Many password problems ...

[pedz]

I woke up today and there was a message on my Mac that said that my Apple Id was being used by "Dolly". Dolly is an old iPhone 6+ I have and it does have my Apple Id password but I had not been using it. I thought it was powered off but I'm not sure at this point. Dolly seems fine. I can log into it and it seems content with my Apple Id. But I got worried.

Now, I've discovered that the password on my Mac is weird. Most of the times, the correct password is not accepted but it was accepted when an application (Install Disk Creator) asked for it.

I have a Time Machine backup as well as a Carbon Copy Cloner backup. I might have goofed slightly because I updated the CCC backup just now. I may should have not done that.

MalwareBytes Premium says that I'm clean.

I'm currently rsync'ing my home directory over to a Linux box as a third backup. Eventually I plan to reboot and see if I can log in. I have an Install USB stick ready to go if I need to wipe everything out and start over.

Why am I telling you all this in the iPad forum?

Well... I have an iPad Rosie as well as another iPad Lola and an iPhone Vina. Lola and Vina seem fine but they have not asked me for my password yet. So far, the face id is working. But Rosie won't let me back in.

I've tried this process two or three times but each time it comes back up, it still wants the password. When I click Restore, it says "Gee... I need to Update and Restore. Is that ok?" and I say "yea". I can't get it to just "Restore"

So... all this to ask if there is a way to factory reset my iPad and then restore it? I've tried going to iCloud and do the "Erase iPad" but it is "pending" and has been for a half hour now.

There is a Mac application called 4uKey that says it can reset the password but I don't know if I should trust it.

Any suggestions as to what happened? How to reset my iPad? Any advice on my Mac?

 

[pedz]

Thank you (not being sarcastic). It helps just to have a places to ask questions.

Someone suggested I put the iPad into DFU mode. After many tries, I finally figured out the timing. Its an iPad Air 2. Then I did a restore to factory defaults. When the iPad came up, I used my iPhone and my iCloud id to help set up the iPad. Then restored from a backup (using Finder). I had to do this twice because I didn't notice that the password for the iPad will be the same as the device you use to help set up the new device. Live and Learn.

But, what started the whole mess is I'm an idiot. All of my device passwords are different but they fit a pattern. I was using the wrong pattern. That is why "sometimes" my Mac password was accepted. If I didn't think and just let my fingers do the typing, it was right. If I thought, I thought wrong and used the wrong pattern. I finally figured this out but after I had reset the iPad.

 

[Cheryl]

May I suggest writing down each device name and next to it the password (or passwords). Keep that document in a place where you can easily get it for times like this. You will have one thing to remember - where you put your password document and not the gazillion passwords/patterns.

My kitchen table now has several stickies because I tend to forget. Like street cleaning day, pick up Rx, zoom meeting, etc . I keep them in sight (fighting the out of sight out of mind).

 

[pedz]

May I suggest writing down each device name and next to it the password (or passwords). Keep that document in a place where you can easily get it for times like this. You will have one thing to remember - where you put your password document and not the gazillion passwords/patterns.

My kitchen table now has several stickies because I tend to forget. Like street cleaning day, pick up Rx, zoom meeting, etc . I keep them in sight (fighting the out of sight out of mind).

I've been wrestling with this problem for a number of years. I took your suggestion and wrote them on a piece of paper and stuck in my wallet. I also did a couple of other things.

One problem is / was the state of mind I was in. I was very quick to assume something had invaded my system because of the weird dialog box about Dolly. So... probably I would have stopped and found my proper password piece of paper but ... I wonder

 

[Cheryl]

Yep, I've been there: asked for password, I panic and ask why, type in password - I think that is the one - only to be stuck in a loop.

We have to stop, take a deep breath and think. That password request will wait for us.

This has happened to one of my email accounts. I have learned that if I just wait several minutes and then manually get mail, the request for password is no longer needed.