Import TOTP from Google Authenticator

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1

Hi Folks

I have searched the forums and read a fair bit but still haven’t managed to find an answer.… at least not the one I want to hear :smile:

I would like to consolidate all my security in BW, notwithstanding some sage advice to the contrary in Security risks of using Bitwarden as authenticator and password manager

So my question is, is it possible to import TOTP from Google Authenticator to Bitwarden? This article Populating TOTP suggests not but I’d like to hear from anyone that has managed to do it …

Thanks in anticipation

Cheers
Aztrix

1 Like
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Please ignore all of this and instead either scroll further down or just click here: Import TOTP from Google Authenticator - #4 by Peter_H

I know you are looking for people that actually did it themselves. However, tried this ?

Export tokens already created in the authenticator

For some unfathomable reason, of all the authenticator apps we checked out, only Google Authenticator provides an option to export tokens that are already created in the app and import them on another device.

Perhaps the developers of the other apps think their cloud-sync feature does the job just as well. That’s partly true. But the cloud is of no help to those who already use Google Authenticator and are looking to try an alternative by quickly transferring existing tokens to a new app. Alas, developers of the alternative authenticator apps don’t make life easier for such defectors.

In any case, exporting tokens in Google Authenticator is very straightforward: Click on the three dots at the top of the screen, select Export accounts, and mark the accounts you need. After that, a huge QR code containing all of the selected tokens appears on the screen. All that remains is to take a screenshot and save the image securely in your password manager.

Source: How to back up an authenticator app | Kaspersky official blog

3

Thanks for the info Peter, I get all the export bit but I’m a little confused, how does a screenshot get the the TOTPs into Bitwarden so that I can use them for MFA?

4

I just tried this myself and I now do understand your confusion. Sorry, about this.

It is not as simple as it seems to be when just reading the text. But starting with getting that QR code still is the way to go.

The very detailed process (which should be possible to follow even if one is not a computer genius) is described here:
https://shieldplanet.com/extract-secret-keys-from-google-authenticator-qr-code/

The author even created a nice video of this process:

6 Likes
5

Peter, you just made my day, I’m about to go and see if I can do this by following the instructions on GitHub, seems pretty straightforward

Cheers
Aztrix

1 Like
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Once you will be done (or in the worst case have given up) please feed back!

7

Thanks for this! This was helpful. I used the docker method, which was painless (except for changing the Dockerfile to use python 3.11 instead of the alpine version of 3.11)

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This is all nice and good and showing how to export the OTP codes, but it does not show in any way how to import a lot of OTPs at once