What happens when I change my password?

When you change your password on your local machine while online, the ID vault will be updated with your new password. If you then use that new password on any Release 8.5 or later Notes client while online, the client will verify that the new password you entered is indeed the latest password on the ID file in the ID vault. Your local ID file and your vault ID file will then automatically be resynchronized and your password on your local ID file will be changed to the new password.
If you attempt to log in on another client while offline, your new password will not work. You may log in using your old password.

If you log in using your new password on any other Release 8.5 or later Notes client, you do not need to take any action to change your password or copy over your ID file to those clients, as your ID files will automatically be resynchronized with the ID vault. However, if you are using pre-Notes 8.5 clients, you will have to manually change the old password to the new password on those machines.

Although logging in with your new password is preferred, you may also log in on another machine using your old password associated with the local ID file. However, you should eventually change your password to match your new password in the vault or log in using your new password so that your ID file may be resynchronized with the ID vault.


What happens when I change my password while offline?

If you change your password while offline, the ID vault will not be updated with your new password until you go online and synchronization polling occurs. Synchronization polling may take as long as a couple days. If you would like to force the ID vault to be updated with your new password, you may switch ID to the same ID and ID file synchronization will immediately occur.


What happens if I forget my password?

If you attempt to log in but cannot remember your password, click on the "Forgot your password?" on the log in prompt, and follow the instructions provided by your organization to reset your password.


As an administrator, how do I provide specific instructions for recovering from a forgotten password to my end users?

As an administrator, you may provide special instructions displayed in the Notes login prompt using any of the following methods:

• Use the Create - ID Vaults tool and specify the instructions as part of configuring a policy.
• Use the Manage - ID Vaults tool and specify the instructions as part of the "Create or edit vault policy settings" task.
• Edit the "Forgotten password help text" field in the ID Vault tab of a Security Settings document used by a user policy.

The instructions can include a link to a Web site, for example, to a site that runs a self-service application enabling users to reset their own passwords.


What happens when my system administrator resets my password?

When your system administrator resets your password, the ID vault will be set to recognize your new password. After obtaining your new password, you can use your new password to log in from any Release 8.5 or later Notes client. If you are using pre-Notes 8.5 clients, you will have to manually copy your ID file with the new password over to those machines.


As an administrator, how do I help a user recover from a forgotten password?

As an administrator with password reset rights, you reset a user's password through the Domino Administrator or other custom built application and the ID vault will be updated with the new password. Once you have given the new password to the user, the user may log in using any Release 8.5 or later Notes client and the password that the user enters will be verified against the password in the ID vault.


What happens if I change my password one or more times while offline?

When you are online again, your local ID file will eventually be resynchronized with your ID file in the vault once synchronization polling has occurred, and your current password will become your vault password. Synchronization polling may take as long as a couple days. If you would like to force the ID vault to be updated with your new password, you may switch ID to the same ID and ID file synchronization will occur immediately.


What happens when I am first vaulted?

When you are first vaulted, your ID file is uploaded to the ID vault. This will happen in the background and you will not notice anything. When you log in on other clients, those ID files will be resynchronized with the ID file in the vault and any discrepancies resolved, except in the case that those other ID files use different passwords. It is recommended that you change all your ID files to use the same password before you become vaulted.


What happens if I have multiple copies of my ID file with different passwords, and then I become vaulted?

The password associated with the first ID uploaded to the ID vault will be set as the password used to authenticate with the ID vault. If you use an ID with a different password, log in using your old password and change your old password to match your password used in the ID vault so that your ID file may synchronize with the vault.

If you log in using your vault password with an ID that uses an old password and has never been vaulted, the ID file cannot be resynchronized with the vaulted ID file because the ID vault cannot unlock the ID file. In this case, the ID file in the vault will be downloaded and saved to your local machine, and used instead. To avoid data loss, your old ID file will be renamed to a unique name with the format "oldname.mm_dd_yyyy_hh_mm_ss.id" and saved in the folder "SavedIDs" under your Notes data directory.


I have multiple copies of my ID file and I became vaulted before I could change all the passwords to be the same. One of my other ID files that has never been vaulted has document encryption keys that my vaulted ID file does not have. How can I use those keys?

If you have not logged in using that ID file yet, log in using your old password and change your old password to match your password used in the ID vault.
If you have logged in using that ID file with the vault password, the old ID was renamed to a unique name with the format "oldname.mm_dd_yyyy_hh_mm_ss.id" and saved in the folder "SavedIDs" under your Notes data directory. Switch to that saved ID file, logging in with your old password. Then, change the password to your vault password.
Your ID file will automatically be resynchronized with your ID file in the ID vault. Your ID file in the vault will then contain the document encryption keys from your old ID file.


My ID file is not able to resynchronize with the ID vault because it uses a password different from the one in the ID vault. (I have multiple copies of my ID file and I became vaulted before I could change all the passwords to be the same.) What happens if I change the password on the ID file to another password different from the one in the ID vault?

You will still not be able to resynchronize with the ID vault. You will need to change the password on your ID file to match the password for the ID vault.