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Password help- No password on old version (FM6) now needed on FM11 converted file

Question asked by JefferyEllis on May 23, 2012
Latest reply on Jun 20, 2017 by trilogy1000

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I've been using Filemaker since version 2 or 3.

Have basically the same set of related files for my Address book, Invoice, Invoice inventory & a few other files that I started with years ago. I never set a password for either Filemaker itself or these files.

After I converted to FM Pro 11 - now it wants a password to open my converted files or I have to open them with Guest Access only.

Which means it won't allow me to delete or edit fields or records.

HELP! There is no original password so I can't change or assign a new one.

There must be a way to fix this.

thanks!

philmodjunk May 23, 2012 8:34 AM

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Try entering "admin" as the account name and leave the password box empty and see if that logs you in. If that works, go to File Options and specify "Admin" and No password in the "log in using" section.

If that does not work, I suggest re-opening your FM6 copy while holding down the option (mac) or shift (windows) key. Filemaker won't manufacture a password out of thin air during the conversion, but maybe your original file auto-entered a password each time it opened. It would then look like it didn't have a password when it really did. If so, holding down that key while opening it, will force it to ask for the password.

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davidanders May 23, 2012 8:32 AM

Two issues to check out:

5.5 files did not have accounts and passwords, only passwords. When converted, the new files have account names and passwords using the original passwords for both. You can open these files by entering the original password in both the account name and password boxes in the log in dialog. After you get the files open, you can change the account names so that you don't expose the password everytime you log in.
5.5 passwords are not case sensitive. Filemaker 11 passwords are. If you can't get the converted file to open, open the original file in FileMaker 5.5 and make note of the file's original password's capitalization. Then attempt to re-open your converted file with exactly the same capitalization. This is often the explanation when you have a system of converted files that were originally set up in 5.5 with the same password. The original files open in 5.5 without any additional requests for a password, but if the password in one file has different capitalization from the others, after conversion, any references to that file will attempt to open it, but you will be asked for the password. Correcting the capitalization of this file's password will fix this problem.

If a pre-conversion file has a password defined that has full access to the file already, a default Admin account is not automatically created.

http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/647
Converting A File That Has Access Privileges Already Defined

If a pre-conversion file has a password defined that has full access to the file already, a default Admin account is not automatically created.

If a "no password" password is detected in the original file during the conversion process, it is converted to the Guest account and made active in FileMaker Pro 7 and later.

Unless a pre-FileMaker Pro 7 had an auto login password stored; no default login will be assigned under File Options to a converted file that has access privileges defined. A login dialog box will be presented each time the file is opened, just like in the previous version. If a file had a password stored for auto-login before conversion that password and appropriate settings would be retained after the conversion process.

Passwords were not case sensitive in pre-FileMaker Pro 7 file but they are in FileMaker Pro 7 and later. Access privileges that were defined with upper and lower case letters in pre-FileMaker Pro 7 will be enforced in FileMaker Pro 7 and later. For example, Assume a password of "Orange" was defined in a previous version of FileMaker. When logging in this file in a previous version of FileMaker you could type in "orange" or "ORANGE" (or any combination of upper and lower case letters) and gain access to the file. After conversion, neither of these passwords will be accepted. In this case, "Orange" will be the only valid password.

Passwords will be brought over from the original file and converted into accounts where the account name and password are the same. The end-user will be able to login to a converted file using only their password (leaving the account name blank) just like they did in the original file. This is supported primarily as a means by which FileMaker Pro 7 and later is migrating old accounts from previous versions of FileMaker.

It is strongly encouraged that after conversion, any user who has full access to the file modify the converted accounts so that the account names and passwords are no longer the same. After doing so, the end-user will only be able to login using their new account name and password.

After a file(s) has been converted, all capabilities of a particular password in the original database(s) will be the same in the converted database. For example, if a password in the original database prevented a user from designing a layout, then the end-user will not be able to change anything regarding layouts in the converted file. If an end-user was not able to edit the contents of a particular field in a particular layout, they still won't be able to when the file is converted.

The privileges and group settings of the old password (pre-conversion) will be converted into new privileges sets. The new names for Privileges Sets will be based on the group(s) it is associated with. During conversion, FileMaker will try and produce the minimal number of privilege sets required. Not all old group settings will be mapped to individual new privilege sets because individual passwords may have belonged to multiple groups. For example...

A pre-conversion file has the following groups and passwords defined...

GROUPS	PASSWORD	PASSWORD LIMITS
Group1	Master	Full Access
Group2	NoEdit	User cannot edit records
Group3	NoPrint	User cannot print records
Group4	NoDelete	User cannot delete records
	NoDelete2	User cannot delete records

And the following passwords were associated with the following groups:

ASSOCIATED PASSWORDS	GROUPS
Master	All Groups
NoEdit	Group3, Group4
NoPrint	Group1, Group2
NoDelete	Group3, Group4
NoDelete2	Group1, Group4

When this file is converted in FileMaker Pro 7 and later, the following Privilege Sets and Accounts are created from the original file...

PRIVILEGE SET NAME	ASSOCIATED ACCOUNT(S)
[Full Access]	Master
group3/group4	NoEdit
group1/group2	NoPrint
group3/group4 2	NoDelete, NoDelete2

Because the "NoDelete" and the "NoDelete2" passwords define the same set of access privileges in the original file, their defined access privileges were combined into one "Privilege Set" in FileMaker Pro 7 and later called "group3/group4 2."

