#95 Unable to open vault with valid master password

[John Rouillard]

Hello:

I have been a happy user of PasswdSafe for a while. I use it a couple of times a month, but it has been really useful when I have used it.

I recently got a new phone. I keep a copy of the vault/database on a primary computer and sync
it to the phone. Things had been going fine until I went on a password change spree. Now
I can't open the vault on the phone when using the correct password (thanks for allowing me to
view the password BTW). I noticed that I can still open an earlier file that is 96MB in size, but I can't
open a file that is 98MB in size. Both of them open fine in the windows version.

Have I come across a limitation by file size?

Also are there any plans to support TOTP like the windows version does? I might be able to
contribute to that effort.

PasswordSafe checks all the boxes for a password management application including single file database that is easy to sync and multiple platform support (although linux is behind),
Your PasswdSafe app has made a significant contribution to the PasswordSafe environment.

[John Rouillard]

Oops, make the size KB not MB....

[Jeff Harris]

I'm not aware of any limitations on file size. If you use a file browser app on the phone, is the file size the exact same as on your PC? Do you get any errors other than an invalid password?

Does your password contain any non-ascii characters (accents, umlauts, etc.)? There are some encoding options that come into play for them.

How did you get the file so large? Just a lot of entries or large notes?

I have a feature created for TOTP at https://github.com/jefftharris/passwdsafe/issues/14 but not quite sure on a time frame.

[John Rouillard]

Hi Jeff:

Thanks for the prompt reply.

is the file size the exact same as on your PC?

Yes the file browser shows the same size and md5 checksum as on the server 8-(.
The size may be a red herring. See below.

Do you get any errors other than an invalid password?

Invalid password is the only error I see. Is there a verbose/logging mode I can use?

non-ascii characters

All ascii chars but it does include symbols from the shifted number row on a US keyboard.

How did you get the file so large? Just a lot of entries or large notes?

Both. Nearly 200 records IIRC. Also I have some private keys (as notes) in there and
OTP recovery code lists (again as notes). BTW, the problem was when the size was
97/98 KB not MB. I am not storing videos in the database 8-).

Also the size may be a red herring. I culled a bunch of entries and reduced the file size to approx. 85KB. I still couldn't open it. I also tried using a simpler password and no go. I am wondering if it's a permission issue. The directory the file is in is synced by syncthing/syncthing-fork (on android side). I did something I usually don't do. I usually treat the android side as read-only.
Before the problem occurred, I did an update on the android side. Then I pushed a new copy
to the server side. I expected to get a conflict warning, but the server side change resulted in the file being replicated to the android.

I rebooted the android. Then deleted the database on the server, which deleted it on the
android. I put a new copy of the file in place saw it replicate and still no go.

Is passwdSafe able to differentiate and report on issues like a locked file, permission issues etc. that could cause a read (and thus decryption) error?

created for TOTP

Nice.

Are you using sourceforge for user support and GH for development tracking or
should I have posted a ticket to GH instead? All the signs I saw indicated using sourceforge.

[John Rouillard]

Hi Jeff:

Any other ideas about what I can do to try to get this working?

I have used a USB cable to transfer the safe and it still won't open with the correct
14 character password.

Thanks.

-- rouilj