Master password bugged "Password cannot be decrypted"

Greetings,

Even though my master password is disabled WinSCP asks for it every time I try to load a session. Nothing I enter works so it appears all my saved logins are gone. :<

Earlier I changed my master password then disabled it. I cannot re-enable the master password no matter what I try. When I try to re-enable the master password, WinSCP has the master password field disabled on the new master password creation dialog (see first attached image below).

But then strangely it brings up a new prompt asking for the master password. Entering the old combinations give "you did not enter the correct master password" and entering the new master password just created gives the error "password cannot be decrypted" (see second attached image below).

Is there anything I can do to fix this or recover my logins? Thanks!

So I took a peak at WinSCP.ini and appears the encrypted passwords are there. Is there anyway I can decrypt them with my original master password? I tried re-setting my old master password but get the "password cannot be decrypted" error.

Also would be nice if I could get rid of the constant master password prompt somehow without starting over with a fresh ini (it's disabled but I still get the prompt). Tried upgrading to the latest beta version and that didn't have any effect.

This can happen, when you enable master password, but then WinSCP is not properly closed (like when the process is killed or crashes, or when machine is not shut down cleanly). Or possibly if you have more instances of WinSCP running at the same time when setting/clearing master password.

I'll see if I can do something for you. Will contact you, once I have anything to try.

I think that was it. I usually have multiple instances open at once (at least I did before I just upgraded to the latest beta). Thank you very much for looking into this and all your hard work!

I have sent you an email with a dev version of WinSCP to address you have used to register on this forum.

This issue has been added to the tracker:
Issue 1023 – Preventing of and more robust handling for inconsistently encrypted passwords

Got it, thanks! Unfortunately still get the "password cannot be decrypted" error when trying all old iterations of the master password. No worries as I've already reset most of the logins I regularly use anyways.

Hi,

WinSCP 5.2.2

Every time I try to set a master password I get the same error... Password cannot be decrypted when trying to login with the newly set up master password.. I replaced my ini file with a backup copy without a master password and so I recovered everything. At a guess its because I do not have write permission for the registry on my office laptop???? WinSCP is set to store in ini file.

Thanks, Mark

@m4rk: You are possibly a victim of this bug:
Issue 1022 – Incorrect encryption of passwords protected with master password, potentially leading to loss of stored passwords

Thanks. It says it fixed in 5.2.3... where can I get a copy to try?

Hello,

Is there a way to recover from the "Cannot decrypt password" problem on 5.2.2 before the 5.2.3 will come out?

Kind regards

@Corneliu: I'm afraid that your passwords are lost.