Yes, I did read past posts that reflected similar issues, but I did not find a helpful answer. I am new to Bitwarden after Lastpass (lied about data loss), and now Dashline (miserable to use for me). I am running an updated Chrome and my Bitwarden version is within the last week or so. I have been carefully transfering each of my accounts to Bitwarden, one at a time and testing them, deleting them from Dashlane (and Google if applicable) as I go. My vault times out and I am asked to enter my Master Password. Okay, fine. No problem until last night and this morning when I started getting incorrect password notices. That is scary as he!!. Yes, I am 100% certain that I am using the correct master password. I have found that if I log out and then log back in, I can get access, but I am worried about that failing. Has one experienced this? Can someone explain what is going on? I did a lot of research before settling on Bitwarden and it is very discouraging to know you have the proper master password, and have no way to recover the account if it fails. Thanks.
@Umpire98 Welcome to the forum!
Start by getting in the habit of backing up your vault contents. Here is the best (safest and easiest) method:
- Log in to your account on the Web Vault (vault.bitwarden.com).
- Click on Tools > Export Vault in the left-hand navigation menu.
- In the dropdown menu under File Format, select the option .json (Encrypted).
- You will now see two options for Export Type: select Password-Protected (it is very important that you don’t select Account-Restricted).
- Choose a strong password for the backup (use the Bitwarden Password Generator if you like), and enter it into the input fields File password and Confirm file password. Write down this password in a safe location, so that you don’t lose it!
- Click Confirm Format.
- When prompted (in a window titled Confirm Vault Export), enter the Bitwarden Master Password (not your backup password).
- Click Export Vault button. You should see a green alert box in the upper right corner of your browser window, with the message “Vault data exported.”
- Go to your Downloads folder, and look for a file named something like
bitwarden_encrypted_export_20240425204532.json. Move this file to any location where you will be able to access it later. The file is encrypted, so you do not have to worry about hiding the file.
In addition, if you have file attachments in your vault, locate these by typing the following expression in the vault search bar:
>attachments:*
Then, download each attachment (as file attachments are not included in the vault export), and make a note of which vault item each file was attached to; be advised that the downloaded attachments will be saved in a decrypted form on your computer.
Create an updated vault backup before deleting passwords from Dashlane/Google, or after any major changes to your vault contents.
Other than that, what you’re experiencing is not common. Is it reproducible (i.e., can you generate the error message at will)? Is it only happening in the Desktop app? (you’ve tagged your post app:desktop but you mentioned your Chrome browser in the post — are you actually using the Web Vault or the browser extension?)
Hi and Welcome to the community,
Here are some tips about Bitwarden and unexpected errors after updates.
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The best way to check if your vault is still intact is by logging into the webvault, i.e. the URL Bitwarden Web Vault . If it looks OK, then it’s some sync/cache problems on other clients. If not OK, try clearing the browser’s cache, restart the browser, and try again.
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People sometimes experience hicups after software updates, which may happen automatically and is unnoticeable (like in the browser). When unexpected errors happen, the first things to do before trying to get help (since the people who help you will often tell you this anyway):
- Log out, and login again
- Uninstall extension, restart browser, reinstall extension and try again
- Blow away the desktop’s app directory (or get rid of some files), and try again.
- Uninstall the desktop app, reinstall, and try again.
I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing this, but from what you describe, it sounds like a resolvable problem.
ps: Some people have filed bug reports on github having similar problems, although BW ended up closing them all as irreproducible. Here is an example response for Bitwarden:
I attempted to reproduce your issue and was unable to do so. I recommend removing all files from the location mentioned here (Storage | Bitwarden Help Center), restarting your device, and re-installing the application.
Hi,
I just had the same issue today with the Bitwarden software on my Macbook. I tried logging in with my master password and it kept saying I have wrong password (and I knew for sure it was not wrong).
Not sure how you were trying to log in, but this definitely gave me a scare for a second. But, I was able login on the web browser after reading this thread so I knew the issue was something else.
I thought closing the app would just be enough but it seems that it was stuck on a screen where I was logged in, but logged out. The options were to give my master password or click “Log out” which I didn’t see at the first try as I was probably panicking a bit. After I first clicked the “log out” button and then tried again to login with the master password I had no issues. Maybe this might help some other panicky person too. 
Hello,
I also faced a similar situation couple of days ago on my Macbook. I changed my master password on web, and when I tried entering my new password to the desktop app, it was saying incorrect password. I did not try using my previous password. I could however login using touchID.
I also thought that closing and reopening the desktop app would work, but it didn’t. The master password is only synced when you logout of the desktop app (under the app menu), and try to login again.
And I was informed that it is the expected behaviour since the desktop app has a locally cached version of the master password, and it is not reset until the user manually logs out.
I feel like it is a confusing behaviour, and it could be improved somehow.
@wildwarden Welcome to the forum!
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Did you change the master password on the same Macbook computer where you were using the desktop app?
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If yes, was the desktop app running when you did the master password change in the Web Vault app?
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If the master password change was done on a different device, was the Macbook with the desktop app connected to the internet at the time?
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How long did you wait after changing the master password (before attempting to use the desktop app on the Macbook)?
Normally, all logged-in apps and browser extensions (on all devices) should be automatically logged out when you change your master password (and this log-out will force the new master password to be used when logging back in). However, as noted in the documentation, there may be a delay of “up to an hour” before this forced log-out occurs — and the delay may be even longer if the app (or browser extension) is not running or if it is running on a device that is not connected to the internet.
I shouid have closed this topic somwhow. Ultimately I don’t know what the problem was, but I am guessing there was an update on one end or the other that somehow didn’t resolve immediately. While I was locked out for a day or two, at one point I just tried to log in and it went fine. All my data was intact - scary as all get out, I’ve had no problems since. I have found BitWarden pretty easy to work with and really have no complaints with this one anomalae.
3 posts were split to a new topic: Trouble logging in on browser extensions
I just figured out how to mark this as solved, by marking my own solution as the answer. It wasn’t magic. I don’t know what happened, but after a day or so, everything worked fine and has been fine since. I suspect there was an update on one end or the other and I got caught in the middle. BitWarden is way better than LastPass - I left because I didn’t like the way they handled a security breach, but now that I am used to BitWarden, I like it better. I have more than a hundred accounts, so I need something.
The advice about making sure everything works, before getting to invested, is spot on. I have been using BW for months now without problem. I just figured out how to mark this as solved, by marking my own solution as the answer. It wasn’t magic. I don’t know what happened, but after a day or so, everything worked fine and has been fine since. I suspect there was an update on one end or the other and I got caught in the middle. BitWarden is way better than LastPass - I left because I didn’t like the way they handled a security breach, but now that I am used to BitWarden, I like it better. I have more than a hundred accounts, so I need something.
This thread may need splitting out before closing. @grb ?
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