Encrypt Backup Password Problem

Hi marinayvonne,

If you were referring to my post above then yes I did deal with it.

I would add that there was some Itunes content on the phone that had corrupted and prevented the phone from backing up.

The backup would stop on the corrupt content so it was relatively easy to find it then delete it from the phone.

Once the backup was successful I was able to do the IOS upgrade and restore the phone using the password.

Good luck

This one has had me stumped for so long now and it seems the only way to resolve it is too reset my phone and that's worrying me with what I may lose and how much I might have to set up again (but it's looking less time consuming than either a brut force crack or waiting for Apple to at least enable you to reset it some way!).

I have spent hours on the phone to Apple, and they said that although the encryption is in that file it's also stored on the phone - I assumed this as I deleted all my backups and thought it might allow me to turn encryption off without a password, but nope!

I did set a password which I thought I would remember, yeah right - so I thought! ... and done it on a old windows PC which is now dead, since then I've now gone Mac Mini.

After being on the phone to Apple Support and being told of the reset, I then purchased Software to hack it and let me know what it was, this was flaky and their list of words that you put in a file to check didn't work right, I contacted the Software Company and they said there was a bug, I sent them my files and they couldn't crack it either. - So be warned if you go down the brute force route it can take weeks to crack if you don't have any clues to what it could be!

Where am I now ... hoping that something will pop back into my head on what it was OR Apple will allow a Password reset someway without wiping the phone! ... Coming from a software development role myself, it's not that hard to do but I suspect as its security its not going to happen!

There's a few things since having my Mac Mini I've encountered with Apple, I went for the ease of use but when you do hit problems ... they ARE PROBLEMS and take more time than not to resolve!

So if I reset ... are the Contacts etc sync'd back OK when I plug it into iTunes or will it wipe the ones on my Mac as there are none on my phone? ... I can live with losing settings, music, etc as I can add those back in but my main concerns is resetting the phone and getting Contacts back?

I'm certainly going to draw up a recovery plan for this one!

This is why we are all having so much trouble with this:

http://tech.kateva.org/2013/08/the-curse-of-itunes-encrypted-backups.html

The blog post includes two techniques for password recovery mentioned in this long thread -- if you are a Mac user. (I only tested the Keychain recovery option and it worked -- though by then I figured out my problem).

Apple should update their tech note on encrypted passwords to clarify the issue (passcode on phone is unrelated to password on iTunes). One problem is you set this password once and may never see it again. Serial number changes bring up the password request ...

There really are some usability issues here.

Good to see the blogger actually read this thread, where all of that information has been posted multiple times.

However, it missed the fact that if you have a MS Exchange account the pasword requirement may have been placed on the phone you your IT administrator, and the password is probably the domain password for your work computer at the time you added the Exchange account.

As irritaed as I am, as I really thought he wasn't, I have to admit that Lawrence was right all along. I'm certain that I never entered a password for this function before and tried every password I could remember, just in case, but to no avail. I have an algorythm in my head which I use to generate passwords quickly, based on associated prompts that would be present on screen etc to remind me in the future (as I'd be likely to stumble across such prompts at some stage in the future and use the algorythm to generate the password) and very unexpectidely, it worked when I triggered one. I really wasn't expecting to, and certainly don't remember ever entering it, even now that I've 'cracked' it. There's no way this would have been on there unless I'd have thought about it at some stage as it requires me to work through some maths (math if from US) to generate the password.

As frustrating as it is, it looks like the password does need to be input if a restore of backup is to be made.

A possible work around MIGHT be;

1) Delete/unsync all email accounts POP3 servers etc associated with device

2) Plug device into a different machine with itunes installed, and backup the phone there. (I think this might require you to authorise 1 of your 5 machines, but is a way you MIGHT be able to back up your device.

I haven't tried this and don't intend to, but I'm just throwing around ideas.

Good luck to everyone.

I had this same issue today. It turns out that the issue was related to changing of my lock PIN on my phone. I changed it from one 4 digit pin to another months ago but never noticed it was not being encrypted. Today, I tried all the passwords I had (including the actual iPhone backup password I had saved in Keypass) but they didn't work. I then tried my previous 4 digit PIN, and this worked. I, hopefully, will be able to change the password after it's done "backing up" again.

Hopefully this helps anyone who runs into this.

after hours of trials and errors and reading hundreds of posts here and elsewhere this is my final conclusion:

1) This is not an iTunes bug, there must be a password you have used long ago!

2) The password is one of your earlier , and possibly the very first password you used for your apple id, but i have no clue why!!

3) For me it was my very first apple id password! and Luckily it worked!

4 ) Good luck for you

I didn't make a password, yet I got prompted for a password after I created an encrypted backup. I found that you enter your Apple ID password with no capitals. It worked!!

<Link With Personal Information Edited By Host>

Every backup that has a password had a password entered, whether you remember doing it or not. The password that works is the one you entered. You can go back and read the messages in this thread, and you will see that everyone who finally was able to restore their backup that the password was different, and from a different source. The only way your Apple ID password without caps will work is if you ENTERED your Apple ID password without caps the first time you created an encrypted backup.

Well, I've never done an encrypted backup before and decided I may as well if it'll save my passwords for me and it's refusing to let me pick a password. I'm horrible about backing up my iPhone and have never even backed up my iPad once in the 2 years I've had it and I know for certain that I have never even once done an encrypted backup so there's no password I'm forgetting. But I'm getting the same message everyone else is getting. I don't even have a pin set on my devices.

