Lost the Master Password

Problem

Oh no, I lost the master password for Goldenseal business management software! Can't access the company file. Not able to sign on.

Diagnosis

User forgot their password, or they try the one they think it is and it doesn't work.

Solution

For security reasons, we don't store the Master Password in human-readable form, and there is no easy way for anyone to find it by just looking at the file data.

Here are some things to try:

• Is the password written down somewhere?
• Is another user account available that has access to other users' passwords? If so, the master password can be retrieved by signing on as that user.
• Try different capitalizations, in case the password was set to be case-sensitive.
• Is there a password hint? That may help jog the memory of the correct password.
• Can you sign on as a different user, to at least have some access to the file while you look for a better fix?

Worst-Case Solution

If there is no other option, we can retrieve a password by running the file in the programming debugger. We charge $40 to cover the programmer's time-- please contact us to arrange this service.

Programmer Note-- set a breakpoint in CPassword::MatchPassword, sign on with the master password, and check the value of realPassword after it is decrypted.

Comments

Entered 5/10/04 by Dennis. Updated 11/5/2010 and 6/18/2013.