Level 1

28 points

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

Top-ranking reply

Fredgallagher

Level 1

0 points

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

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423 replies

Apr 11, 2014 10:15 AM in response to barcagiu

Had an issue when upgrading to 5s, ITunes asked for encrypt back up password, tried every possible password. Then tried my screen lock code/pin & thankfully this worked for me

Nov 16, 2014 2:00 AM in response to wsucoug95

I had the same issue and iv tried everything but than I used 123456

and it worked 😐

I don't remember I set a password for my backup😠

Jun 6, 2015 7:08 AM in response to lanfromlacey

Thank you for your help!! I had exactly the same problem this morning!! I entered some old passwords like you said from Windows and believe it or not it worked!!!!!!

THANK YOUU!!!

🙂

Feb 27, 2018 6:19 AM in response to wsucoug95

For people having this problem in 2018 as well. I just typed in my very first apple id password, back when you didn't need numbers or capslock and it worked

wsucoug95 Author

Level 1

28 points

Oct 14, 2011 12:21 PM in response to wsucoug95

Well I finally got through with the correct password. For some reason it was the original iTunes password I had setup when I first got the iPhone 4 and iTunes 17 months ago. I had changed that password soon after creating it and have since changed it several times. Somehow it popped into my head and after trying hundreds (no I'm not kidding) of passwords, success!

It is important to point out:

When I have performed previous upgrades to the iOS I have never been prompted for a password when restoring the data.
I have never checked the box in iTunes to encrypt the iPhone backup.
I still have no idea what made iTunes go back to an ancient password.

Good luck to all if you have to go through this because this has not been a fun few days.

Let me add a suggestion that I have come up with for storing passwords where you can access them from anywhere. Setup a Yahoo or Hotmail account with all fake information (Name, address, b-day, etc.) with a “handle/name/email address” that has nothing to do with you but you can recall. In other words, you are setting up an anonymous email account. In this email account, create an email to the same account and put your passwords in it but do not include the accounts/websites they are for. You could include hints (that only you could recognize/decipher) that would tell you which accounts/websites went with which passwords.

This will just be a list of passwords so at least you have a master list somewhere and not stored on your computer(s)/drive(s). Just an idea I wanted to share.

Nov 16, 2011 11:13 AM in response to wsucoug95

I read in a previous post that their Facebook password worked for them. After cracking my head open trying to remember any and every old password, I came across that post and figured I might as well try it. Well what do you know....IT WORKED! I've had iTunes much longer than I had my Facebook account so, I'm not sure why that password worked, but right now I'm so relieved that I don't care. I have a lot of photos of my new baby that I really did not want to lose. Lesson learn, I'll make sure to use my regular camera more often now. However, this should never have happened and Apple needs to provide more support for situations like these.

swish23

Level 1

0 points

Dec 29, 2011 10:58 PM in response to wsucoug95

ugh! if i had known about all this, i never would have upgraded! however, after only about 45 minutes of inputting the only password i have ever used for Itunes, in addition to all the helpful hints (0000, etc), i found out how to circumvent this problem. if you go to iforgot.apple.com,you can reset your password for itunes by either answering security questions or having apple email you instructions for re-setting your password. i chose the email option, followed the commands to reset my password, then went and put in the new password in Itunes, and voila! it worked.

how annoying, apple!

Jan 5, 2012 1:46 AM in response to Rick Mesta

Seriuosly mate' give this a try. I posted it on some other forums and some people have used it as a last resort but it works:

)

Don't know if this helps but I've tried loads of solutions and even with a custom password list the elcomsoft couldn't find any results. Some people have noted that it uses a random password frm passwords you've stored on your device so try your facebook password, email account, lock code etc. None worked for me.

After a few days of scouring forums I had to do it a convoluted way in the end.

I installed iFunbox and copied the keychain-2.db file to my PC after making a backup of it in the same directory on the iPhone (var/keychains)

I then deleted the file from my iPhone and reconnected it to iTunes. This meant all passwords had been deleted (albeit temporarily from my iPhone). I then selected the encrypted backup option again and started a backup then cancelled it which created a new keychain-2.db file in var/keychains. I then removed the encrypt option. This asked me for a password but it was set to the new password I'd just entered so the tick was then removed.

