i never set a backup password but it says that i did so i cant do my backups and I NEED THEM!

I too did not set the backup to be encrypted. That is a very explicit step and I know I didn't do that. In fact, I backed up two separate iphones one right after the other. We brought home 2 new iphones. I was was to restore the first one but the second one thinks it has was password encrypted which I know I didn't do. I have been a computer programmer for over 40 years so I am no stranger to computers.

I am glad it is not just me. I am not going mad then!!!!

I suspect the majority of iPhone users with this problem go to specialists rather than try and Resolve the problem on their own hence not all being logged onto this page.

This is a major problem Apple need to address and it would be nice if they owned up to being at fault here.

superhobbsy wrote:

I am glad it is not just me. I am not going mad then!!!!

I suspect the majority of iPhone users with this problem go to specialists rather than try and Resolve the problem on their own hence not all being logged onto this page.

This is a major problem Apple need to address and it would be nice if they owned up to being at fault here.

The only "major problem" is that people forget passwords and sometimes forget they created one. Apple can't do anything about that. Well, actually they did with iOS 11; you can now create a backup that is unencrypted or with a new password. Of course, it still requires that you have the device you backed up. It won't help if all you have is the backup of a previous device or one you have wiped. See the link helpfully provided by manu74111 above.

Lawrence, for the last time:

I have not lost my passwords, I didn't create them. Unbelievable story I know, unbelievable that an old password must have been generated by Apple, which is why it is so important that others do not suffer the same torture that I suffered.

Firstly, I am very pedantic so leave nothing to my memory, especially passwords.

This problem first showed up when trying to restore my girlfriends iPhone on her own MacBook. I would DEFINATELY have written down a password if I created one for someone else.

I then checked my backup on my laptop and couldn't access the encrypted backup. I would DEFINATELY have added that password to my list of passwords carefully hidden somewhere, but I didn't.

I specifically chose not to use encrypted backups as I didn't want all my passwords stored elsewhere.

I would have added a new password to my keychain - nothing there.

Apple happily publish information helping people who have "forgotten" their password. This process has instructions how to turn off the automatically encrypted backup process, so Apple must have put it there in the first place.

I have changed my AppleID passwords on several occasions as someone tried to logon to my account using my email address, but I overwrote the original password in my list so have no way of remembering what the was.

Nightmare!

I know there are many people who forget passwords but I am 100% certain I didn't create one for an encrypted backup.

I will not respond to any further posts from you unless they are of help.

This is most certainly a BUG on Apple's end, Lawrence Finch. I'm sorry but I use only 4 passwords - all very difficult to guess or attempt to reproduce- and they are the ONLY 4 I use anywhere. I have tried every variation of these 4, to no avail. I DID NOT WISH THIS ON MY PHONE in the first place, which is the biggest issue most users are now being forced to deal with. I don't want any of this sort of crap Apple assumes we DO want simply because they are losing market share to Samsung. Most of these idiot features come straight from that dumb OS. I have now re-started, re-factory set, re-everything and now have NO PHONE to work with. Just a factory set POS I hate and at this stage, am being forced to consider a different OS. What is the point of dealing with this?

This is what worked for me:

f you are using a Mac, you can try using the Keychain method. First, open Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access.app. Second, in the search dialog, search for "iPhone Backup." Third, double click on the most recent entry for "iPhone Backup." Fourth, at the bottom of the dialogue box, click "Show password" and type in the administrative password for the computer. This will reveal your iTunes backup password!

I connected my iPhone to a new computer that I had never connected to before and did a back up. At no time did it ask for a password. It used a password that I had not used for a number of years and would have had no way of remembering unless I found it using this trick. This really is an apple flaw, it should have asked me for a password, not just used one from years ago

this didn't work. I tried it last week

In the end, I was able to find 3rd party software to unencrypt for PW.

The PW, btw was NOT a password I have ever set: 123456, and it took me 2 weeks to get my phone back.. I agree this was more than a flaw on apple's side but I have learned the hard way that we are not allowed to say anything bad about apple in this forum. Sort of strange that Dell, Lenovo and others are so much more transparent !

It's clear that you have no technical background and don't wish to learn from those that do. It's none of my concern if you don't want your problem fixed. I'm simply trying to prevent you from passing on incorrect information to others.

Did you ever find a resolution to this issue? The same thing is happening to me. It was giving me errors initially saying that the passwords I was trying to create could not be set. Eventually I tried again and it performed the backup, but did not prompt me to enter another password. When I tried to restore the backup on my temporary phone, it's telling me to enter my password. I have entered every possible option but cannot get it to recognize one. (I did find another post regarding the initial error trying to enter the password).

