Problem
After reinstalling FTK and/or Postgres it asks for a password but it never accepts either the password I created or the default password set by the unified installer (AD@Password). The error message below is displayed after entering the database password.
“Preparation failed. Please verify the username and password you provided.”
Resolution
Caution! Do not follow these steps if you are trying to keep data. These steps will start from a fresh database, thereby deleting any existing data!
- Stop the postgres service
- Uninstall Postgres
- Delete any folders named pgData93, pgData91 and/or pgData112
- Uninstall python (any and all versions of it)
- Explore the FTK ISO to FTK\FTK\x64\
- Check each of these GUID named folders to find which one has postgres (They differ depending on FTK version)
- Right click and run as administrator on the postgres installer - you will set your own postgres password during install
- After the install, do not start FTK. Open a command prompt at to C:\Program Files\AccessData\Forensic Toolkit\[version]\bin\
- Type the following: Dbcontrol -install
If there are any errors, contact AccessData support and refer to this KB article along with the errors. Otherwise, start FTK
Cause
There are several possible environmental causes for this problem. If you want to know the exact cause, contact AccessData support before following these steps. The above steps have shown to get things up and running quickly when that is the primary goal.
NOTE: The help article link below refers to further troubleshooting measures, in case you do not to start over with a fresh, empty Postgresql database.