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Chicken & Egg situation setting up Google Authenticator and LastPass in a new phone

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Douglas Brown

Lurker
Help!
I seem to have landed myself in a logical loop. Like an Escher puzzle, I see no apparent way out. You'll need to read all of this very carefully, so I'll take it in easy steps.

* My old smartphone died. On it were a bunch of apps, including LastPass and Google Authenticator.
* I now have my new smartphone which I am setting up (from factory fresh), reinstalling apps, etc...
* I take security seriously, and I have unique & complex passwords for every app & web site that needs one (generated by LastPass).
* So to get my apps working and to reclaim my many web accounts, I must access the passwords in my LastPass 'vault'.
* On the new phone, LastPass won't allow me to login as follows...

Your account settings have restric-
ted you from logging in from this
mobile device. Please check your
email to enable this device, or go to
your account setings to enable.

* I have received said email and clicked the verify button, but Last Pass still gives this message on trying to login on the phone. In fact, I have now done so twice (I've had several such emails now).
* Perhaps I can declare the new phone by logging into my LastPass account on the web, using my PC's web browser?
* Unfortunately ... LastPass won't allow me to login on the PC's browser without a code from Google Authenticator (the 30 day timeout having just tripped, as luck would have it).

[See where this is going yet?]

* I have installed Google Authenticator on my new phone and need to set it up to provide codes for LastPass.
* To do this, Google Authenticator requires me to get a code from my LastPass account ...
* ... but (as stated) I am unable to login to LastPass!

Oh cr!p. Chicken and egg. Both services (GA and LP) require a code from each other before they'll work.

There must be a way out of this mess, but I don't see it. Please can anyone suggest an approach ... that //WON'T// end in me losing dozens of non-memorable passwords in my LastPass vault?

Grateful thanks in advance.
And, if you have been, thanks for reading this far.

PS - I am unable to log this request on the LastPass website without first logging in to my LastPass account ... which fails due to needing the a code from Google Authenticator. Grrr.
 
Can you change your method of verification in lastpass (I don't use it, so I don't know for sure) to an alternate email for verification? That way you can get it on your desktop, too.
 
lunatic59 said:
Can you change your method of verification in lastpass (I don't use it, so I don't know for sure) to an alternate email for verification? That way you can get it on your desktop, too.
Click to expand...
Except he can't log into lastpass to change his settings :wtfdroid:
 
Oh ... right. Borrow a phone and drop the sim in it (please don't say it's a Verizon phone) to get the text verification code for LastPass?
 
Login to your phone with your Gmail account first, before anything else.
Download the LastPass browser
 
@lunatic59
> Oh ... right. Borrow a phone and drop the sim in it (please don't say it's a Verizon phone)
> to get the text verification code for LastPass?

Not Verizon, no. My new unlocked phone arrived today, I dropped my Giff Gaff sim in it and downloaded the LastPass app (='browser'?).
The app will not login because it is running on a new device. So I have to login on the web service to approve it. Except I cannot login 'cos I need that GA code ... (and I'm repeating myself, sorry).
 
I think what @Dannydet is saying is to reset your phone and then NOT download the LastPass app/browser/mobius strip/blackhole thing until you log into the LastPass website, get the code from your phone and then install LastPass on the phone.

Now before you do that there are a few things I want to clarify.

Your new phone ... make model and Android version, please. I would assume it's running at least Nougat (7.x) but security settings will depend on whose phone it is.

I see something like this. You unbox your shiny new phone, power it on, and like all Android phones it prompts you for language, then a wifi connection and then a Google account.

Oh, never mind then I was in the middle of typing up a long confusing set of steps to try that probably would have ended in a dead end anyway. ;) Glad you got it worked out.

You could have always just called the Chinese embassy, they probably have all your passwords anyway. :eek: ;):D
 
Douglas Brown said:
SOLVED

The web app login contains a link (in small letters) "I've lost my authenticator device". I clicked on that, got an email with a link to undo two-factor authentication. I can now log into my LastPass web account once more.

PHEW

Thanks @lunatic59 and @Dannydet for your willing assistance. Much appreciated! :)
Click to expand...
Dammit, you didn't answer the chicken and the egg. You introduced the fox!!!!! :p
Glad you got it sorted. I marked this as the answer so other folks that find themselves in the same sticky situation can find a way out.
 
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