This was annoying the crap out of me when I was trying to set up my 5S and I found a way around it. I backed up old iPhone 5 one more time, but this time I unchecked the "Encrypt iPhone backup" option before doing so. Once the backup was complete, I set up my iPhone 5S from that version of my iPhone 5 backup.

The above will obviously not work if you're trying to restore your phone to a backup version from a previous date. Hope this helps.

Ok, I was shocked to see I had set a password to my backups and after trying dozens of possible passwords I realized that it was the password of the computer where I am, but not the latest updated password, one that I had set about 1 year ago... strange...

Either way: my recommendation is to try ALL passwords that you used before to access to your computer's session where your iTunes is installed in (mine was an iMac).

Good luck to all

Switched from iphone 4s to 5s. Backed up my 4s, before buying it from the electronic store. Went straight home after I picked up the 5s, plugged it in to my pc and when the password prompt came up, I entered every possible password I am currently using or have used in the recent pass. None worked!

I did have an exchange account on my 4s, and when I called my employer IT, they basically said they do not encrypt backups and don't know anything about encrypted backups on iTune.

Between my work pc and apple log in, I have changed my password about 10 times since I have had my phone. In fact, my work requires that we change passwords at least every 90 days. I've been there over 3 years (with an iphone). Do the math.

I don't write down my old passwords. I never thought I would need them in a circumstance such as this bc I make a practice of doing full (non-encrypted) backups on my pc and I have no algorithm to remember them.

I tried to do a password crack and the system runs for 1/2 hour, then tells me that it could not come up with the password (or anything resembling). I feel it is not necessary to purchase full packages of these cracking softwares and this has been confirmed on this thread.

Every time I think of the kids baby pictures I want to cry. Every time I try to log into something that I have no idea what the username/password is, I want to cry. I did in fact cry last night when I got on the phone with Apple (ONE MORE TIME) and the first agents patched me onto an "Advanced Manager Agent" and it took half hour for the guy to even understand what I was talking about. I'm pretty sure English was his first language.

I'm going home tonight to try some new suggestions from this thread. But I basically have no hope anymore.

We may say it's not Apple and Apple may not want to take responsibility for this, but they are responsible.

The person on the phone with me last night asked 7 different questions, just to verify who I was. Some of those questions cannot be known by one single hacker - (Since encrypted backups are for my security). Why don't they have something set up for a recovery?

Or why don't they have a recovery of all encrypted backups, whether by me or by an exchange account from my employer. MAKE them enter a password or a contact where to obtain the password, regardless if the phone is a personal phone or a company issued phone.

If it's a personal phone, why aren't I prompted when it is being encrypted or have a double prompt to ask whether I actually want my backup encrypted with a password.

There are so many ways to avoid this madness that obviously so many people are dealing with. These are very expensive devices and at times services - we are entitled to topnotch service and not have to deal with something so F*! basic.

These people are supposed to be at the top of their games. Where?! How?!

Feeling completely screwed!

Apple has no way of knowing your backup password, that's why they can't help you. It is yours, and exists only on your computer. And you created it. You were prompted the first time you made a backup with encryption checked. If Apple knew your password there would be worldwide clamor about how Apple was spying on you, or providing your personal information to the NSA or GCHQ.

The only product that MIGHT be able to help you is from elcomsoft, a company that makes encryption products for government and law enforcement. Their trial version will give you the first 2 characters of your password. There are no other legitimate password crackers around; the ones that advertise are little better than frauds.

You can speed up the process of trying passwords by unchecking "encrypt backup" in iTunes. You get unlimited tries. So think of what you might have used a year or two ago. Including your work domain passwords back then. Your employer may have inadvertently set the requirement, because it is the default for Exchange accounts.

Lawrence Finch, you seem to be a pretty good source of information on this thread, so for the sake of not being combative, I will try that software AGAIN, even though currently it has not even been able to locate the backups on my pc so far.

That said, my point is made in that if there is a software that can "crack the code", Apple can certainly come up with a way to help me retrieve it or change it or obtain it (whatever you want to go with).....If the issue is an exchange, can I get a prompt that it is being encrypted? or whatever!!

I know you believe there is one answer to this: One enters password, One forgets and One is screwed because One cannot remember their own password, but I see many people have disagreed with you and a few people on here have debunk this theory.

Here are my challenges:

Say it's the Exchange Account:

I backup on September 15 - It is encrypted.

I backup on October 15 - It is not encrypted

I backup on November 15 - It is encrypted

Why the gap? Why not encrypt it every time? Apple couldn't answer that question either.

Say it's the being encrypted since an older previous backup was encrypted and I just forgot password:

I backup on September 15 (hypothetically with password) - It is encrypted.

I backup on October 15 (hypothetically with same setting from 9/15) - It is not encrypted

I backup on November 15 - (hypothetically with same setting from 9/15) It is encrypted

And please don't say I removed the password on October 15, bc my argument is that I never encrypted to begin with.

Please note that November 16-present, I tried to back up and restore my phone. I tried with a password at first - the back up becomes encrypted

- Tried it without a password - the backup is not encrypted that night - the next day it becomes encrypted.

Please also note that there are no exchange accounts on my phone, I'm working with blank phone, trying to see where I may have gone wrong.

So you see my problem? the whole thing becomes so convoluted that I loose track and become confused, and so is Apple when they remote access into my pc and see it for themselves.

You are welcome to try to give me a real practiced solution as to exactly why this is occuring for me and others, but I beg you to not stick to the same old argument. This is obviously being met by challenges - to you and Apple (Maybe both and the same???)

:-/