Any Way to Track Passwords to Users?

[zincb]

(FMP5 server on NT) When a user forgets their password to a file, I can't simply find their name and reset their password, because all we see under Permissions is the password (which they can't remember). So, I create a new password for the user, and the list of defunct accounts grows by one. Has anyone found a semi-secure way to handle this?

[Vaughan]

Is this a password within the FMP database itself, or a password to an NT volume?

If it's an FMP password, the passwords themselves are not obscured in any way in the Access Privileges Passwords dialog if you login with a master (all privileges) password.

But I have a feeling it's not that, because the FMP passwords don't have user names. And if the files are being stored on a network volume and shared then it'll only be a few weeks before you'll be posting questions about data corruption file recovery.

[zincb]

I mean the passwords within each FM file. Even if I could set up a separate FM file to capture passwords and tie them to the CurrentUserName, that would be enough, but I know of no way to do this.

[BobWeaver]

As Vaughan said, you can go into each file with the master password and look at what the other passwords are. You might also be interested in this product:

http://www.nmci.com/Product_Overview.htm?pid=P703XLMOYQF6ISLDU2DJ&-session=dwc:93F333609E30F613DE2C2DA113A8ABD4

[John Caballero]

Nice product. I have a client with about 70 files, each with about half a dozen passwords. This product would certainly cut down on the tedium of making changes.

[CobaltSky]

zincb said:

I mean the passwords within each FM file. Even if I could set up a separate FM file to capture passwords and tie them to the CurrentUserName, that would be enough, but I know of no way to do this.

Hi Zincb,

Interestingly, there is a way to do this if you wish, but it involves the use of a third party plug-in called DialogMagic - also from NMCI.

How you would go about it is to provide a login database file that requests a user's name and password and stores it, and then, when they click 'ok', uses the password they've just entered to (via DialogMagic's 'External("DM-OpenPassword", "")' function) open the designated file(s).

The login database can be set up to operate as a main menu and front-end to a number of different FileMaker solutions, so it has utility beyond the initial need. Moreover if used in this way it can simplify acess for users - even allowing them to use a single password for access to a number of solutions, while giving you an administrative interface with which to manage the whole process.

I'm not suggesting that this approach is necessarily better than using Password Administrator to work with the FMP files directly. But it's another option for you to consider.

[Anatoli]

We used exactly what Ray suggested and it is excellent plugin, which can help solve plenty of problems and workarounds in FM.

It also solved our problem that people where constantly using wrong machines with wrong user names, because we set every machine with proper user name during login.

That pluging and Simple Dialog from 24U Software are one of the best!