iTunes asking for backup password???

Happy year everyone,

There are some good points there, and probably what we have here is a combination of problems.

I also thought that the problem could be due to slopiness on the part of the users (myself included).

But, as the keychain is used the backup password should be there, if it was set, and it wasn't.

I suposse that almost all users use the keychain, so the password field should be automatically filled, just by using the same computer (or keychain) where the backup was done.

I used the password crackers and they said that it got no password, but itunes keep asking for one.

After the problem what I did is to put a password for the backups, so it doesn't do that for me.

I don't remember the password, but as it is on the keychain I don't worry about that, and have restored the backup sucessfully several times.

So there must be some problem on the software part.

Greets,

Thankyou, thankyou thankyou to everyone who made suggestions on here. I updated ios and lost everything. I wasn't bothered about apps etc but was gutted about my photos. I tried lots of the suggestions on here and finally it took my first name 4 letters in lower case - a password I have never ever used - I wouldn't have even thought it was long enough but it worked. I would never have thought have that by myself so thankyou to everyone who contributed but especially to the person who suggested using your first name. I only registered on here to say thankyou as getting those pics back means the world to me. I will never be updating again!

It may not be a programming bug, but it most definitely is a UX bug! http://prntscr.com/88uomg

Section: Backups (not device encryption)

Subsection: Automatically Back Up (not lock up your device forever)

Radio button option: This freaking computer (Not irreversibly do things to another device)

Sub option checkbox: Encrypt LOCAL backup (not encrypt iPad, not lock iPad with a password, etc.)

Fury level: high

That's 5 solid reasons of why it is a critical UX design bug. And you tell me to read a troubleshooting webpage, years after I have forgotten the password. (I assume I set a password. Some people claim they never turned it on.)

You cannot fix a UX design bug by writing up a troubleshooting webpage and saying "sorry guy, you should have remembered your password from 4 years ago, even though we never warned you about this 4 years ago.)

I just want to turn off that encrypt local backup checkbox ...

"You can, but you need the password to do so (it would be pointless to have a password if it wasn't needed to access your backup)."

You are right, and you also don't get it. I obviously do not want me or anyone to be able to access my encrypted local backup without a password. However, I wish to make a future backup that is not encrypted. Computer logic 101 dictates that I should be able to delete whatever encrypted local backup may exist and create a non-encrypted local backup. Apple logic 101? Still waiting for the handbook on that.

jared275 wrote:

I don't care about the prior backup.

"In that case, restore your iPhone and don't try to load the (encrypted) backup. Or without having to restore, change your process to backup to iCloud instead of your computer."

I don't want to restore my iPad. That scares me. It says that it only backed up the most important data to iCloud. It also takes time, and how am I supposed to know if it will allow me to backup unencrypted to my computer? .... Ok I read the rest of the troubleshooting guide and apparently I have to spend a bunch of time, and lose whatever data is deemed unimportant in order to turn this checkbox relating to local computer backups off. I am not impressed.

I think I will wait a little bit longer to see if Apple changes their ways before I accept Apple's suckerpunch and lose my unimportant data, or resort to the world of jailbreaking and password recovery hacking tools.

jared275 wrote:

In the normal computer world, if you had access to my device, then you should be able to access all the data on it.

If I had your device there's no way I'm getting any information out of it without your passcode or finger. Sure there are tools out there to hack into the device, but not available to the average dirtbag. Without your passcode or fingerprint, no one's getting in. However, your computer may or may not have the same level of access restriction, hence the option to encrypt the computer's copy of your backup.

jared275 wrote:

The Apple iTunes user interface makes no mention that it is making my device inaccessible when I encrypt a local backup stored on my computer, therefore Apple is clearly in the wrong, UX-wise.

In the normal computer world, if I make a backup of something, and encrypt that backup, that does not lock me out of whatever I encrypted. That would be bizarre. Yet here we are.

Apple doesn't need to mention anything because it is quite evident that applying encryption requires you to remember the password (hence the requirement to verify the password you chose when you set it).

You seem to be confused ... encrypting your backup does not make your device inaccessible or locked out for normal use. The only time you're "locked out" is if you erase your device for some reason, then try to install the encrypted backup without knowing the password. Other than that you have free use of your device with or without your backup's password.

Your computer analogy does not apply to this scenario at all ... name a situation "in the normal computer world" where if you password-protect some information that you still have the ability to access the same (protected) information without the password. In some computer situations there are password recovery options, but not in situations where you, the user, assign and administer the password yourself.

jared275 wrote:

However, it has been crippled in regards to the feature I am trying to use (making backups to my local computer), because Apple did not warn me that my device would be crippled in this way if I happened to some day not remember the password of a local computer backup that I no longer needed.

Encrypting your device's backup does not require your password to initiate another (encrypted) backup ... you are only prompted for your password if (a) you want to turn encryption off, or (b) you go to install the backup back onto your device after erasing it. You are not prevented from making backups to your computer even if you don't know the password, so how exactly is your device crippled?

