Howdy: Your keyring did not get unlocked at the time you logged in to your computer

Created on 16 May 2018  路  6Comments  路  Source: boltgolt/howdy

I am receiving a dialog saying that and asking for a password. Is it possible to log into the keyring as well as the user account?

If it is can you make that change

wontfix

Most helpful comment

This module is explicitly not made to be more secure than a password, just faster. It's a trade off you have to make.

If you want to you can disable the password for your keyring so it will get unlocked automatically. To do this open "Passwords & keys" from the dash, right click the "Login" keyring and change the password to an empty one.

Please be aware that this is insecure and will make the passwords in that keyring easier to crack. It's about the same level of security as saving passwords in chrome/firefox without a master password.

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I would say this is rather not an issue but expected. The keyring by default gets decrypted with your password. Which is the only way their storage can be guaranteed to be secure. However once you're logged in the keyring keeps decrypted, so I would consider facial recognition rather a quick way to login you again rather than being the main way to log you in. Which is terribly insecure anyway.

This module is explicitly not made to be more secure than a password, just faster. It's a trade off you have to make.

If you want to you can disable the password for your keyring so it will get unlocked automatically. To do this open "Passwords & keys" from the dash, right click the "Login" keyring and change the password to an empty one.

Please be aware that this is insecure and will make the passwords in that keyring easier to crack. It's about the same level of security as saving passwords in chrome/firefox without a master password.

I don't mean to be mean or negative, but if you have to enter a password, what's even the point of facial recognition? It just adds an unnecessary step if you have to enter your password anyway. Seriously, I'm not trying to be an a-hole, I am open to any feedback that would help me understand this better or whatever.

Don't get me wrong. I think howdy is really cool. I really like it. I just want to better understand the use case.

You make valid points, and i would not recommend Howdy on login if you have to unlock your keychain with a password after that anyway.

There are 2 major use cases here: One group of users users doesn't have a keychain to unlock. For example: If you don't use Chrome on Ubuntu 16.04 and don't have an encrypted home dir then chances are you don't have a keychain active. Another set of users that do have to enter a password only use Howdy for specific authentication types, like sudo and gnome-screensaver, that come after the login screen and thus never require a password.

@boltgolt I really appreciate the feedback. I get that what I said could be hurtful and taken the wrong way. I'm glad you're level headed and didn't take it that way. You're obviously a cool dude lol. Thanks again :smile:

No problem! I don' find it hurtful at all, constructive criticism should always be allowed. This wiki article might be useful to you btw

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