iTunes asking for backup password???

I am upgrading my iphone 4 to iOS 5. I backed up my phone (via iTunes 10.5) and downloaded and installed iOS 5. I am now going through the setup process and it is at the "Restore from iTunes Backup" step. I connect to iTunes and iTunes is prompting me for a password to "unlock your iPhone backup file." No I did not encrypt the iPhone backup, nor is it or was it checked in iTunes. I have tried my iTunes password, my 4 digit unlock code for the iPhone, and several other passwords. When I did the backup an hour ago I was not asked for a password. I am at a loss as to what it is.

iPhone 4

Posted on Oct 12, 2011 1:11 PM

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Posted on Jul 24, 2012 10:46 AM

Guys, here is our experience with this bug (and yes Apple this is a bad bug not a bad memory) and here is how we got around it.


My wife recently attempted to upgrade her iPhone to 5.1.1 and iTunes advised her that she would need to do a complete backup and restore process on her iPhone which she agreed to and let it start. So it did the backup, upgraded her iPhone and then when it attempted to restore the backup it halted and asked her for the password for her encrypted backup. As other folks have indicated, she hadn't requested this backup or any other backup in the past to be encrypted, but regardless we could not proceed beyond this point. We tried every combination of password she or I had ever used with no avail. We also spent hours with the Genius Bar folks and the online Apple support folks and received plenty of empathy but no results. You really are left with the impression that this is your fault and that somewhere in your dark past you or someone in your family encrypted a backup with a password.


So we went the Elcomsoft password breaker route which some folks here have used with success. i would like to share my experiences here because I feel I owe this forum a favour and also to make sure you know how to get this software to best work for you ,because even though its very powerful, its not totally intuitive.


First Attempt - We downloaded the Elcomsoft free trial version of the software, told it to run, asked it to go against our iPhone backup file, selected the most recent iPhone backup (btw this wasn't that days but instead was one from 2 weeks ago - another bug Apple) and told it to start. When it starts, it will tell you how long it expects to take and in this case it said 4 hours. As the Elcomsoft software is running it says what its "attack rate" is of approximately 700 password attempts per second and it displays its current attempt every second so you can see it work through the possibilities. In this case, under their "task" I had accepted the default "english dic - no mutations" So with this default it just attacked with standard unicase dictionary words and after about 2 hours it finished with no success.


Next Attempt - I wasn't suprised and decided to look deeper. If you double click on "english-dic" it will open a box showing your selection and displaying the mutations options "disabled". if you click that, you can see that you also have the options of minimal, average or maximal mutations. I chose "maximal" and it in turn advised me that it could take up to 4 days to run this attack! So I quickly backed off from that and chose "minimal" and it in turn advised me that it would take up to 30 hours to run this attack. I chose this solution, but before running it on my wife's backup, I ran it on my iPad's backup on a separate computer where I intentionally protected it with a password of "1234". Off it went, and you could see it apply different combinations of numbers, letters and special characters. In was kind of fun to see and in less than 2 minutes, it found the password and came back showing 12**. If you want to see the ** characters, you then need to buy the application at around $80 and get a registration key.


Successful attempt - So with that little success under my belt, I started the "minimal" attack on my wife's computer and her iPhone backup. And 25.5 hours (it said it took 91,871 seconds) later it was successful and showed the result as Pr*****. So at this stage, you could try variations of Pr and 5 characters, but since we had never encrypted our backup and also never used a password beginning with Pr, and because Elcomsoft was going to save us a lot of grief if we had to leave the iPhone at factory settings, we elected to register the software and proceed with payment. Success!! Her phone is now on 5.1.1, all her application data is in place and we have a happy household and I am a hero!


Learnings - #1 - Encrypt your iPhone/ iPad backup intentionally with a password you selected vs. letting some bug somewhere select it for you. #2 - Make sure all your important passwords such as your PC or MAC signon and your online banking software are secure and complex, because this type of software is very powerful and there are a lot of bad guys out there that will use it for the wrong reason. Elcomsoft has provisions to protect it from being used for the wrong purpose, but others might not. During those 25.5 hours, I estimate it attempted over 64 million attacks! #3 Elcomsoft is in Russia! So it will take a few hours to process your payment since they don't seem to work 24/7. So kinda of scary, but it worked.


Thanks

Fred

423 replies

Jan 28, 2017 2:15 PM in response to Yeyeo

Yeyeo wrote:


Looks like an iTunes bug to me mate. Backed twice without encryption it still required a password. An ancient iTunes password worked in the end.

No, it's not a bug. As you would know if you read some of this thread, the first time you make an encrypted backup it prompts for a password - twice. After that first time, every other backup will be encrypted with the same password. So the fact that an ancient iTunes password worked means that it's the password you entered when you first checked the box to encrypt the backup. Whether you remember doing it or not.

