How to Reset Your Arcane Password (When You're Locked Out)

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How to Reset Your Arcane Password (When You're Locked Out)

So you've updated Arcane or for some reason you can't log in with your old credentials? Been there! Here's a quick guide to get you back in by resetting your password directly in the PostgreSQL database.

The Situation

You've got Arcane running with PostgreSQL, and you need to reset your password.

What You'll Need

• Access to your Docker host
• Your PostgreSQL container running (for example: arcane-postgres)

Step 1: Generate a Bcrypt Hash

First, we need to create a bcrypt hash of the new password. Here are a few methods:

Method 1: Using Python (Easiest)

If you have Python installed on your system:

python3 -c "import bcrypt; print(bcrypt.hashpw(b'arcaneadminpass', bcrypt.gensalt(rounds=10)).decode())"

If bcrypt isn't installed, install it first:

pip3 install bcrypt

Method 2: Using htpasswd (Apache Utils)

On Ubuntu/Debian:

# Install it first
apt-get install apache2-utils

# Generate the hash
htpasswd -nbB dummy "arcaneadminpass" | cut -d: -f2

On RHEL/CentOS:

# Install it first
yum install httpd-tools

# Generate the hash
htpasswd -nbB dummy "arcaneadminpass" | cut -d: -f2

Method 3: Online Generator (Quick but less secure)

If you're in a pinch, use [bcrypt-generator.com](https://bcrypt-generator.com/) - just remember this is less secure for production systems. Set the rounds to 10.

Example output:

$2y$10$N9qo8uLOickgx2ZMRZoMyeIjZAgcfl7p92ldGxad68LJZdL17lhWy

Copy this hash - you'll need it in a moment!

Step 2: Access Your PostgreSQL Database

Now let's hop into the database:

docker exec -it arcane-postgres psql -U arcane -d arcane

You should see a PostgreSQL prompt that looks like this:

arcane=#

Step 3: Check Your Current Users

this will show you all current users available:

SELECT id, username, email, roles FROM users;

You'll probably see something like:

 id | username | email | roles
----+----------+-------+-------
  1 | arcane   |       | admin

Step 4: Update the Password

Now for the magic! Replace YOUR_HASH_HERE with the hash you generated in Step 1:

UPDATE users 
SET password_hash = 'YOUR_HASH_HERE' 
WHERE username = 'arcane';

Real example:

UPDATE users 
SET password_hash = '$2y$10$N9qo8uLOickgx2ZMRZoMyeIjZAgcfl7p92ldGxad68LJZdL17lhWy' 
WHERE username = 'arcane';

You should see:

UPDATE 1

This means success!

Step 5: Verify and Exit

Double-check your work:

SELECT username, password_hash FROM users WHERE username = 'arcane';

Looking good? Exit PostgreSQL:

\q

Step 6: Test Your Login

Now head back to your Arcane interface at http://your-server:3552 and log in with:

• Username: arcane
• Password: arcaneadminpass (or whatever you used in Step 1)

Bonus: Quick Reset Script

If you want to make this easier for next time? Here's a one-liner (after generating your hash):

Remember to replace container name with the name on you docker(docker ps)

docker exec -it arcane-postgres psql -U arcane -d arcane -c "UPDATE users SET password_hash = 'YOUR_HASH' WHERE username = 'arcane';"

🔄 Still having issues? If this doesn't work, you might need to restart the Arcane container:

docker restart arcane

The Nuclear Option

If all else fails and you just want to reset back to default credentials:

# 1. Stop Arcane
docker stop arcane

# 2. Access database
docker exec -it arcane-postgres psql -U arcane -d arcane

# 3. Delete all users
DELETE FROM users;
\q

# 4. Restart Arcane (will recreate default admin)
docker start arcane

This will reset Arcane to factory settings with the default arcane / arcane-admin credentials.

After restart, you can log in with the default credentials:

Username: arcane
Password: arcane-admin

And that's it! You should be back in without have to delete volume/database