If you've not been on steemit for a while, you may not know you now have a HIVE account as well as a steemit account.
re-posted on steemit and facebook
So what is HIVE ?
Basically HIVE is a new blockchain and website that has forked from steem and steemit.
I'm not going to discuss the politics of what has happened in this post, there's plenty of info out there about steemit being bought by an investor if you want to google it yourself.
My intention of this post is to try and help any body to has not been on steemit for a while and maybe does not have much techy knowledge who wants to access their HIVE account and change passwords and set up a recovery account.
Basically your steemit account was cloned and you now have a HIVE account. If you have some steem currency on steemit in your wallet you now have the same amount of Hive currency in your HIVE wallet.
How to access your HIVE account.
Firstly you need to make sure you've got your steemit keys (passwords). You should have saved a copy of these when you made your steemit account.
you should have :
master key, owner key, active key, posting key and memo key (memo key not important tho)
At the very least you need master key or owner key.
If you only have posting key and active key you will be able to access and make transactions on HIVE (or steemit) but you will not be able to change your keys.
If you've got all your keys from steemit then the easiest way to login is to go to hive and click on login and then enter your steemit 'posting' key (password).
https://hive.blog/
You can then save your posting key in your browser and just login using that key.
(you will still need your active key when you want to make transactions in the wallet)
you can login to your wallet with your posting key, but you will need to use your 'active' key (password) to send or make any transactions.
For best security don't save this in your browser, just use it only when you need to. your browser will ask if you want to save new password, don't save it. If you do, next time you try to login to the blog site it will say wrong password. you would then need to add your posting key again.
I had problems login into my wallet with brave browser and chrome browser (the wallet login button dis-appeared)
If you have problems then login to the wallet here https://wallet.hive.blog/
If you are not sure which key (password) you have, then go to the hive wallet and try to login. https://wallet.hive.blog/
If you have now logged in then you have a working key from steemit. Now click on 'keys and permissions'
and see which key is revealed. if all of them are revealed the you have your 'master' key. If only 1 key is revealed then that is the key you have just entered.
If it is your master key, make sure you copy your other keys that are revealed if you do not already have a copy. best way is to copy and paste the keys into a notepad file.
If you want to change your recovery account and password, the easiest way is to use a 3rd party website called PeakD.
https://peakd.com/
Click on login (top right of page)
Easiest option is then to click on 'PeakLock' then 'add account'
Then enter your steemit name and your steemit 'posting' key then make up a pin number and add it in the box 'new pin code' remember to save your pin code or commit it to memory.
click 'save'
Now you can login with your pin number.
Once you have logged in, go to your name in the top right corner and in the dropdown box select profile.
Then click on 'actions' and in that dropdown, select 'keys and permissions'
Then click on 'recovery account'
If it says steem as your recovery account you may want to change it. If you have a 2nd hive account you can change it to that. if not use a friend or relatives hive account. Or if you are a friend/follower of mine you can use my name @pcste (don't add the @ sign when adding account)
To change recovery account click on 'change recovery account'
You need to add the name of the recovery account and YOUR 'owner' key/password.
Please note, creating a recovery account can not recover your account if you lose your keys. it is a precaution to recover your account if it is stolen, But still requires keys to get the account back.
Now its advisable to go change your Keys so they are different to your original steemit keys (keep your original ones though just in case, you'l also still need them if you want to access your steemit account)
Go to, 'actions' then 'keys and permissions' then 'change password'
You then need to enter your 'owner' key/password
Then when you see the new keys, click on 'download keys'
Or manualy copy and paste into notepad or similar.. DOUBLE CHECK that you have a copy of those keys before clicking on 'update keys'
You should now have set a recovery account and changed your keys.
Remember, if you want to login to PeakD again you will have to change the posting key in PeakLock.
You do this by using PeakLock again, select your user name, then in the next menu 'remove from peaklock' (at the bottom of login screen)
Then add your new details again.
Please note..YOU MUST SAVE YOUR KEYS
Because of the very nature of blockchains, your keys (passwords) have to be very long, so long that most people can't remember them.
Always login with you posting key, only use your active key for transactions.
Dont use your owner or master key (unless to change keys or recovery)
Always make more than 1 backup of your keys. Preferably store an extra copy on a usb stick or 2 and print a paper copy.
IF YOU LOSE YOUR KEYS YOU LOSE YOUR ACCOUNT.
If youve changed your keys, keep the old one's too, just incase you make an error changing keys.
Now that youve done all that, you have a choice between 2 main websites that post to the HIVE blockchain,
hive.blog and peakd.
Whatever is posted on hive.blog shows up on hive.blog and peakd, and whatever is posted on peakd shows up on peakd and hive.blog.
Hive.blog is just about identical to steemit and is decentralised. it is a lot simpler to use than PeakD and maybe the 1 to try first if you are used to that format on steemit.
PeakD is a 3rd party website that posts to the HIVE blockchain. It has a slightly different look to hive.blog and has other options and features. its also easier to change your passwords and create a recovery account on peakd.
If you are a photographer or artist, peakd has a really nice 'portfolio' page, which shows all your images.
Even though its 3rd party, your keys are safe because you only login with your posting key.
If you want to try using the hive blockchain with an app, there is https://esteem.app/
I cant comment on this app because i do not use an app, i only post via desktop, it is an official hive app (or Dapp)
If any one has any problems please leave a comment and i will try to help as much as i can. or if you are a fb friend you can message me.
If this tutorial has been any help to you, please consider giving me a witness vote.
A witness uses a server to sign blocks on the block chain, this keeps the blockchain and website running. It cost us witnesses to rent the servers to uphold the blockchain. We get a return by signing more blocks, which requires your witness votes, the more votes, the more chance we have to sign blocks.
Atm, it costs me more to run the server than i get in return for signing blocks, so your votes help.
Please vote pcste for witness.
to vote for me go to : https://wallet.hive.blog/~witnesses scroll down the page and enter pcste into the box (dont use @sign) then click vote.