When you open the software, the message "You have entered an invalid password" appears.

There are a few potential causes of this message.

Try each of these potential resolutions to resolve the issue.

1. Try another password. 
2. Ask the Manager user to change your password. 
3. Enter the first 10 characters of your password. Before version 27 the maximum password length was 10 characters. 
   
4. Reset the Manager password.
5. Ensure you've installed the latest updates from our Sage 50 Accounts software updates article.
6. Use our Check for password encryption issues article to check if there is an issue with the encryption.
7. Reset the Sage password encryption.
8. Ensure you've installed all the latest updates for Windows.

Windows FIPS encryption is enabled

Use our article 'You have entered an invalid password' message when Windows FIPS encryption is enabled. if you've recently changed your windows encryption settings. 

If you've downgraded from Sage 50 Accounts v28.1.404.0 to 28.0.226.0

In the latest version of Sage 50 Accounts, we have resolved this issue.  You can upgrade using the download and install article. Or, you can follow the workaround below:

When downgrading from v28.1 to v28.0, you need to remove 2 registry entries before you can access your company data.

1. Click the link below to download the registry file:
   
   • RemoveCipher.28.1.404.reg.
2. Open the file in File Explorer, then double-click RemoveCipher.28.1.404.
3. Click Run, then click Yes and click OK.

You have removed the registry entries and can now access your company data.

Restore an earlier backup

If none of the above resolve the issue, your setup.dta data file may be corrupt. To resolve this, you must Restore a backup of your data before the issue occurring, and reprocess anything if required.