Did Acronis Cyber Protect do this?

I was looking at various backup programs, including Acronis Cyber Protect. Is that what has locked this file?

How do I unlock it? I've already removed Acronis Cyber Protect.

steve17 said:

I was looking at various backup programs, including Acronis Cyber Protect. Is that what has locked this file?

How do I unlock it? I've already removed Acronis Cyber Protect.View attachment 15745

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Does the name "bliss" mean anything to you?

Ghot said:

Does the name "bliss" mean anything to you?

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Bliss is my last name. blisss is my admin account name.

steve17 said:

Bliss is my last name. blisss is my admin account name.

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Well, if Cyber Protect did lock it, just uninstalling the program won't unlock it. That would defeat the purpose of locking it.
I don't use Cyber Protect, but I would imagine it has a tool for protecting things by locking them.
And if Cyber Protect did lock the file, then it should be able to unlock it as well.
I would re-install Cyber Protect until you get this sorted out.

Here is the "guides" library for Acronis Cyber Protect... among others Acronis products.




There is a tool called: EMCO UnlockIT, which can tell you what locked a certain file, hopefully.
Mainly it's for discovering what Windows process locked a file, but you could give it a try...






The more history you can give us, the better.
Like... do you run a passwords safe, program? If so what is it called.
It maybe the password safe program that's locking that file.

Are you running any encryption software?

I use PasswordSafe to store my passwords. It uses a master password to run. It doesn't lock the database file where the passwords are encrypted and stored. I've used the program for at least 15 years. Something else locked it.

I suppose it is Acronis Cyber that locked it. It didn't tell me it locked anything. It didn't ask if I wanted to lock files. It didn't tell me how to unlock stuff.

I tried renaming the file. I tried putting the file in another location. I tried copying the file from another computer. Still locked.

This is a new computer I built that has TPM and Secure Boot. I'm still learning. I can remove the OS installations on it and start over. The "master data" is still on my old but good computers that don't have TPM or Secure Boot.

Did Unlock-It help at all?

steve17 said:

This is a new computer I built that has TPM and Secure Boot. I'm still learning. I can remove the OS installations on it and start over. The "master data" is still on my old but good computers that don't have TPM or Secure Boot.

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This is more caution than anything else, but...

Do not remove the OS or mess with any security setting in the BIOS until "after" you resolve your file security issue. Doing so could result in something being reset or lost, and now have no way of unlocking the file. That said, also understand that fil may be lost once you reinstall the OS along with the BIOS changes

In short use all other options before going that route.

Ghot said:

Did Unlock-It help at all?

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Unlock-it says it is unlocked.

I should explain that the PasswordSafe program can read the database file okay, but it can't save it. So no updates can be made. That's not a problem now but will have to be fixed before replacing my old computers.

steve17 said:

I should explain that the PasswordSafe program can read the database file okay, but it can't save it. So no updates can be made. That's not a problem now but will have to be fixed before replacing my old computers.

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Maybe the problem is with Password Safe, then.

Ghot said:

Maybe the problem is with Password Safe, then.

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I thought about that. I tried different versions of PasswordSafe, but the problem remains. The same versions work on my old computers.

I have several Win11 and Win10 installations and they all have the same problem.

I have several of the database files in various locations and with various names. All have the problem. So the database by any name is "locked". But interestingly I've always used a program with the name "PasswordSafe".

More investigation shows the problem is the program name PasswordSafe. Somehow, somewhere, the ghost of Acronis Cyber causes the database file to show up as locked when it is opened by a program with the name "PasswordSafe. It's not the program, it is the name that can't save the file.

Many years ago, I downloaded the source for PasswordSafe. I built it and gave it another name so criminals wouldn't spot my password safe. When I open the database with this old PasswordSafe program with another name, it can open and save it.

I have one installation of Win10 that I don't think has had Acronis Cyber installed. It too can't save the database with a program named PasswordSafe, but it can with an old version of PasswordSafe with a different name. I'm not sure though I didn't have Acronis Cyber installed at one time.

steve17 said:

When I open the database with this old PasswordSafe program with another name, it can open and save it.

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Good job, and good of you to post the solution. :)

It turned out to be later versions of PasswordSafe, a.k.a pwSafe at pwsafe.net. These versions lock themselves. I don't know why. There are a lot of options I could play with, but the whole thing seems goofy.

I'm now using the old version I use on my old primary computer, and all is well.