Using SyncBackPro > Basic Operation

Why Back Up Your Passwords?

If you lose an encryption password, the backups made with it cannot be restored. 2BrightSparks cannot recover a lost password for you: SyncBackPro never holds or sends a copy of your passwords anywhere. Most people only find out that a password is lost when they need to restore their files.

The Password Backup window helps you make your own copy of these passwords, a password backup, kept outside SyncBackPro, for example in a password manager or on a printed sheet. It also reminds you, from time to time, to make sure you still have that copy.

A profile export is not a password backup. The passwords stored in a profile are encrypted using the settings encryption, which may use Windows DPAPI or a key file. If you take an exported profile to another computer, the passwords in it may not be readable there.

Insider Access

Password Backup is an Insider Access feature of SyncBackSE and SyncBackPro: it is planned as a standard feature of the next major version, and in this version it is available through Insider Access. You can use it while you have an active Upgrade Assurance subscription and have turned Insider Access on. Without Insider Access the menu items and the reminders are not shown, and the %PASSWORDREMINDER% variable says that Insider Access is needed. If you turn Insider Access off, the reminders stop, but the dates already recorded are kept for when you turn it back on.

Opening the Password Backup Window

•From the burger menu, select Password Backup to list the passwords used by all your profiles.

•Right-click a profile in the main window and select Back up passwords, or select the profiles and choose Export / Import -> Back up passwords from the top toolbar, to list the passwords used by those profiles. If you choose a group profile, the passwords used by the members of the group are listed.

•When a password reminder is due, SyncBackPro opens the same window for you, or shows a Windows notification that opens it when you click it (see When You Are Reminded below).

What Is Listed

The window lists the passwords that protect your backups or your profiles:

•Zip encryption password: the password used to encrypt compressed files.

•SyncBack Container password: the password of an encrypted SyncBack Container.

•Cloud encryption key: a customer-provided encryption key (SSE-C) for Amazon S3, Backblaze B2 and other S3-compatible cloud storage, set in the Cloud Advanced settings.

•Profile password: the password that protects a profile from being opened, changed or run by other people. It does not encrypt any data, so it is only listed so that you can check you still know it. It is never shown, copied or printed.

There is one row for each place a password is stored. If the password is kept in a shared setting, it is listed once, and Used by lists the profiles that use it. Anything you do to that row, such as confirming you have stored the password safely, applies to all of those profiles. If two profiles happen to use the same password, but each stores its own copy, they are listed separately.

•A profile set to prompt for the password each time it runs is listed, but there is nothing to show, because SyncBackPro does not store that password. You are still reminded to keep your own copy of it.

•A password kept in a password manager using the Secrets Manager is shown as Stored in followed by the name of the password manager connection. The password manager already holds a copy outside SyncBackPro, so there are no reminders for it, and the password manager is not contacted.

•If your settings are encrypted with an encryption key file, the window tells you to back up that key file as well. Without it, SyncBackPro cannot read the passwords it has stored.

Login passwords are not included, for example the passwords for FTP servers, cloud storage accounts, email servers and network shares. Losing one of these does not stop you restoring a backup, because the password can be reset with the server or service it belongs to. The password for zipping log files, and passwords set in Global Settings, are not included either.

Each row shows its current state, for example Back it up now, Not due yet, Stored safely on a date, Remind me on a date, or Reminders stopped. If none of the profiles use a password that needs backing up, the window says so.

Buttons

Select a row, then use the buttons:

•Show / Hide: shows the password, or hides it again. It is hidden again automatically after 30 seconds.

•Copy: copies the password to the clipboard so you can paste it into your password manager. It is kept out of the Windows clipboard history (Win+V) and is not synchronized to your other devices by the cloud clipboard. After 30 seconds it is removed from the clipboard, unless you have copied something else in the meantime.

•Print...: prints a password backup sheet using the standard Windows print window (see The Printed Sheet below).

•Test me...: type the password from memory, or from your password backup, and SyncBackPro tells you whether it is the stored password. This is a good way to check that your copy is correct. As a profile password is never shown, copied or printed, typing it correctly here confirms that you have it, in the same way as clicking I've stored it safely.

•I've stored it safely: confirms that you have your own copy of the password. You are next reminded 90 days later.

•Remind me in 7 days: puts off the reminder for this password for a week. Not available when password reminders are turned off in Global Settings.

