Difficulty getting password recovery set up

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TX_Flood
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 11:53 am

Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by TX_Flood »

I am trying to get password recovery set up. I have Gmail.

I set up all the SMTP server settings as per the FAQ #6.

I have the OpenSSL files in the directory with the PM executable file. I know these are working because I have a secure connection to my AWS server.

I turned on the less secure apps switch in Gmail acct settings.

Allow password recovery is set to Yes.

When I log in, I get all the options to reset password, resend validation code and the box to enter the validation code. I click Reset password and get the pop up box to send the code. I click OK. After about 20-30 seconds I get message "An error occurred attempting to send the validation code."

I've read the several other related posts in here, but can't seem to find what I may not be doing right. What am I missing?

Thanks.
Kent Briggs
Site Admin
Posts: 5878
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:47 pm

Re: Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by Kent Briggs »

Check the Error Log tab in the server console. it should give a more specific error than what was shown on the client end.
TX_Flood
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 11:53 am

Re: Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by TX_Flood »

Thanks Kent. There are two different error messages:

Email failure (connect timed out.) sending validation code to username at [email protected]
Email failure (connect timed out.) sending password change code to username at [email protected]
Kent Briggs
Site Admin
Posts: 5878
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:47 pm

Re: Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by Kent Briggs »

It's not able to connect to the gmail server, for some reason. You have that set to smtp.gmail.com, correct? Do you have any security/anti-virus program running that could be blocking that connection?
TX_Flood
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 11:53 am

Re: Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by TX_Flood »

Yes. Host server is set correctly.

No antivirus. My laptop came with McAfee, but when that expired, I uninstalled it. Been considering several options, but none installed at the moment. Just the built in Windows 10 MS Defender.
TX_Flood
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 11:53 am

Re: Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by TX_Flood »

Kent, I also have a related question. Since it looks like I may not get user initiated password recovery installed as quickly as I would like, what is the proper procedure for resetting passwords manually? I've had a couple users forget theirs. I tried going in an editing their user to delete the existing hash. That didn't work. I also tried putting in a temp pw and telling them what that was. That didn't work. I eventually had them just create a new user and I then deleted the old one. There's got to be a better way to maintain passwords from an admin perspective.
Kent Briggs
Site Admin
Posts: 5878
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:47 pm

Re: Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by Kent Briggs »

TX_Flood wrote:Kent, I also have a related question. Since it looks like I may not get user initiated password recovery installed as quickly as I would like, what is the proper procedure for resetting passwords manually?
Enter a random number into their account's ValCode setting. Have them enter that code on their next login. If the code matches then whatever password they enter will become their new password from that point forward.
TX_Flood
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2021 11:53 am

Re: Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by TX_Flood »

So if I understand you, for this to work, the validation code box has to be visible, therefore, I have to have password recovery set to Yes. Correct? If so, then the Reset Password button is also going to be visible and my users are going to try and use that. But it doesn't work. So yes, I see I could do this short term, but this is not a long term solution. The long term solution is to get the recovery process working. Do you have any other ideas about that?
Kent Briggs
Site Admin
Posts: 5878
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:47 pm

Re: Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by Kent Briggs »

TX_Flood wrote:So if I understand you, for this to work, the validation code box has to be visible, therefore, I have to have password recovery set to Yes. Correct?
Yes. Otherwise you would need to setup a separate web page and handle the password resets there.
Do you have any other ideas about that?
I don't know why you would get a connection timed out message. I've got it working on my demo server with these settings:

Host server = smtp.gmail.com
Host port = 465
Username = [email protected]
Password = *********
From address = [email protected]
Secure connection = Yes
Kent Briggs
Site Admin
Posts: 5878
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:47 pm

Re: Difficulty getting password recovery set up

Post by Kent Briggs »

Also, PMServer.exe is in the Windows Firewall "Allow" list on my server so that any port it wants to use is automatically open.
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