mac & IOS devices.

    (emphasis added)

    That'll work fine if syncing between just one Mac and different iOS devices. It won't work for syncing between multiple Macs. From the Notes in How to use the WLAN server:

    • The WLAN server can’t sync a mobile device to multiple computers.
    • The WLAN server can’t sync two or more computers.
    • The WLAN server can’t sync two or more mobile devices directly.

    I wanted to clarify that since it hadn't come up earlier. :)

    Have a great week!

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Folks....one last question/concern if I may, regarding the above scenario. Once I purchase a new standalone version for Mac and place it on my wife's machine, I will then:
    1. Copy my vault to her machine via "usb method"
    2. Sign on using my master PW and edit the vault
    3. On completion of edits, I will then assign a new master PW for her machine.
    4. Setup that machine to use the WLAN sync process
    5. Download and install 1PW for IOS on her phone and iPad & sync via WLAN method.

    Now we will both be using the WLAN sync on our private home network and she now has her own vault on her newly licensed Mac, and will be using her new master PW within her own 1PW environment (Mac & IOS devices).
    Here is my question. Is there anything in the WLAN sync environment that will be "confused" by 2 unique vaults, on 2 separately licensed machines syncing on a common network. I'm assuming there is no unique identifier or some such that will be a "remnant" from me moving my vault (originally) onto her machine that will cause issues. Is this correct?
    Thanks
    Brian

  • Hi @bom13,

    That's a great question. It will depend on your first step there, and how you copy your vault to her machine via USB. If you copy it by creating an AgileKeychain or OPVault file then you should be golden. If you copy it by copying one of your backup files, then you could encounter issues.

    Assuming you copy via something like OPVault, I believe it'll work fine. Each Mac will have its own transport key (WLAN secret) and its own vault identifiers. The iOS devices will likely try syncing with the wrong Mac, but I think they should fail silently in that case.

    If this doesn't work and you're having issues let us know so that we can look into it.

    Rick

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Thanks for the responses to my inquiry.
    1. Yes, I'm aware that WLAN sets up a server/client relationship and there can only be one server operating...hence no WLAN sync between multiple MAC's, but thank you for bringing that up. I've already discussed this with her & we've decided on which Mac will be her "master" or primary.
    2. Regarding the method I use to copy my vault over to her machine I was planning on using one of my backup (zip) files. That's when I had the thought that there might be some kind of unique vault key or identifier that might cause issues, and it seems from Rick's response that may be the case.
    I am unfamiliar with the "OPVault/AgileKeychain" process to move my vault. I will research it on support to see if I can dig up the details on how to proceed. If not, I will be back for some more directions from those better educated than I. :>)
    Thanks
    Brian

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Oh..BTW...Yes I'm aware that with the "family" plan we would not have some of these issues with sync, (multiple mac's) etc, but again there are some business (and client) related issues that would preclude us using the family approach for now. I hope at some point in the future we will be able to move family and have a common platform approach for all our devices.

  • rickfillion
    edited January 2018

    I am unfamiliar with the "OPVault/AgileKeychain" process to move my vault.

    Creating an OPVault for this purpose is a little round-about. You would go to Preferences > Sync, select your vault, then configure Folder sync and choose a folder on your USB drive. Once it's setup, you can set sync back to None and the OPVault should remain. The OPVault that it saved there is a full encrypted copy of your vault without the unique identifier problem.

    Rick

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Thanks Rick...on further investigation I saw that a sync to Dropbox would create an OpVault, so went ahead and completed an updated sync there. My intent was to simply setup my wife’s machine from there.
    Question......can I assume the sync to usb process you suggested above, to create an OpVault, is the same as a sync to Dropbox and it’s resultant OpVault?

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @bom13: Yep! It's technically exactly the same thing, only one syncs to the Dropbox folder and another is an arbitrary local folder of your choosing. Actually, if you try to get sneaky and choose "Folder" yet select a location in Dropbox, 1Password will just switch it to "Dropbox" for you. In either case, the important thing is that an external vault is created, which allows you to copy it to the other Mac to use there. Cheers! :)

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Ok then, I think I’m finally ready to make the move. Thanks to all the folks from the 1PW team who chipped in with sage advice and ultimately helped to make the wifey a happy camper....which is always a good thing!

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Likewise, thanks for your interest in 1Password! Don't ever hesitate to reach out if you or or loved ones have any questions at all. We're here for you! :chuffed:

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Folks...well, I went ahead and opened a family plan. I then invited my wife and then opened up her Mac, went to 1PW.com, added her account, downloaded !PW for Mac and all went well....UNTIL...I opened up "preferences". Although I was told in the above notes that I would be able to use the USB copy method to copy my OpVault file to my wife's machine....there is no "Sync" option available. I was told in the notes above that this process would work. I was also told that the apps are "the same" for both standalone and subscription based.
    I realize there is no need to have a "Sync" option for the families account (its done automatically) but now I don't know how to get the OpVault file from my USB drive onto my wife's Mac. Please advise.
    Thanks
    Brian

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    BTW...just clicked on the OpVault file directly to see what would happen from within the new 1PW subscription based app and was greeted with this message "Can't open Keychain...Importing from keychains is not currently supported in vaults from 1Password accounts". This goes counter to virtually all the answers I was provided above. Please advise.

  • @Brian,

    To use the OPVault you will need to temporarily turn on local vaults on the Preferences -> Advanced -> Allow creation of vaults outside of 1Password accounts.

    Rudy

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Please disregard the above 2 notes...I placed them in the wrong string. This was originally a standalone to standalone discussion and I am in a different environment. I will move my question to that note string.
    Thanks and sorry for the confusion!

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @bom13 - No worries! It's easy to get threads mixed up if you're trying to reply to more than one at a time. :)

  • bom13
    bom13
    Community Member

    Rudy...I wasn't aware of this option in "advanced". In my standalone desktop (Mac) version it is switched "on". And I think I understand why. As soon as I can get access to my wife's Mac (subscription-based), I will try switching it on, to see if I can then access the OpVault.
    Once turned on, is there a preferred method for then "importing" my OpVault file from either USB or Dropbox to her private vault?
    Thanks
    Brian

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @bom13 - please see my just-posted reply to you in the other thread. :)

This discussion has been closed.