<![CDATA[Lost password, option 3 didn't work, but I have backup]]>is it possible to convert the password as listed in the backup config file into the original password?
thanks
Chalres

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/76498/lost-password-option-3-didn-t-work-but-i-have-backupRSS for NodeSun, 08 Mar 2026 10:54:58 GMTTue, 02 Dec 2014 16:43:05 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Lost password, option 3 didn't work, but I have backup on Wed, 03 Dec 2014 02:09:58 GMT]]>doing a search, I saw another instance where 3 didn't work and they speculated it had reached some max and converted to read only…. IDK

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/499079https://forum.netgate.com/post/499079Wed, 03 Dec 2014 02:09:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Lost password, option 3 didn't work, but I have backup on Tue, 02 Dec 2014 17:24:38 GMT]]>The config contains the hashed password (that also ends up in the FreeBSD passwd file). It is generated from the real password by crypt() : http://php.net/manual/en/function.crypt.php

As that says:

Note: There is no decrypt function, since crypt() uses a one-way algorithm.

So pfSense and FreeBSD can verify the password you enter, but can't (easily) reverse it.
I guess you could use some brute-force cracker to run against the hash value that you have.

But I wonder why console menu option 3 did not work?

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/498976https://forum.netgate.com/post/498976Tue, 02 Dec 2014 17:24:38 GMT