Opnsense Business users. update your thumb drives with a newer version

[DEC670airp414user]

here was my Saturday.
I have been running business edition for the life of my dec670 appliance.   last week I decided to update to the latest 25.7 and ran it for a week no issues.(I did not run a backup config of 25.7)    then decided to go back to business edition from the usb drive I've been using for 2 years.  which means I have not updated it since then.    my backup files were dated August 13 and August 31st 2025.
I wiped the device and restored the file, hooked up to a wired computer and restored the backup.    used 3 different browsers and they ALL stated my password was wrong?      all browsers using a password manager and they all worked previously
I then wiped it again and restore the config file minus users so it would login as the default user and password.     that allowed me to login to the firewall and update it/ have partial internet.    but somehow my IOT Vlan were not functional :(  I had to factory reset all my unfi managed switches and access points.  also for the first time ever from doing this

I ended up downloading the latest Business Iso.  restored my backup and my password started to work again using all the same browsers, like nothing ever happened

I've been wiping my drive and reinstalling for quite a while, I know what I am doing.  but something has changed within 2025 that I didn't realize, that locked me out of my firewall for a Saturday morning.
I've now updated 2 thumb drives to the latest ISO> and moved to the US commercial servers.