Recovery key not accepted on fresh install - had to start from scratch!

When did you uninstall the browser from the tablet? I ask because I’m wondering how old the latest version on your tablet device was compared to what was installed on your PC. If old enough it may explain this.

And is that the only other device that was on the chain?

Removed tablet version about 2 weeks ago.
Come to think of it.
It may have been the nightly version too.

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@danielson

Trying to enter the code used many times in the past, this is the first message:

Yes, we changed the work of sync words, recently the time-limited sync words reached the Stable channel. And starting from the 1 Aug 2022 sync codes v1, which were not time-limited, are deprecated.

Now it is impossible to generate sync code words once and use it for a long time. The time limited sync code needs to be generated each time you are connecting a new device.

Thanks,
Alexey

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So, if i understand you properly.
If i do a fresh install on my PC, the previous sync code is no longer valid?
If so, a user must foresee making a backup of Brave data?

So, say i do fresh install on PC.
Need new sync code…
Then, install on tablet and sync with version on PC.
What then if i must re-install PC?
Will need new code while the old one still works with the tablet?
How will sync between PC and Android tablet continue?

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@danielson

So, if i understand you properly.
If i do a fresh install on my PC, the previous sync code is no longer valid?

Yes, in general the previous sync code won’t be valid longer. The only exception is if you will use enter sync code in the same day as you get it in settings, the sync code is valid for one day.

If so, a user must foresee making a backup of Brave data?

Sync is not advised as a backup solution. But if you have two devices in the chain and doing fresh OS installation or factory reset on one of them, you can pick the code from other device.

So, say i do fresh install on PC.
Need new sync code…
Then, install on tablet and sync with version on PC.
What then if i must re-install PC?

Just pick the code again from the tablet and enter into PC.

Will need new code while the old one still works with the tablet?

Technically each time when you get the code words or QR code for the existing sync chain, it is always new.
The proper way of connecting the device to the sync chain - always take the sync code from the device which is already in the chain.
So yes, use a new code for the sync chain.

How will sync between PC and Android tablet continue?

Sync code now consists of two parts:

  1. seed, 24 of first words, which is never changed.
  2. 25th word with represents the number of days between Words v2 Epoch of Tue, 10 May 2022 and today’s date.
    And sync internally used only the 1st part, which is seed, and which never changes.

If you are desperate and did re-install of OS and you don’t have other device in the chain to pick the code words in a proper way, but you have old saved sync words, there is a workaround:

Disclaimer
we don’t officially support this use case and that while it may work now, we’re not committing to this continuing to work into the future.

25th word is the same on different devices and reflects the number of days between today and so-called time-limited-words-epoch

For today 4 Aug 2022 the 25th word is “approve”

So it is possible to take your old 24-words, add space and add “approve” word and join the sync chain.

If you saved time-limited words of 25, you need to remove the last 25th word, add space, add “approve” and join the sync chain

Word “approve” will be shifted each day, the next word is “april”
The list of words is https://github.com/ElementsProject/libwally-core/blob/cd5b8c404352759d603208e08c59003aaeb9a6fa/src/data/wordlists/english.txt

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At least now we know where we’re going.

Export/import Brave data should be “relatively” (manually) easy to do now…

Will miss extensions sync (so common now with other browsers).

@danielson,
Extensions can still be Synced:

@Mattches - yes, but expiration date on recovery key is what gets me.
Why the change of policy?
Maybe make sync via email address like Vivaldi and Firefox would be worth considering?

@Alexey - still unsure about your explanation for using old code.
Hopefully, someone less nerdy than me will figure it out quick…

Btw, just did fresh install of Windows and decided to create new key.
Firefox import did not work.
Edge did.
So, 1 out of 2 aint bad.

Sorry to jump in the middle here, but if I’m understanding this correctly, there’s no longer any point to ‘saving’ the Sync code words in something like a password manager?

I’d previously been saving the words in Bitwarden, thinking I could pull my data off the Sync chain in case of disaster, but it sounds like this is not (or at least not anymore) a sustainable process and that there’s no longer any point to syncing a single device (to store its local data) to the chain.

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@JimB1,
To be clear, Sync was never intended to be a replacement for an actual “backup” feature. But it can facilitate/constitute a backup just by nature of the way the feature works.

Additionally, yes, it is still helpful to continue doing what you’ve been doing in case of a disaster (as you say). The 24 words are the seed which do not actually change. The change to he Sync code is in the new 25th word which changes day to day. @Alexey linked to a list of the words above. So what you would do is grab your saved list of words, find the 25th word for the day, copy/paste your sync data, then insert a space and the 25th word, then Sync should work as expected.

@Mattches @Alexey - so, is it safe to assume that all devout Brave users will know and follow these “simple” instructions?

Understood, thanks. Still somewhat concerned about the future state as per:

but at least for now it seems there’s value in using Sync in any case. Thanks for the follow up.

So what is the actual official ‘backup feature’. Password are encrypted on per device, so copying your Profile folder does not work. Only Sync is able to do it.

When you update your browser, it will include the new 25 word Sync code and will not require the instructions above as the code will be 25 words by default. The only reason this occurred is because the two devices being used were on different versions of the browser, where one did not have the updated Sync code in it.

Technically there isn’t a full “backup” feature. Yes you can use Sync to some extent and much of your data will carry over when you copy your user data folder. For Passwords and bookmarks, you can export these manually and import those files into your new installation.

@Mattches - just installed Brave on a Linux distro and it told be something akin to getting another sync code (i.e. the one on Windows). Both are the latest versions.

@danielson,
I’m not sure I understand — can you please elaborate for me?

Dual booting situation Windows/Linux.
First installed on Windows with new code yesterday.
Then installed Brave on Linux but at trying to sync with same code, get this message:
“This code has expired. Please generate a new one on your other device and try again.”

@danielson ,
if you are applying the sync code during the day - it should work fine.

I know that Windows and Linux store time in different ways: Windows consider the BIOS time as a local time; and Linux considers BIOS time as a UTC time and then adjust the time zone to show the local time.

Brave Sync uses the UTC time to calculate the time to live for the code. But if there happens mess with the time zones and the local time and it goes beyond the day, then the problem is possible.

So my only advice is:

  1. Ensure the local time and local timezone is correct on the 1st OS, copy the sync code;
  2. Reboot to the 2nd OS, and ensure the time were synchronized correctly, if not - adjust manually the time and the timezone;
  3. Apply the Brave Sync code into the 2nd device.

Thanks