As mentioned previously, Privilege Set names are based on the corresponding group names from the pre-conversion file. Privilege Set names must be unique, therefore during the conversion process an ascending number is appended to the end of the Privilege Set name if it would create a duplicate name. In the example above the conversion process created a Privilege Set called "group3/group4" based on the groups associated with the "NoEdit" password. Further on down the access privileges list, the conversion process encounters another instance of Group 3 and Group 4 associated with the "NoDelete" password. Because this would create a duplicate Privilege Set, the conversion process creates a new Privilege Set called "group3/group4 2."

If a group doesn’t have a password assigned to it, that group will not get converted in the .fp7 format.

http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/571
Changes that occur to your passwords during file conversion

FileMaker Pro 7 introduced a new security model which allows you to set account names and passwords.

During conversion, passwords are converted to accounts in FileMaker Pro 7 and later. Because an account requires both an account and a password in FileMaker Pro 7 and later, for each converted account, both the account name and password in the converted file are initially set to the password from the original file.

Previous versions of FileMaker Pro permit defining a blank '(no password)' password, which allows users without a password to open a database with limited privileges. If a blank password exists in a file created with a previous version of FileMaker Pro, the Guest account will be enabled in the converted file.

When prompted for an account name and password upon opening the converted file there will be an option to open the file as a guest. When opening the file as a guest without entering an account name and password you will still have full access to the file and you can modify the accounts and privileges if you choose to.

Passwords in FileMaker Pro 7 and later are case-sensitive. In previous versions of FileMaker Pro, passwords were not case-sensitive. When a password such as 'Them' is converted, you must enter it as 'Them' in order for it to work. The previous version would have accepted 'them' and 'THEM,' but FileMaker Pro 7 and later will not.

For additional information reqarding passwords refer to: Understanding Passwords

For additional information regarding changes to Access Privileges refer to:

Chapter 4 'Changes that occur during conversion' in the

Converting FileMaker databases from previous versions PDF.

Converting a file that has Access Privileges already defined

Converting a file that doesn't have Access Privileges defined

http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/750/~/conversion-%26-migration%3A-things-to-think-about-before-converting-your-file%28s%29-to

Things to think about before converting your file(s) to FileMaker Pro 7 through FileMaker Pro 11 Updated: May 11, 2012

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philmodjunk May 23, 2012 8:34 AM
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Try entering "admin" as the account name and leave the password box empty and see if that logs you in. If that works, go to File Options and specify "Admin" and No password in the "log in using" section.

If that does not work, I suggest re-opening your FM6 copy while holding down the option (mac) or shift (windows) key. Filemaker won't manufacture a password out of thin air during the conversion, but maybe your original file auto-entered a password each time it opened. It would then look like it didn't have a password when it really did. If so, holding down that key while opening it, will force it to ask for the password.
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JefferyEllis May 23, 2012 8:50 AM
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David, I appreciate the reply.

BUT - it looks like a bunch of gobbdygook to me.

1- I NEVER had ANY password or account name defined. Ever.

So I can't use the previous one to login, change or do anything. There never was any password at all.

Now it has the Account as "Jeff Ellis" (me) and I can't login except as guest.

When I upgraded to FM6 - I never set a password or account name as I never had before, so didn't think I needed to.

I certainly had full privileges, but no Password.
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philmodjunk May 23, 2012 8:53 AM
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"Jeff Ellis" is the username as controlled by what you set up in preferences (and the initial user name gets set up when you installed).

You can replace Jeff Ellis with Admin, then leave the password box empty and try to open the file.
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JefferyEllis May 23, 2012 8:58 AM
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Phil - Buddy!

That worked. Excellent. NoW I can assign a password?

Can I change the "admin" login - or should I just leave it alone.

I'm pretty much the only one who uses these files, but it would be good to protect them in case the laptop is ever compromised.

But I work at home not in a public environment.

THANKS!!!!!
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philmodjunk May 23, 2012 9:18 AM
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You can use Manage | Security to assign a password to your file.

If you keep "Jeff Ellis" as your user name in Preferences, create a new account named "Jeff Ellis". Select [Full Access] as your privlege set and then give the account a password.

You can learn more about manage | security in FileMaker help, but the above steps are probably all you need to add a full access password to your file where the admin name is entered for you. (fileMaker enters your user name as the account name when you open a password protected file that is not set to automatically enter that password for you in File OPtions.

A few suggestions:

BEFORE you experiment with Manage | Security settings, save a copy of your file with no password specified. That way, if you goof and lock yourself out of your own file, you can delete that copy and use the unlocked backup copy.

Account names are not case sensitive. Passwords ARE case sensitive. Be careful to enter passwords with the exact same capitalization that you used when setting up the account for that password.

It's a very good idea to either save an unlocked backup copy of your file to a flash drive that you then toss into a safe or other secure location or to write down your account/password and put that piece of paper into secure storage. Every now and then we see a post here from a user that locked themselves out of their own file and regaining access to that file is neither simple nor cheap.
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trilogy1000 @ davidanders on Jun 20, 2017 7:05 PM
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I know this is an OLD thread but I wanted to say thanks to David anyway - I've spent the last 20 minutes trying to access an old FMP 5.5 file which had been converted to FMP 12. I could log into the file with the original password and do most things I needed EXCEPT change security settings in preparation for re-deployment. This was an admin password in the 5.5 solution but apparently not after conversion.
What I was missing was that during conversion an admin-level user is created with the old password as both the username AND password. Success! I am back with many thanks to David and this very old thread.
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Password help- No password on old version (FM6) now needed on FM11 converted file

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