Installed Vaultwarden on new system

[Nightwalker83]

Hi,

I have backup of my Vaultwarden folder in docker and everyting is there except the .env where ai keept the hash. Nor does the docker-compose file have it stored in there. I remember my master password but Vaultwarden will not except it. Is there anything that I can do?

Thanks,

Aaron

[darekwojciechowski]

Good news: the hash in your .env was ADMIN_TOKEN, which only protects the /admin page. It has nothing to do with your master password, and you can just make a new one.

Your master password isn't stored in .env at all. Accounts live in db.sqlite3 inside your data folder. So when a restored instance rejects a password you're sure about, it's nearly always because the container isn't actually using your restored data — you're logging into an empty database where your account doesn't exist.

Check that first:

docker compose exec vaultwarden ls -l /data
sqlite3 /path/to/backup/db.sqlite3 "select email from users;"

You should see db.sqlite3 in /data, and your email in the second command. If the file is missing or tiny, your volume is pointing at the wrong place:

volumes:
  - /srv/vaultwarden-data:/data

Run docker compose down && docker compose up -d after changing it — editing the volume in place won't apply.

If your account is in the database, check the email you're typing. Bitwarden derives your key from the master password plus the email, so a different address always fails, even one you own.

New admin token:

docker run --rm -it vaultwarden/server /vaultwarden hash

One honest note: if db.sqlite3 is really gone, there's no way back. The server can't rebuild your vault from the master password. Your only hope would be an old export, or a Bitwarden client still logged in and unlocked — export from it right away if you have one.

[Nightwalker83]

Thanks! Managed to regain access to my password! I think I will keep all the variables inside the .yaml from now on instead of having an extra .env to avoid confusion.