new password & verify field left blank in Change Master Password

blank new password changes password but not to nothing
OK, first I'll admit I did a stupid thing and I think I can recover from it by recovering from my latest backup, but...

I wanted to change my Password Hint and retain my Current Password, so I went to Change Master Password in Security Prefs and only entered data in the Password Hint field and hit Return.

1Password 3.3.1 then asked me to go back and enter my Current Password, which I did, but I left the New Password and Verify fields blank.

As I hit the Return key it occurred to me I should have thought to re-enter my current password in the New Password and Verify fields, but too late.

I immediately tried Change Master Password again and now I get "The current password is not correct. Please try again" message whether I enter nothing or the last 2 Master Passwords I have used.

So it seems 1Password doesn't in fact record a null or empty field when the New Password and Verify fields are left blank, nor does it refuse to record a new Master Password, leaving the former in place.

Any idea what it uses for the Master Password in this case?

I haven't yet closed 1Password so I can still access/navigate thru all my Logins, Secure Notes etc to record the data by screen shots or whatever. If I close 1Password I doubt I will be able to open it again since I don't know the mystery Master Password.

I should be able to restore from a recent backup using my former Master Password. I took a look at those and was surprised to see the last is 3 days ago even tho I have backups set to Daily and I've been on my Mac 10-12 hours a day the last few days.

Thanks for any thoughts on this matter before I close 1Password and perhaps lose a chance to recover from my mistake without going to the backups.

Comments

  • MartyS
    MartyS
    Community Member
    I'm sorry you got yourself 'stuck' in this situation! What happened is that 1Password saved an empty value as your Master Password. Before exiting 1Password you can just re-do the Change Master Password sequence, leave the 'Current Password' value blank and put whatever you like into the 'New Password' and 'Verify' areas. If you do/did exit 1Password you can just specify nothing as the Master Password to the unlock screen and be able to access your data (and hopefully, go back and change your Master Password to a nice, strong password).
  • jimturney
    jimturney
    Community Member
    MartyS wrote:

    Before exiting 1Password you can just re-do the Change Master Password sequence, leave the 'Current Password' value blank and put whatever you like into the 'New Password' and 'Verify' areas.


    That didn't work for me but perhaps I didn't explain that well in my post, but I wasn't terribly worried with the backups, just hoping to avoid the hassle and potentially new gotchas.

    If you do/did exit 1Password you can just specify nothing as the Master Password to the unlock screen and be able to access your data (and hopefully, go back and change your Master Password to a nice, strong password).


    That worked exactly as you described. I have a strong password:-)

    Thanks for your response.
  • hi I did the same thing. But i've quit and relauched the program. when i enter the program just leave the password field blank and click "unlock" and it gets me in fine. And for the longest time i just accepted that. Now with the new firefox browser extension it asked me to enter the master password, but when I just hit unlock, it says incorrect password. So i went into the actual program, figuring i would just change the password to something else. I went into system preferances and left the Current Password field black, and filled in what i wanted for a new password. But it kept telling me that the current password was invalid :\

    How do i fix this?
  • Hi halorrr,

    Please try this:

    Make a backup.

    Launch 1Password (from your Applications folder) and unlock it so that you are looking at your logins.
    Select File > Export All > 1Password Interchange File
    Pick a memorable place, such as your Desktop, and save the generated file there
    Quit 1Password
    Open Finder and select Go > Go to Folder. Paste in this path and hit enter: ~/Library/Application Support/1Password
    Inside this folder you should see a file called 1Password.agilekeychain. Move this file to your desktop.
    Launch 1Password. You should be prompted to either create a new keychain or use an existing one. Select create a new keychain.
    Setup your Master Password and get logged into your new (empty) keychain
    Select File > Import and select 1Password Interchange File (.1pif) as the import type. Follow the wizard, and select the 1pif file we saved above on your desktop as the file to import (not the 1Password.agilekeychain)

    Once you have your data back in 1Password, quit 1Password and follow these instructions:
    Extension Data Does Not Match the Main Application

    You should now be able to unlock the Safari extension and 1Password both using your new Master Password. Verify that this is the case.

    Once you are sure everything is working and all your data is available, please move the 1pif file and the 1Password.agilekeychain file from your Desktop to the trash and open Finder. In Finder select Finder > Secure Empty Trash.

    I hope that helps, please let me know how it goes.

    Ben
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