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Login Problems FAQ (Lost Password, Account, ...)

At present there is a very high number of lost password issues. And this is putting a large burden on a free service like CAcert because it's a very sensitive area that can't be handled by the normal support mailinglist. Please read the I forgot my Password section below to find out what you can do now ...

Contents

I created a new CAcert account but can't login

Maybe the problem isn't your password? See FAQ/Registration

Help! I FORGOT my password ...

All right. You're one out of a thousand people with the same problem. We have a couple of solutions to help you:

Do you have installed a certificate in your browser before?

Yes? Lucky you! So, it should be possible to login with the certificate. After that you should be able to change your password. Maybe? Try all browser on your computer, maybe the certificate is only installed in one of them.

Do you remember the answers to the five questions you filled out when you registered?

Yes - or maybe? Then go to https://www.cacert.org/index.php?id=5 and enter your email address (which is the name of your CAcert account) and your date of birth - exactly: the date you entered when you created your account and which is stored in it. If you enter an incorrect date of birth and can't remember what it is in your account, you're out of luck - your account won't be found. Then you need to donate €15.- to request help from Support.

We'll ask you three questions chosen at random from the five questions you set up when you created your account - answer them correctly and you'll get the chance to log in again. But mind the capitalisation, spaces, punctuation marks and the like. And remember if it was the full name or term or a part of it or an abbreviation. Everything must match 100%.

$/!\$ Please, MAKE SURE you are using the MAIN email address of your CAcert account else it will fail.

Did you ever create a CAcert client certificate?

If yes, you can use it to do a Cert Login on CAcert.org. Just install the client cert in your browser and go to https://secure.cacert.org/index.php?id=4 - if you received an error message you probably don't have the client cert installed ...

You cannot use client certificates from any other CA. It needs to be a CAcert Client Certificate.

Do you really want to keep your old account?

If you don't mind to lose your old account you can just create a new one (with another email address of yours). Once you've done that, go to the dispute section in the menu and dispute your old email addresses and domain names. Please mind, first dispute your domains, then you secondary email addresses and last your main email address. You'll receive an email for every dispute that asks you to accept the dispute. If you do so, the related email address or domain gets deleted from CAcert and you can add it to your new account the usual way.

But remember: As soon as you accept a dispute for something, all related certificates are revoked. (eg. if you accept a dispute for blahdomain.net your old blahdomain.net certificate is revoked and cannot be used any more). You will also lose all of your trust points.

Link to Dispute section: https://www.cacert.org/disputes.php?id=0

Password Recovery with Assurance

A new procedure has been established in June 2010 - Password Reset Procedure w/ Assurers. The procedure has been arbitrated (a20100407.1), so its a verified procedure users can follow. The procedure Password Recovery with Assurance has been used several times yet, also with more than one assurer.

Find at least one Assurer, meet him in a face-2-face meeting (on events you'll find several Assurers), ask for an Assurance with Password Reset Procedure, exchange a keyword (A-word) with the Assurer and the next step is Support will contact you. Follow the instructions Support will send you by email, and at the end of the procedure you'll get your password reset.

I need personal help because everything above isn't an option

If you really wish to salvage your CAcert account, there is a solution as well. We are sure you understand, that someone has to work personally for you and so you surely don't mind helping fund CAcert projects. Go to https://www.cacert.org/index.php?id=5 and donate US$15 using the CAcert Payment button. You can either use your normal Paypal Account or pay by credit card. Then contact support@cacert.org and explain your situation. The support team will ask you some questions about your personal data and your account data to verify you are really the legitimate owner of that account and not try to breach the account. Support cannot just reset your password, but it will help you to remember it or the answers to your five questions. Please note: There are volunteers working in support. You will receive an answer as soon as possible, but it may take some time (days or weeks). This depends on the number of volunteers, their time and the number of requests. We recommend to use Password Recovery with Assurance!

 Alternatively you are welcome to donate your work worth about $US 15
      to CAcert, the CAcert wiki (like typo fixes), support mailinglist, Translation, etc.
      (let's say about an hour of work for the community)
      This is the best way to speed up things and improve CAcert.

After you have made the payment you have to contact CAcert to start the process of resetting your password.
For that you can use support@cacert.org or you can also do it on IRC but be sure to use SSL ircs://irc.cacert.org:7000/CAcert or simply https://irc.cacert.org/
The link to lost password payment page is: https://www.cacert.org/index.php?id=5

It's not my fault that I lost my password - the system is broken

If you suspect something weird is going on, you should subscribe to the support mailing list (see GettingSupport) and state your case there. You should be aware that most support people won't believe the story that your password changed without you doing anything wrong. But you can still try

Sometimes it happens that the administrators change the website to strip certain special characters from the input and passwords like qR3}X>d=47'Qk\yfnj7w4fX}Ks|v-#o(<c suddenly stop working. Just keep calm, provide as much information as possible and sooner or later someone will find out what went wrong ...

I forgot my Account Name

Your account name is the email address you provided when you registered with CAcert. You received at least one email on that address as you verified your account. It need not to be any longer operative, you just have to state it at the login.

If you still can't remember the address you used you can

have someone else to look for your listing on the WoT page
contact the person that assured you
just try all your email addresses on the lost password page.

Currently there is no real procedure for this as you're the first one with this problem

Policy Draft

see [PolicyDrafts/LostPassword]

As a last resort you can ask for :
FAQ/AccountRemoval
CategoryFAQ