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My Ubuntu backup is repeatedly asking for my password and it will not accept the password that I have previously been using. I have already checked to ensure that various directories in my home directory were owned by me instead of root as was suggested in Deja-dup repeatedly asks encryption password.

I had uninstalled Seahorse (Keyring) a while back, but have since reinstalled it in case that its absence was causing the problem, but still nothing has been fixed.

Ideally I can fix this without deleting all my backups.

All advice is appreciated!

Mallick Hossain
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2 Answers2

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Please check if the password set within seahorse matches the one you have set once you configured deja-dup.

If you are using gnome-shell just push the super-key ("Windows-key" or "Command-key" on Apple-keyboard), enter "seahorse" and hit ENTER. This will open up the key and encryption manager. Scroll down and search for an entry like "Password for encryption of data backup" or something similar.

omonsees
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This website was helping me. Quote:

Then run the following command, replacing $BACKUPFOLDER with the path to the folder with your backup folders and $PASSPHRASE with your encryption passphrase:

for i in /$BACKUPFOLDER/*; do 
  echo $i; 
  if gpg --passphrase=$PASSPHRASE --batch --pinentry-mode=loopback --decrypt $i >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then 
    echo -e "^ \033[0;32mcorrect passphrase\033[0m"; 
  else echo -e "^ \033[0;31mwrong passphrase\033[0m"; 
  fi; 
done

If you see that some of the files have the correct passphrase and some have the wrong passphrase, you are affected by this bug.

The Cause

  • Duplicity, the underlying backup program that Déjà Dup calls, does not always validate that the encryption passphrase used for a backup is the same one used on the previous backup. This is bug 918489.

  • Déjà Dup used to not clear out a saved encryption password from your keyring when you entered a passphrase without asking for it to be remembered. Which would cause a saved default passphrase to be lurking on the system, although you backed up with a new passphrase. This has been fixed since 39.1.

  • Even if you never saved your passphrase, you may have made a typo one of the times you entered it. In which case, that new passphrase would be used for those backup files. This has been fixed since 39.1. The result of all three of these problems together means that pieces of your chain of backup volumes might be encrypted with different passwords than other parts.

mcExchange
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