You're not telling the whole story here. So what did you do, change computers? Change hard drives on your computer? Delete the (encrypted) backup file? (I'm not sure that would lead to this) If you're not trying to turn off encryption or install the backup, these are the only things I can think of which may prompt you for the password which you forgot.

Csound1 wrote:

And you really think that your phone read your mind and entered one of your passwords on its own.

Really?

No. I believe it pulled a password I used in a different App on the same PC and applied it to my backup file despite the fact "encryption" was unchecked in iTunes. It's a lot more plausible than 21 pages of users reporting the same mass delusion.

After 36 years of programming and using PCs, I'm pretty observant about such thinks as whether I've entered a password, and what that password was. My routine is rather specific - if I enter a password - FOR ANYTHING - it simultaneously gets recorded in the mystical place where I keep all my passwords. The only reason I was able to determine the password iTunes used when creating the backup was working my way back through that password list.

Perhaps the greatest thing about switching phone platforms is that I will never, ever have to boot up iTunes again in my life. What a steaming pile of coding that is.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

After 36 years of programming you should know that passwords on a computer are not stored in a way that they can be pulled from a password store without the cooperation of the user. And passwords are not stored in plain text anywhere on your computer; they are stored either encrypted or using an irreversible hash. So what you think happened is simply impossible.

Yes, obviously there is a 21 page thread dating back over 4 years discussing a problem that doesn't exist. I am sure myself and the hundred or so other users on this thread are all idiots and/or inventing this issue. I mean, that's the only explanation right ? That we all have nothing better to do than perpetuate this myth of inexplicable passwords being attached to backup files ? God knows there wouldn't be a problem with the code Apple wrote, right ?

Whatever - don't really care. I posted how I solved it for anyone else who suffered the same mass delusion - basically just start working through any password you ever used for any piece of software you used on the PC you made the backup file on, and you may eventually stumble across the password associated with the backup file. Good luck !

Sparker90 wrote:

This was super helpful! I tried every password I could think of that I had used on Apple (therefore would have upper and lower case) but not necessarily, try any passwords used for any account and hopefully one will work! Seems everyone is right and Apple have just grabbed passwords from anywhere (a bit scary!!)

No, they aren't right at all. Apple has absolutely zero access to your iTunes backups and passwords.

You're being scared by fear mongers and ignorant people.

The only reason another account password would ever work is if you yourself had used that password for both that account AND your iTunes encrypted backup.

Only someone with physical access to your computer and iPhone can choose to enable an encrypted password.

Da3a wrote:

No idea how or where itunes got this password but my suggestion is to try any password you use for other sites etc.. I tried many passwords and it didn't lock me out so keep guessing.

iTunes doesn't "get" passwords from anywhere. If you think about it a bit passwords are not stored in unencrypted form in any specific place on your computer, so unless iTunes scanned your entire disk and knew which of the hundreds of millions of text strings on it were passwords and which weren't what you are suggesting is impossible. The only way iTunes will know a password for encrypting a backup is if you enter it in response to a prompt to enter it.

Thanks for the response but it wasn't really a question, I just wrote what happened in the hope it might help someone else, the password I used to load my backup (unencrypted and never ask to set a password on backup) was a password I've used but not for my apple account or my windows login. itunes must have "got" it from somewhere. No idea where, I made the back up minutes before attempting to restore it, never asked for a password when I backed up.

Da3a wrote:

itunes must have "got" it from somewhere.

That's correct, it got it from whoever typed it in.

Da3a wrote:

I made the back up minutes before attempting to restore it, never asked for a password when I backed up.

iTunes never asks for a password when backing up. The password prompt is a separate, one-time step that you (or someone) initiated in iTunes.

It's an old password that was stored in itunes at some point. Makes no sense, but it worked for me. This is why lots of people say that it's the computer's password, your itunes password or whatever. It's just an old password. Took me 3 hours to figure it out.

OMG!!! What a struggle, i have recently had to restored my iphone, just to find out that i had forgotten my apple ID password with the 2 factor authentication turned on.. first of all... DONT USE this functionality it took forever to retrieve a new password, and now the problem of backup password from itunes, after reading all your opinions.. IT WORKED! 🙂 after traying at least 2 hours it was a 4 digit combination i had used a looooong time, when did or how did this was set up? i dont know! but it worked.. thanks for the help.

Winnietp wrote:

Wow, you must be a crazy apple fan! First of all I absolutely did not encrypt my back-up. I specifically backed it up the same day knowing I was going to use it. Secondly, read the thousands (if not millions) of posts from others that did not set a password or encrypt the back-up. I suppose we are all idiots and did not notice that we selected encryption! Apple never makes mistakes!

First of all, you DID encrypt your backup. You may have checked it 5 years ago, but you did. iTunes does not make arbitrary decisions on its own. You just forgot that you did.

There's nothing further to say.