Lost Main Password

tkaphd

Hello. I recently had to replace my computer as it was damaged by water. Unfortunately, the password for Knox was stored on the other computer and I no longer have access to that file. I cannot open my vaults now and don't know what to do. Is there anyway to recover my password?

What a mess... Thanks.

khad

Welcome to the forums, tkaphd. I'm sorry that you are having this trouble and wish your first post was under better circumstances.



For your privacy and security, your vaults passwords are known only by you. We cannot reset them for you. 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 the following tips.



[b]The Caps Lock Key[/b]



When passwords stop working, it is frequently because the caps lock key is depressed when it shouldn’t be or isn’t when it should be. Try typing your password with it on and off (because it may have been on when you typed the original password).



[b]The Num Lock Key[/b]



Similarly, verify that the num lock key has not been accidentally enabled.



[b]Keyboard Layout[/b]



In System Preferences, there is a preference pane called International. Here, you can use different keyboard layouts for different languages. The keys on your keyboard would then show one thing but the character that is created by pressing the keys might be completely different. If you are using a layout different from the one that was active when you created your Master Password, the characters may be mapped to different keys. If you aren’t sure which keyboard layout you used, try entering your Master Password using all of the layouts that you may have used.



[b]Restart Your Mac[/b]



This is not a very scientific suggestion, but there have been instances where some installed software influences how keystrokes are processed and thereby affect password entry. By restarting your Mac you will stop these applications and also restart any other “misbehaving” applications.



[b]Search Login Keychain[/b]



If you selected “Remember this password” for the vault(s) you can use Keychain Access to view your password. This is usually only helpful when switching computers as the vault would normally unlock automatically if you have this option enabled.



To do this, open Keychain Access (found in /Application/Utilities) and search for “.sparsebundle” and “.sparseimage”. Double click on this item and click the “show password” checkbox. OS X will prompt you for your login password before revealing the password to you.



[b]Restore From Backup[/b]



To restore a Knox vault, open the Knox Preferences to the Backups pane and click on the Restore Vaults… button. In the resulting Restore window select the vault(s) you with to restore and click the Restore Selected Backups button.



If you have moved the vault backup from the configured location you can click on the Manually… button and use the file browser to locate the backup.



[i]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.[/i]



I hope that helps. Please let me know.