Mar 14, 2017 1:28 PM in response to minniedaisy17

minniedaisy17 wrote:


going this through this now and couldn't agree more. I don't have the option to "uncheck" the require password option...and no idea what the "password" is - it didn't ask me when I did my full backup this weekend.

But it DID ask you the first time you ever backed up your phone after checking the Encrypt Backup box. Twice. That might have been years ago. But you really did enter a passcode at some point.

Mar 14, 2017 1:38 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

I realize that this is your position, I've read enough of this thread to figure that out. I don't think I've done so (and my husband swears he didn't). But, not arguing with you about it. I don't have the option to "Uncheck" encrypted backup so that I can do one without an encrypted backup. I also just did an iCloud backup where there is no option for "encrypted backup" and it is STILL asking for a password. My Apple ID password does not work.

Mar 15, 2017 7:33 AM in response to minniedaisy17

There is no reason why you cannot do an iCloud backup. iCloud backups, by definition, are encrypted, and do not require a passcode.


Once you have backed up your device to iCloud, then hook up to iTunes, and erase your phone there and back it up as a new device.


Then restore it from that backup in iTunes one time to ensure that you no longer need the password.


Then try restoring from your iCloud backup, and then back that up to iTunes to see if it will back up as an un-encrypted backup.


Also, use every iTunes or other password you can think of to try to crack the encryption password. There is no limit. Use really old iTunes passwords, really old lock screen passwords, combinations like 1234, 9999, 0000, your cat's name, your dog's name, your kid's name, your first teddy bear's name....anything you can think of. Undoubtedly, this happened awhile ago. It does not ask for the password when you back up (after you have set the original one), so unless you are trying to restore from it, it won't ask, and if it has been years since you set the encryption, it is very easy to forget - especially since people see a request for a password, and often just type it in.


You can just back up to iCloud going forward if you cannot get around the encrypted password.


Best of luck,


GB

May 20, 2017 7:56 AM in response to Jezr83

Jezr83 wrote:


I did not set a password for iTunes restore now I can't restore my new phone

Well, actually, you did. Encrypted backups never occur automatically. Either you checked Encrypt Backup (which you might have done years ago, if you had a phone then) or you have a company email account on your phone and your employer's IT management forced encryption for the backup. But in either case you entered a password twice. It never changed, so if you entered it years ago it is still the same as the one you entered then.

May 20, 2017 12:13 PM in response to wsucoug95

I had this same exact problem and thought it was absolute ********, sat on the phone with an iTunes support person for 45 minutes and they couldn't help me even when they asked there "senior" adviser to help. Their only advice to me was to keep trying and keep guessing and good luck, which is absurd, terrible terrible help. Anyways after reading many threads dating all the way back to 2012, and trying almost every password i knew and everything they suggested, i still came up with nothing. (Except i wouldn't download any program or software to retrieve password, because that just has virus written all over it for you computer) At the end of the day my password ended up being my password to my gmail account, so i suggest using the password to whatever email you have linked to you computer.


MORAL of the story this whole password ******** that the majority of us didn't set up or at least remember setting up is so screwed up and an unnecessary hassle apple has thrown on to us. it is a very flawed detail to there system and i feel terrible for who ever experiences this in the future.


Best of luck to everyone.

May 20, 2017 1:15 PM in response to tjredfisher

Well, what would be the point of an encrypted backup if you could just get around it some way? That would mean that anyone could get around it some way (including the FBI, who found out that security measures implemented by Apple to protect your privacy are not taken lightly, so not ******** as you so "eloquently" phrased it).


And you always have other options. You can back up your device to iCloud, then hook it back up to your computer and set it up as a new device so that you can turn off encryption in iTunes. You would then erase the device again, once you had successfully turned off encryption, and restore it from the iCloud backup.


Best of luck,


GB

Jul 9, 2017 6:58 PM in response to Tomios010

There is nothing mysterious. It is what you entered twice as the backup password back when that was your iTunes password after checking Encrypt Backup, or after your MS Exchsnge administrator set a backup encryption password requirement on your company email Exchange account. Once entered it never changes unless you explicitly change it.


You must have done it, because iTunes doesn't know your iTunes password except when you enter it.

Jul 13, 2017 5:09 PM in response to wsucoug95

Hi dear

I had problem of restore backup, when I try to make the restore backup its finished to the end but when ended a message appeared the iTunes cannot restore my backup because the file is corrupt.

I used the software (decipher backup repair) and its read the file but it made a password for the original file of backup and the decipher backup repair backup file.

now I am stock and I have no idea to solve this problem.

If anyone can help me please contact me here or by my email (****************)

Regards


<Email Edited by Host>

Jul 13, 2017 5:06 PM in response to khaldoun74

This is a public forum with millions of members, and it accessible to everyone in the world with an Internet connection. So, by posting your email address you have just exhibited it to literally billions of people. Sadly, some of them are not honest, and may use it to hack any accounts where you use it as an ID, and some will add it to spam lists. I've asked the hosts to remove it, and let's hope I'm not to late.

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iTunes asking for backup password???

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