It is probable that as a result of the disappointment with the future backward compatibility paid on PS5 through the most expensive PlayStation Plus subscription you have ever wanted dust off your PS3 or your Vita being backward compatible with games from the first PlayStation or PSP, respectively. After all, there are a lot of great games out there.
The problem is that Sony has long activated two-step verification, so your old password will no longer allow you to access these consoles with your profile. And this procedure is not as intuitive as one might expect, apart from the fact that it is accompanied by small print that can give you a headache if you do not know what is wrong in the event that you have both consoles… or even repeated.
How to fix the error on older consoles
Knowing that two-step verification was implemented in mid-2016, it is more than likely that by this point in the movie you have activated that security system. On the contrary, we remind you first of the basic steps to follow:
- Sign in with your Sony Entertainment Network account
- Go to the “Security” section, just below “Account”
- Click on “Edit” where the two-step verification appears
- Select “Activate” and enter your phone number to verify
- Enter the security code to “Verify” definitively
If you look, from the same section of “verification in two steps” within the link of Sony Entertainment Network Just below there is a little tab that says “security codes”. There you get 10 random codes in case you can’t access the initial verification code via SMS or the PSN app.
The two-step verification It is therefore to blame for that incorrect password message or that it does not recognize your login ID. Because now your password has to be generated, with the aggravating circumstance that a generated password may not be valid for another device, in case you want to play PS3 or Vita indistinctly. You have to repeat another process.
From the same “Security” tab where we activate the two-step verification, you have at the bottom of a whole section where it says “password for account configuration” and just below the message to generate or manage device setup passwords. If you have any in use, you will get the option to “revoke”. Otherwise, you can generate a new password.
That generated password will be the one you should use from now on on your PS3 or Vita, it is recommended to check the box to remember the password when you log in for the first time with that new password in case you forget it.
We say the latter mainly because the Sony page tends to stop show the password you use for each devicebeing difficult later to remember what each section refers to, no matter how much you have defined a name for each console from the “Device Administration” section.
This section is not exempt from errors either, since in the shared capture it says that I have three “unused” passwords when it is just the opposite. And you should keep in mind that, in general, each password is associated with a device…
So we recommend you create a document where you can save each password and keep them safe so you don’t have to generate a new one due to some mistake.
What if it doesn’t let you play games you bought?
With this dusting off of old consoles, especially if you have a duplicate console, as is my case, you may get an error message with a digital game saying that “this content cannot be used”.
It doesn’t matter if you play connected to the Internet, you must have that console activated as the main system. If you have two PS3s, as I do, you can run into games where there is a conflict. And it is that my first PS3 ended up spoiling the reader and I had to buy another second-hand one to continue enjoying the physical games. Hence this fairly common problem…
You can manage your consoles from the aforementioned “device management” section, since there is a limit of active devices, as you know. You can deactivate them all at once by clicking on “Deactivate all devices”.
And how to activate later a PS3 or Vita console as main? Here the steps to follow vary slightly between each one, although the result is the same.
In the case of the home console, you have to do the following:
- Go to the PlayStation Network section of the main menu
- Select “Account Management”
- Now click on “System Activation”
- Then click where it says “PS3 System”
- And check the “Game” box in the “System Activation” menu
As for the latest Sony laptop, you have to do this:
- Go to the “Settings” section of the main menu
- Select PlayStation Network
- Scroll down to where it says “System Activation”
- Highlight the “Game” option and click on “Activate”
Note that this can also be done with PSP content that you currently have associated for download or use from PS3 or Vita consoles.