This also just happened to my wife’s phone. We backed up her old iPhone 6s to my laptop, she’s never backed it up there before, and we took it to trade in at Best Buy. Got the new phone home and plugged it in to restore and it was asking for her encrypted backup password which she said she never set up. We backed up the new phone as a test and it popped up asking for two passwords and she confirmed this did not happen with her old phone. After several tears and hours later she gave up trying. I hopped on the forums here and read where it could be your old work email password. Got her back down to try some old work passwords from 2 years ago when she got the phone and it WORKED! She still doesn’t remember ever using a work email password for backing her phone up but this worked for us. Good lock out there.

Can you tell me what software you used? I have the same issue where I never checked the box and never set the password. I've tried all the recommendations, but none of them worked. I had to trade in my old phone so it was wiped and I can't do anything to reset the encryption. I've successfully restored my backups to new phones from iTunes before, but this is the first time I've run into this issue and, of course the one time I didn't get to keep my old iPhone. Thank you!

Sorry, you are wrong.

Please explain how every user that successfully guessed their password had a different one, some of them passwords that Apple's software could not possibly have known? Here are some from forum threads on the subject:

·       First iTunes account password (40 different users)

·       Old iTunes account password, but not the oldest one

·       Password used for almost all accounts (3 different users)

·       All digit Password created a long time ago

·       Computer/laptop login password (4 users)

·       Laptop password (2 users)

·       Computer password (4 users)

·       Email password (3 users)

·       iTunes with no capital letters

·       Password not used anywhere else

·       All numeric used in the past

·       Password for old gaming site

·       PC password (5 users)

·       “iphonelogin”

·       work computer password

·       Current app store password (2 users)

·       Paypal account password

·       iPad unlock passcode

·       Strongest variation of the base password I have ever used

·       Old password

·       Old work password

·       Macbook password (2 users)

·       Restriction passcode

·       Gmail password (2 users)

·       Current Apple ID password (2 users)

·       Apple MobileMe password

·       Apple ID password, but all lower case (8 users)

·       Apple ID password, first one ever used, but all lower case (2 users)

·       iPhone passcode when corporate profile was installed

·       Passcode for a website

·       iPhone screen unlock passcode (9 users)

·       iPhone unlock passcode at the time the first backup was made (3 users)

·       First password for work computer

·       Old password used over 2 years ago (2 users)

·       Previous owner’s iTunes password

·       Current laptop password

·       Wireless network password

·       Electric bill and Skype password

·       icloud password, all lower case

·       Windows login for very old laptop

·       iMac password (3 users)

·       First iPhone 4 digit passcode

·       iTunes password from last year

·       4 year old password

·       iTunes password (current) (3 users)

·       Old PC password

·       Password for “Good” application

·       Password used for everything+1234

·       1234 (4 users)

·       12345 (2 users)

·       123456 (one user)

·       0000

·       Password I use for everything else (2 users)

·       One of my husband’s passwords

·       Some old non-Apple product password

·       Screen passcode of the first iPhone that was backed up (2 users)

·       Old password with different case on first letter

·       “password” (2 users)

·       Windows Administrator password (2 users)

·       Original Windows Administrator password

·       Mackbook administrator password

·       “iphone”+4 digit unlock code

·       Voicemail password

·       asd

·       “herpderp”

·       “darwin” (first name from credit card account)

·       First name, all lower case

·       Ms Exchange account password

·       Facebook password

·       Browser password

·       Network admin password

PS - Thanks, Lawrence

Hello Sir

it seams that this is important to you that you are "Right"

Did you write the code for this " Encryption" password and checkbox ?

This is a common thing that happens with Apple products and Apple ID s

i think that apple is an awesome company AND they have their " oops " moments

otherwise why would they have " fixes " updates ? the keyword is " Fix"

meaning something is not working correctly / broken / ....... i think you get my point

i personally have this same problem. the thing is that i have and save all of my usernames and passwords to a spreadsheet

and i update it everytime i add a new or change an old. Everytime.

i think you need to remember that computers are built by Humans and the code is written by Humans and we all have our

" OOPS " moments So it is not impossible that this little section of a section has a " OOPS " in it

Thank you for all of the possibilities i can check

Peace

to be honest that happened to me today and I kept trying every password I know including my computer password, then what I did , i restart my computer and open itunes again and when you hit restore, a password filled with **** will come automatically, I just hit enter or okay , it worked. so next time, I'm just going to pay attention not to encrypt the backup by mistake. always go to the phone summary and backup from there so you can see the setting not using right click and back up from the left iphone corner.

RESOLVED

I had the same issue. Tried to restore from a previous backup I know for a fact I was never prompted to set a password. After some thinking, I figured iTunes may have defaulted to an old password I used on an iPhone backup. Low and behold, in keychain "backup" search I found a password I used in 2015. It worked!! Not sure why it does this, but there is no mention of iTunes defaulting to an old password for encrypted backups. Hope this helps! I spent a few months trying to figure this out.