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| master_password 2009-10-26 | master_password 2023-04-08 (current) | ||
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| + | ====== Master Password ====== | ||
| + | WinSCP can protect stored passwords by strong AES cipher. In order to protect such sensitive information you need to set a master password. When a master password is not set, stored passwords can be [[security_credentials#storing_password|easily decrypted]] by malicious software that has infiltrated your computer. | ||
| + | ===== Working with Master Password ===== | ||
| + | If you set the master password, each new instance of WinSCP will ask you to enter the master password the first time it needs to access protected passwords or to protect a new password. | ||
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| + | You can change or remove the master password again later. If you remove the master password, all of the passwords will not be protected anymore. | ||
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| + | You can set the master password in [[ui_pref_security|preferences]]. | ||
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| + | ===== [[reset]] Forgotten Master Password ===== | ||
| + | When you forget your master password, there is no way to recover it, nor the protected passwords. | ||
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| + | You can at least reset WinSCP back to unprotected state. Naturally, you lose all the protected passwords. | ||
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| + | To reset master password, remove ''Configuration\Security'' [[config|configuration]] section/key. | ||
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| + | You also need to remove all protected passwords. For this, search for and remove all ''Password'', ''ProxyPasswordEnc'' and ''TunnelPassword'' values from configuration subsections/subkeys of ''Sessions'' section/key. Alternatively, if you are going to set a new master password: While doing that WinSCP will prompt you for previous master password once for every lost password. Just cancel those prompts with ''Esc''. | ||