Changing passwordFormat from Encrypted to Hashed

Question

I'm finding surprisingly little information on converting an existing database from Encrypted passwords to Hashed passwords. (I was able to find a bit more information on converting the other way, but it wasn't of much help.)

As most people know, changing the passwordFormat setting in web.config only affects new users. I have a database with a couple of hundred users and I'd like to convert them to use hashed passwords without changing those existing passwords.

Is anyone else familiar with how one might approach this? Thanks for any tips.

Answer 1

Greg's solution is a good start, but it won't affect existing users. The SqlMembershipProvider protects existing users and passwords by storing the PasswordFormat (0=clear, 1=Hashed, 2=Encrypted) in the table along with passwords. Changing the provider password format only affects inserts to the user tables. In order to convert existing users' passwords to Hashed, you have to change the PasswordFormat parameter for each entry. Here is a simple way to do this:

void HashAllPasswords()
{
    var clearProvider = Membership.Providers["SqlProvider_Clear"];
    var hashedProvider = Membership.Providers["SqlProvider_Hashed"];
    int dontCare;
    if (clearProvider == null || hashedProvider == null) return;
    var passwords = clearProvider.GetAllUsers(0, int.MaxValue, out dontCare)
        .Cast<MembershipUser>().ToDictionary(u => u.UserName, u => u.GetPassword());

    using (var conn = new SqlConnection(
           ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[0].ConnectionString))
    {
        conn.Open();
        using (var cmd = new SqlCommand(
               "UPDATE [aspnet_Membership] SET [PasswordFormat]=1", conn))
            cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
    }

    foreach (var entry in passwords)
    {
        var resetPassword = hashedProvider.ResetPassword(entry.Key, null);
        hashedProvider.ChangePassword(entry.Key, resetPassword, entry.Value);
    }
}