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Hello Matthew,
We’ve had 100s of thousands of users decrypting and opening AxCrypt version 1 files with AxCrypt version 2.
So, while this is not the answer you’re looking for, I don’t think that’s the problem.
There’s something else going on, or your former staff and you are not entirely in agreement on what’s happening.
While with computer software we can of course *never* 100.0% rule out a programming error causing a problem like this, in this particular case I think we’re barking up the wrong tree if we start by investigating that avenue.
Why don’t you start with uninstalling AxCrypt 2, then installing AxCrypt 1 legacy and try do the decryption with that software? Then we’ll hopefully rule out the theory that AxCrypt 2 is not successful in decrypting the old files. You’ll find the old version at http://www.axantum.com/ .
You might also want to send a screen shot showing exactly what happens when you try to decrypt.
Hello Rick,
Can you tell what version of IE you’re using, and perhaps send a screen shot of the context you’re using it?
We’ve tried it in the current version of IE, and it seems to work fine for us.
Hello Julian,
Regardless of what password you set when you signed up this time, the old password is still the one you need to know.
If a file is encrypted with a different password than what you’re signed in with, it’ll ask you for the file password.
You can’t reset a password for encrypted files, that’s not how encryption works. You can reset the sign in password, but that only allows you to sign in to the service – it won’t let you open older encrypted files. To open or decrypt an older file you need to know the original password.
Hello Ozbeachbum,
Sure! Sign in to your account at https://forum.axcrypt.net/ , select “Settings” and then “Delete AxCrypt ID”. Gone!
Hello John,
You need to understand that AxCrypt in particular and encryption in general is not about authentication. Therefore, two-factor authentication does not make sense.
Encryption is about having a secret, or not having a secret, making decryption possible. There’s no authentication involved. There’s no software checking your credentials and then giving, or not giving, access to your data. That’s authentication. That’s not what AxCrypt does.
The data is encrypted. Either you possess the secret, and the decryption works – or you don’t and the decryption won’t work.
Sure, we can split the secret (the key) into parts, and store them on tokens etc – but it’s not two factor authentication, because we’re not authenticating. We’re encrypting and decrypting.
Do read the blog posts referred to as well for more detail.
Hello Reza.vj,
I think we’ve hit the end of the road here. It’s hard to tell just what the problem is, but it doesn’t seem to be an AxCrypt problem as such. Your descriptions of the situations are somewhat confusing, and I think you might want to take Humphreys advice and get some professional help with the whole situation,
Hello,
No, when temporary files are deleted by AxCrypt, they are first overwritten with random data. This does stop typical undelete utilities from recovering any information. With SSD drives, there may be other ways to get at the data, since they usually implement wear leveling – causing a write not to be a write just where you think the write is.
But, BitLocker or similar full disk encryption is a good complement to AxCrypt.
Hello Norman,
No, changing the account password will not make any difference (except if you change it to the one actually used for the file).
The screen shot you showed previously says three things:
1 – The file is NOT newly encrypted. It’s an old, version 1, file.
2 – The file is encrypted with a DIFFERENT password than used to sign in to AxCrypt 2.
3 – You are not succeeding opening the file, because you are re-entering the SAME (wrong) password that you use to sign in to AxCrypt 2 with.
Copying and pasting the same wrong password won’t help. Here’s what’s happened:
Once upon a time, before version 2, you encrypted the file with a password, lets say ‘password124’.
Then, later, you created a version 2 account and use that to sign in to AxCrypt 2, let’s say you used ‘password123’.
Now, you sign in to AxCrypt 2, using ‘password123’ and then you try to open the file. It tries using that password, but it fails (because the file is in fact not encrypted with ‘password123’, but with ‘password124’). It displays the dialog you showed in the screen shot.
You keep trying to enter ‘password123’ – and AxCrypt says you’re already signed using that password (because you are, and since that password has already been tried, it’s asking for something else). Copy and paste ‘password123’ won’t help – we already know it’s wrong!
You need to remember the password you used originally (in this fictional example, ‘password124’).
What may have happened is that ‘once upon a time’, when you encrypted the file originally, you though you were entering ‘password123’, but in fact you entered ‘password124’.
Then, when it ‘started working’ this was probably because you once again made a type when you thought you were typing ‘password123’, you happened to make the same mistake again and typed ‘password124’. This would then be kept in memory until you signed out of AxCrypt 2 – thus giving you the semblance of ‘AxCrypt working again’.
Hello qekbe,
Unfortunately, if you do not know the password for an AxCrypt-encrypted file you cannot open it, even if you can sign in to the account. This is by design, it’s just this situation that AxCrypt is made for and it works like this even if you actually are the original owner of the file.
Please check the FAQ at https://forum.axcrypt.net/support/faq/ for more information.
Hello Jay,
Version 1 is obsolete and no longer supported. You are of course welcome to use it if you don’t like version 2, but we can’t really give you any support.
However, do try to decrypt the file instead of opening it. Right-click, select AxCrypt | Decrypt or download the separate AxDecrypt software and decrypt it using that. Finally, version 2 is of course compatible, so you can decrypt or open it using the current and supported version.
Hello Eduardo,
As mentioned, AxCrypt 1 is obsolete and unsupported. The instructions for error reporting is for version 2, sorry for the confusion. We can’t help you with version 1. I suggest you upgrade to version 2.
February 1, 2018 at 18:04 in reply to: Account Encryption Password versus File Encryption Password #9399Hello Biu,
Thanks for your input!
We’re not saying “users of encryption software are stupid or negligent“. We are, however, saying they are human!
I try to design software so that users tend to fall into the pit of success, i.e. being nudged, or even forced, in the right direction (according to me). I am actually not a believer in software that is too flexible and leaving all decisions up to the users. Every time an option or mode of operation is considered for AxCrypt, I try fight tooth and nail to find a way *not* to add such a thing.
This is also called opinionated software. AxCrypt has an opinion about how it should be used, which happens to coincide with my opinion… ;-)
So, here we’ll just have to agree to disagree – and you’ll have to take it or leave it or take the source code and change to work the way you want it to work.
Hello,
Then you did not do what you said you did – you did not rename ‘reza1-mp4.axx’ to ‘reza1.mp4’.
You should never change the extension, but what you appeared to say was that you had – and then you have to change it back. That does not seem to be what has happened though, so it’s hard to help you out here.
But, there’s something strange still here. The file is now named “.mp4-vl2.axx” – where did ‘vl2’ come from!?
Hello Ron,
Sorry, but key files are not supported with version 2 (except to legacy open / decrypt version 1 files).
Hello Norman,
Nope. What’s happened is that you have entered the correct password. Probably it’s a typo, and when you repeat the same typo it works.
The second password dialog is displayed when the sign in password does not work.The “You are already signed in with this password” message is shown when you re-enter the already tried and failed sign in password when prompted for a different password.
If you now got past that dialog, it means you typed something different from the sign in password, and that it’s also the correct password.
Our servers are not involved at all at this stage.
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