I then exported and opened the new keychain-2.db file in exported in sqllite browser (do a search and download it, it's free). I then opened my original file in sqllite browser. The reason I did it this way is because for some reason my keychain files displayed a load of gobble-di-gook in sqllite browser so I couldn't determine what was the itunes password. Maybe because I'm running iTunes 10.5 but people have previously stated that the files are shown in plain English but mine weren't.

I then compared the genp tables in sqllite browser until I found the record that had the same set of symbols in the acct column that as in the new keychain-2.db file I'd created as this would be the iTunes password I'd just created. No other records existed in the new keychain file.

I then deleted that record in sqllite browser, saved and imported back into var/keychains using iFunbox.

The encrypted option is no longer ticked and I can make unencrypted backups. I will definitely not be ticking that box again!!!

I know it sounds really long and laborious but if you follow it step by step it isn't as long as you think. I've no previous experience of this and I found all thge info from scouring various forums and piecing it all together to create my own solution. Also, if you're lucky enough to have your keychains file display as plain English in sqllite browser then you can just delete the record that says it is your itunes backup password.

Hope it makes sense. It really does work!

Forde1

Level 1

0 points

Jan 6, 2012 3:44 PM in response to Rick Mesta

Rick I used a password breaker and it worked. You can download it for free and if it can break your password it will tell you the first character and the character count. That wasn't enough for me so I bought the thing for 80 bucks. I feel robbed for having to do it but I have my phone back.

http://www.elcomsoft.com/eppb.html

Try the free version and if it can break your password consider it.

prix79

Level 1

0 points

Jan 31, 2012 3:01 AM in response to Emon87

Sorry for my english.

i too have had the same problem.

when restoring the previous backup was asking me the password. i don't remeber ever having entered the password.

i try everithhing!

at the end i realized that my iphone had my IdApple, but itunes had another Id apple, the Id of my brother (we share the pc).

then: itunes - store - shows my account and i simply replace the account with my account (my id apple) and my password and i m able to do the restore from backup.

i hope to be useful to some of you!

tmg86

Level 1

0 points

Mar 21, 2012 11:25 AM in response to wsucoug95

The below steps worked for me, feel free to give it ago.

1. When promted for a password enter any random one.
2. Once you receive the incorrect password notification, click ok.

3. Disconnect your iphone from the USB while I tunes is open and re-connect after 5 seconds.

4. Your backup should start automatically.

Good Luck Guys

Apr 20, 2012 9:31 AM in response to dmtdmt

I know this is going to sound absolutely unhelpful, but did you read my comment on what worked for us?

Has anyone ever used your computer besides you to log in to mail or facebook or something like that? We were baffled and astounded when the password that worked for us was not even one my eldest daughters passwords. It was a password my middle daughter used for her facebook. In our case we were syncing to my eldest daughters new laptop which my middle daughter had never ever used. But they had previously shared the desktop computer.

That's how crazy this issue is. Itunes had just taken a random password off the old computer and attached itself to it.

I'm really surprised at how long this issue has been going on without a word from Apple. I can only hope they fix it in an upcoming release. As a parent with a katrillion pictures of my kids, I feel your pain.

allifb

Level 1

0 points

Apr 25, 2012 1:09 PM in response to wsucoug95

Ok, I tried all of the suggestions, email passwords, facebook passwords, old itunes password, passcodes, partial etc. I tried downloading iBackup bot, along with a few other things. I was able to restore from my old iphone, but not a backup from my old ipod. What finally worked is what was mentioned about entering a random password, clicking ok, removing the ipod from the computer for 5 seconds with itunes still up, then plugging it back in. Maybe this will help someone else too.

Apr 27, 2012 7:01 PM in response to wsucoug95

after having gone crazy for hrs , tryin all passwords that even my grandpa could ve used ..this is how it worked

1. disconnect the phone and close the itunes .

2. reconnect the phone and open itunes .

3. 3 options will be displayed ..click on continue with restore .

4. go to back up option in the phone window

5. check in encrpt box if it isnt checked already.

6...click on the new password option

7...enter new password and it restores automatically

8. enjoy

Apr 27, 2012 7:02 PM in response to wsucoug95

after having gone crazy for hrs , tryin all passwords that even my grandpa could ve used ..this is how it worked

1. disconnect the phone and close the itunes .

2. reconnect the phone and open itunes .

3. 3 options will be displayed ..click on continue with restore .

4. go to back up option in the phone window

5. check in encrpt box if it isnt checked already.

6...click on the new password option

7...enter new password and it restores automatically

8. enjoy

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iTunes asking for backup password???