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LastPass Master Password Forgotten or Doesn't Work

This article applies to: Secure Password Management

This article assumes you have signed up for a Cornell LastPass account.

LastPass (the company) does NOT have access to your Master Password, so they cannot send it to you or reset it for you. Here are steps you can take to try to recover it.

We recommend that you start with step one and proceed through each step in order.
  1. Try logging into the LastPass website - if you can sign in here, please uninstall the extension and re-install and test your login again.
  2. If you can intermittently login: type your Master Password in a text document and copy/paste to ensure there are no typos. In addition, verify whether Caps Lock (on your keyboard) is enabled or disabled.
  3. If you still receive an "invalid password" error, use this link to have your Password Hint (which you set up when you created your account) emailed to you. This is a reminder hint NOT your Master Password.
  4. If the hint doesn't help, go to the Account Recovery page to activate your local One Time Password. This allows you to change your Master Password if you've logged into LastPass previously on that computer, and is the only way to reset your password. You should try this on all browsers and on all computers where you've used the LastPass plugin to access your account. This method does not work on mobile devices. Account recovery is not supported on mobile devices or apps. If you have changed your master password recently, reverted your account, or cleared the browser cache for LastPass, this method may not work. But try it anyway.
  5. If you have updated your Master Password within the last 30 days, you can go through these steps to Revert to your previous Master Password. Please note, we do NOT recommend selecting the "restore" option unless you have confirmed with LastPass Support that this is the best course of action.
  6. If you are only seeing this for your mobile device:
    1. Verify with the same copy/paste from a plain text document that the password is being entered correctly. 
    2. Please uninstall and re-install the application.
    3. If you have any special characters in your master password, this may be causing the issue as well. 

If none of this helps, contact the IT Service Desk and describe your situation. 

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