iTunes asking for backup password???

jared275 wrote:

"That demonstrates that you don't get it ...

Get what, that it is unnecessary to actually remember a password after you set it. Get real.

rockmyplimsoul wrote:

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

Actually, since iOS 7, there are no tools to hack into an iPhone. Which has the FBI and CIA upset, and some congresscritters want to pass laws making it illegal to sell unhackable devices.

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.

"However, your computer may or may not have the same level of access restriction" - If you elaborated on this it might lead somewhere.

I thought I had and I wish I had the option to encrypt the computer's copy of the backup. That's what I thought I turned on. However, this option apparently also locks out my ability to create unencrypted backups in the future. The option does more than one thing, and it doesn't tell me that it is doing the 2nd thing, and it permanently locks me out without giving me any warning.

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).

I agree that it is quite evident that applying encryption requires me to remember the password, in order to decrypt whatever I encrypted. In this case, I was encrypting a local backup on my computer. I forgot the password and I fully accept that I cannot decrypt the backup (if I still had it).

You seem to be confused ... encrypting your backup does not make your device inaccessible or locked out for normal use.

I am fully aware that I have not been locked out for normal daily use, as I have been using the device daily for years. I would think that making unencrypted backups is also normal use, and I should not be denied that normal use simply because once upon a time I encrypted a backup on some computer that I might not have anymore.

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.

This isn't that complicated. If I have a server and I create a backup of the server on my local computer, and I encrypt that backup with a password, then my server is not encrypted; only the backup on my local computer is encrypted. Of course I can't access the backup without the password. However, my backup software would not encrypt (or cripple) my server without asking me to. That would be insane.

Your iPhone has not been crippled, can you stay in reasonable proximity to the facts?

Csound1 wrote:

Your iPhone has not been crippled, can you stay in reasonable proximity to the facts?

My phone (iPad actually) has not been entirely crippled, nor did I claim it was -- I said I have been using it daily for years. 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.

If backup software for servers crippled servers in any way, without telling the owner of the server, especially if it is was something that was not immediately apparent, the users of the software would rightfully raise a bug report.

I am confident that servers have competent administrators that understand how security should be implemented. That's why there are tests and certifications for server administrators.

You crippled it with your lackadaisical approach to security, it's the boat you built, Now you can sail in it.

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.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

I am confident that servers have competent administrators that understand how security should be implemented. That's why there are tests and certifications for server administrators.

Server backup software works as expected: it doesn't cripple your server when you make an encrypted backup. You don't even need to prepare for a test or certification to know that!

I am confident that server & PC & every other backup software have competent UI designers that understand that users should not be locked out of device features without warning by doing something as innocuous as making an encrypted backup. That's why they don't have 20 page forum threads when users discover they are negatively impacted by a hidden "feature".

Unlike Apple, backup software companies are usually too boring to have a cult following. They just fix misleading user interfaces and move on, instead of living in their own "Apple can do no wrong" bubble for 6 years while the outsiders are infuriated. How wrong does Apple have to be before any of you will admit that their user interface is misleading and lacks sufficient warnings?

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 arenot prevented from making backups to your computer even if you don't know the password, so how exactly is your device crippled?

I am prevented from making unencrypted backups to my computer, and I am also prevented from making encrypted backups to my computer using a new password.

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.

I don't know what happened to the backup file. I think I probably reinstalled my Windows since I made it. I may have also deleted it once to save disk space.

Normally, the only thing that should require a password after encrypting something is when you want to decrypt it. I don't want to decrypt it, yet it still wants the password from me.

jared275 wrote:

Lawrence Finch wrote:

I am confident that servers have competent administrators that understand how security should be implemented. That's why there are tests and certifications for server administrators.

Server backup software works as expected: it doesn't cripple your server when you make an encrypted backup. You don't even need to prepare for a test or certification to know that!

Did you need to take a test in order not to understand the need for preserving a password? maybe writing it down?

Did you need to take a test in order not to understand the need for preserving a password? maybe writing it down?

Normally, the only thing that should require a password after encrypting something is when you want to decrypt it. Since I don't want to decrypt what I encrypted (the backup on my local computer), I shouldn't have to enter the encryption password.

Feel free not to.

As I said in a previous reply to the same problem on a different page: I know all three passwords for apple and itunes. I write them down. I had three; two I had written down. The third I remember because I only recently changed it. The fix for cafarrer doesn't work for me. It's a shame.

I really hate these Apple forum discussions because I'm desperate when I come here, but mostly I get other people with the same problem, not a solution. What a shame.

The only way to get a encrypted backup is to know the password. If you don't know the encrypted password then you can not get the backup. If you want to take it off you have to restore the phone to factory settings. WRITE DOWN YOUR PASSWORDS not just the passwords but what is capital and what is lower case