•Stop reminding: stops all reminders for this password. You are warned first, because if you later lose the password nobody can get it back for you. The button then changes to Remind me again, which turns the reminders back on. Not available when password reminders are turned off in Global Settings.

The Printed Sheet

The printed sheet shows the edition of SyncBack, the name of the computer and the date it was printed. For each password it shows the password itself, the profiles that use it, the destination, and the date the password has been in use since. A footer reminds you to store the sheet somewhere safe, away from the computer. Profile passwords are never printed.

Print on paper. Printing to a file, for example with Microsoft Print to PDF, creates an unencrypted copy of your passwords on the computer, and you are warned about this before printing.

After printing, you are asked whether to mark the printed passwords as stored safely. Only answer Yes once the sheet has printed and you have put it somewhere safe.

Confirming It Is You

Before you can use Show, Copy, Print... or Test me..., Windows asks you to confirm your sign-in, using your Windows password, PIN or Windows Hello. This stops someone who finds the computer unlocked from reading your passwords. You are asked again after 10 minutes. If the profile has a profile password, you are asked for that as well.

If Windows cannot confirm your sign-in, for example because your Windows account has no password, the password is not shown.

If SyncBackPro is managed by the SyncBack Management Service and your administrator's policy does not allow profiles to be changed, Show, Copy and Print... are not offered. Ask your administrator for a copy of the passwords instead.

When You Are Reminded

•The first reminder for a password is 1 day after SyncBackPro first sees it, once the profile has completed a successful run.

•After that, you are reminded every 90 days after you last confirmed it. These times are fixed and cannot be changed.

•If a password is changed, you are reminded straight away. Keep the old password as well: backups made before the change still need it to be restored. The window says so, and the printed sheet shows the date each password has been in use since.

•The reminder window appears at most once each time SyncBackPro is started, and only when someone is at the computer, the main window is open and not minimized, no other window is waiting for an answer, and no profile is running. It never interrupts a profile run.

The Windows Notification

If a reminder is due but the reminder window cannot appear, for example because SyncBackPro is hidden in the system tray, minimized, or running unattended, a Windows notification is shown instead: Some passwords used by your profiles need backing up. If they are lost, 2BrightSparks cannot recover them. Click here.

•It appears at most once each time SyncBackPro is started, and not at all if the reminder window has already been shown.

•A scheduled run that adds a password reminder to the log also shows the notification.

•It is never shown when there is no desktop to show it on, for example when SyncBackPro runs in session 0.

•Clicking it shows SyncBackPro and opens the Password Backup window. If another window is open, the Password Backup window opens once that window has closed. If the Password Backup window is already open, it is brought to the front.

•If you click it during a scheduled run, SyncBackPro stays open after the run has finished, in the same way as when you click its system tray icon.

•Windows' own notification settings can also turn off notifications from SyncBackPro.

Turning Reminders Off

To turn the reminders off, untick Remind me to back up passwords in Global Settings. This turns off the reminder window, the Windows notification, and the reminder in the log and in the default email body. It is on by default, except where SyncBackPro is managed by the SyncBack Management Service.

You can still open the Password Backup window from the menus at any time. While reminders are off, it says Password reminders are turned off in Global Settings, so SyncBack will not remind you about these passwords. The Remind me in 7 days and Stop reminding buttons are disabled, but I've stored it safely still works and records the date.

The %PASSWORDREMINDER% variable is not affected by this option. If you have added it to a custom email body, Run After or a script, you have asked for the reminder, so it is still given when one is due.

Password Reminders in the Log

Profiles that run unattended, for example on a schedule, may never be seen by anyone at the computer. So when a reminder is due, a Password reminder row is also added to the summary of the log, including emailed logs. It names the kinds of password to back up and tells you to choose Password Backup from the menu.

•It is only added on real runs, not on simulated runs, integrity checks or restores.

•It appears at most once every 90 days for each password, and only if you have not confirmed the password in the last 90 days. It does not appear for a password whose reminders you have stopped.

•It never contains the password.

•It is not a warning, so it does not change the result of the profile run.

•The default email body includes the reminder. If you use a custom email body, add the %PASSWORDREMINDER% variable to it to include the reminder. The variable contains the same text as the log row when a reminder is due, and is empty otherwise. Without Insider Access it instead says that password reminders need Insider Access, and whether Insider Access is turned off or not available. It can also be used in Run After and in scripts.

•The log row and the line in the default email body are not added when password reminders are turned off in Global Settings, but the %PASSWORDREMINDER% variable is still set (seeTurning Reminders Off).