2 factor does not work

Ask the Community Password Manager
1

I tried to log in to my bitwarden. But i am using a 2factor with email.
for some reason the codes i am getting arent valid.
It also takes ages for the email te recieve.
Please help. I need to get in!

2

It is never a bad idea to start by rebooting your device (s). I have no idea if time, date and time zone are relevant for those codes. It still will do no harm to check all 3 of them and to make sure that they are set correctly. If possible use the same network you used when you set up 2FA.

When you set up this 2FA method you received an eMail with a code which you had to enter to confirm that this actually works (*1). Only after this 2FA for eMail was activated for you.
Meaning: At least at one point this must have worked as intended.

You also were offered to “View (the) Recovery Code”. You were also told its importance and to write it down:

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image1164Ă—456 75.6 KB

Do you have your Recovery Code ? Use it if your 2FA method continues to not work for you (*2).

For the future: Get at least a 2nd form of 2FA which is completely different. This way you always have a backup for 2FA if one method fails you. I personally have activated all methods with the exception of eMail (as I consider this not a safe method) and still create a weekly backup (*3) of my passwords.

If your data is important to you treat it accordingly.

(*1) Two-step Login via Email | Bitwarden
(*2) Recovery Codes | Bitwarden
(*3) Export Vault Data | Bitwarden

1 Like
3

I was able to get in again. And right away i saved the recovery code… and used a authentication app. So things cant get wrong now.

Thanks for the replay

1 Like
4

Things can always go wrong, but now it is much more unlikely to happen.

5

TOTP works fine but its slower and you have to hit more “buttons” to login when compared to U2F. I leave a Yubi inserted on my home machine and logging in is virtually instant when using it. I don’t save the BW password so I don’t feel leaving the Yubi in my machine in my home office is any significant risk.

TOTP is my backup method and that is on another device. When using that form of 2FA I require two devices. Works for me anyway!

6

Upon restarting the computer, the 2FA only works with the vault set at LOG OUT, a setting of LOCK doesn’t ask for the 2FA
Closing Chrome …the vault stays OPEN with the settings at LOCK & LOG OUT

I don’t think it’s supposed to work like that.??

7

Hi @lordguido and welcome to the community,

This would be the expected behavior, as 2FA is only used for authentication and after Login you have already authenticated yourself and so you have a local copy of your encrypted vault on your device.
For Unlock you can simply decrypt the vault locally with your master password, or use other options such as unlock with PIN or biometrics.

Are you saying when closing Chrome and reopening that your Bitwarden vault remains unlocked, without needing to unlock?

  • If so I would first check your extension Settings and make sure the Vault timeout is set to anything else other than Never, as Never will keep your decryption key on disk

  • Alternatively you may also check if Chrome is truly closing down when you exit all the windows, as I know some browsers can be a bit of a pain and continue running in the background for a multitude of reasons.
    So you may check your running processes and background tasks after you close Chrome to see if it’s truly fully closing

8

  1. As you said, Chrome doesn’t close when I select the “X” and therefore Bitwarden stays open. Can that be changed in Chrome?

  2. When your vault is only locked, that is when you will use Unlock with PIN or Unlock with Biometrics.

  3. The only time that I see that you can use the PIN is when you MANUALLY close the vault in the “setting” When I close chrome it asks for my MPW not the PIN. Is there another occasion?

  4. Why doesn’t changes made on the Bitwarden web site carry over the Bitwarden Chrome extension? Ex: if I set “Log out” on the web site, it doesn’t change on the Chrome extension?

  5. if I import “Last Pass” data, is it going to override the data I have entered for Bitwarden?