Locked Myself Out of HomeSeer - Solved!

[MitchInTexas]

Well, somehow I managed to lock myself out of my HS4 installation and (of course) need to get back in. Short of wiping my whole configuration out and starting from scratch, is there a way to get back in?

[drhtmal]

It would be helpful to know a lot more about your system. Is this a purchased system from HomeSeer or a self built system? What OS are you running?

[MitchInTexas]

Windows 10 PRO on a Dell i7 micro-form-factor desktop

[Dave Haig]

Trying shutting down HS4 and open the settings.ini file in the config folder.

From there you should be able to find a setting labeled gWebSubNets

Try entering your LAN address range via gWebSubNets=192.168.1,

Note the trailing comma, and with a little luck that will let you in.

You will need to be on your LAN in order for this to work.

If not, cast a broader net with 127.0.0,192.168.0,

And please excuse my unavoidable pun.

[MitchInTexas]

When you say 'You will need to be on you LAN in order for this to work.', does this also apply to being on the local PC?

[Dave Haig]

Yes, any computer on your local network, which would include the one with the HS4 installation.

Presumably you will already be on your server to do the ini edit, so might as well do it from there!

[MitchInTexas]

This has no effect. Here's what I was doing when I locked myself out...

I have two users in the system (maybe three actually): 1. Some default user (I think), 2. Me, 3.My wife. I'm not sure about this, but I think I had ?copied? her account from mine, got sidetracked, and left hers with the same settings as mine. Since her name is first in the alphabet, when logging in, I think HS defaulted to her user credentials. I didn't notice this when messing with the users list. So I was messing around with the settings and clicked on the 'local' usage icon (I think). Now, I can get to the 'Devices' page, but when I click on the 'Events' and 'Setup' pages, I get the message across the top 'Access Denied', so I can't get to the user settings any more.

If I 'Logout' then log back in with 'known' credentials, it defaults to my wife's account, which makes me think I had copied but not changed her account accordingly.

🤔

[Dave Haig]

I guess you have 2 options....

1. If you have a backup, copy the c:\Program Files (x86)\HomeSeer HS4\Config\users.cfg from the backup to the installation folder with HS4 shut down.

2. In the absence of a backup, simply delete that file and necessarily recreate the users from scratch, and in both cases with your fingers crossed.

Good luck!

[MitchInTexas]

So - you don’t sound very optimistic about my chances...

Let’s say I need to use Option #2 (presently not at my PC, and I don’t remember if I have any backups available, which usually means there aren’t any), is there any default ID available, or am I getting into ‘grey’ areas asking that question?

[Rupp]

To fix this, please follow the steps below:

1. Shut down HS4 by closing the HomeSeer HS4 program windows. Once it is closed, navigate to the HomeSeer HS4 program folder and open the Config folder, the default file path is C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeSeer HS4\Config.
2. From here, delete the users.cfg file. If you have file extensions hidden, this will appear as just "users".
3. Next, restart HS4. You will now be able to log in with the username and password "default".
4. Navigate to Setup, then the Users tab and add an account with your MyHS credentials and give it Admin and Local access, and you should be all set!

[MitchInTexas]

Did the trick - thanks Rupp and Dave Haig for the assistance.

I now remember why I had two accounts with the same settings. I hadn't explored the possibility of setting up two separate MyHS accounts to point to the same system. I wanted to have two logins - one for myself and one for the wife (being a Network/Server/AD engineer, I'm kinda AR when it comes to these things) - and just hadn't followed through.