Unable to sync second PC to Google Drive

[skylark]

I'm running Enpass 6.0.0 traditional on my tower and laptop PCs.

I was able to sync Enpass on my (Win10 tower PC), (Win10 laptop) and (android oreo S8 phone) to my Google Drive account using password only.

Now I'm trying add keyfile authentication. 

1. So on my tower PC I use Enpass' change password function (but I use the same password) and then generate a keyfile.  Sync with Google Drive works.  When I close Enpass and open it again, it asks for my master password and the keyfile.  I do both and Enpass opens fine.  When I check synchronization, sync with Google Drive is fine.

2. Then I copy the keyfile from my tower PC to my laptop.

3. Next on my laptop I use Enpass' change password function (but I use the same password) but this time I select "Choose Keyfile" (instead of "Generate Keyfile") and I choose the keyfile that I copied from my tower PC in step-2.  The change password works.  But the sync says "Sync Error - Password of data on Google Drive is required."

4. I disconnect both my tower PC and laptop from Google Drive.  Then I reconnect the tower PC and it syncs fine.  But when I reconnect my laptop, the same error msg as in step-3 displays.

5. I unistalled Enpass from my laptop and installed it again as a new user.  But I still get the "Sync Error - Password of data on Google Drive is required." message.

I'm using the default keyfile suffix of .enpasskey for the keyfile.  I'm using the same master password on both PCs.  The clock on both PCs are set to "Set time automatically=ON", "Set time zone automatically=On", Time zone is same on both PCs.

What am I doing wrong?  What's the procedure to sync two Win10 PCs to Google Drive using a password and keyfile?

Thank you for your help.

Edited January 14, 2019 by skylark
added some text for clarification

[skylark]

I'm also unable to sync with Google Drive using my android oreo S8 phone since I set Enpass in my tower PC to use a keyfile.  Enpass in phone used to sync OK with Google Drive when password only was used, but not since using a keyfile on my tower PC. 

When I try to sync, Enpass says:  SYNC WITH "None".  I tap None and then tap "Google Drive.  An error says:

"Error
The sync with Google Drive was canceled by the user."

EDIT:
After hours of searching, I finally found a post that said:

"I am getting error “Sync canceled by the user” on android. How can I fix it?
It seems you are using Firefox as your default browser. Please follow these steps to fix this problem.
Open Firefox -> Settings -> General ->Tab Queue -> Disable it.
Now enable sync in Enpass."

That worked and I was then able to try to sync with Google Drive.  But the same error as on my laptop comes up.  Says "Invalid master password or keyfile."  So far only my Win10 tower PC can sync with Google drive using password and keyfile.  But not my laptop or S8 phone.

Need help.

 

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by skylark
additional info for phone sync attempt that fails.

[Vinod Kumar]

Hi @skylark,

In Enpass 6 you can't keep different passwords/master key on different devices. Once you added a KeyFile to first PC, it is also added to the synced file on Google drive, hence when you sync it with laptop it will say "Password of data on drive is required.". At this point click resolve button and provide your master password and KeyFile you added on PC. This will also add keyfile to your data on laptop.

Same is the case with Mobile device. If you are getting "Sync canceled by the user" error. Please use Google Chrome for sync setup or read this FAQ. Also, when asked for KeyFile, scan it from "Settings->Vaults->Primary->Options(three dots in right top)->KeyFile" from PC or laptop.

Thanks.

[skylark]

12 hours ago, Vinod Kumar said:

Hi @skylark,

In Enpass 6 you can't keep different passwords/master key on different devices. Once you added a KeyFile to first PC, it is also added to the synced file on Google drive, hence when you sync it with laptop it will say "Password of data on drive is required.". At this point click resolve button and provide your master password and KeyFile you added on PC. This will also add keyfile to your data on laptop.

Same is the case with Mobile device. If you are getting "Sync canceled by the user" error. Please use Google Chrome for sync setup or read this FAQ. Also, when asked for KeyFile, scan it from "Settings->Vaults->Primary->Options(three dots in right top)->KeyFile" from PC or laptop.

Thanks.

Hi Vinod,

Thanks for your quick reply!  I'll try what you suggested and report results.

[skylark]

Hi Vinod,

Use of keyfile on my tower PC is straight forward and fine but strange things are happening with use of keyfile on my Win10 laptop and android phone.
In summary:
....a) My tower PC always asks for password and keyfile after Enpass is closed and opened again and it syncs fine with Google Drive which is fine and expected.
....b) My laptop asked for the keyfile and it synced with Google Drive but later it no longer asks for the keyfile.
....c) My phone did not even ask for the keyfile but it synced with Google Drive and never asks for the keyfile.

1. Then I added a new login to a forum to Enpass on my tower PC.  That change was not reflected on my laptop.
2. I disconnected sync on my Tower PC, my laptop and my phone.
3. I did a "Sync Now" on my tower PC and my laptop and both said "Last synchronized: a few seconds ago".
4. But the new login that I added to Enpass on my tower PC is not reflected on my laptop.

I fooled with trying to get sync to work between my tower PC, laptop and phone all day but have not been successful.
I have given up trying to get sync using a keyfile to work.
I'm reluctant to use a password manager that doesn't have working keyfile synchronization for a database on the cloud.

[skylark]

Hi Vinod,

After sleeping on it, I think I figured out what happened yesterday in trying to sync my two Win10 PCs and my S8 phone with Google Drive using a keyfile.  Trying to sync my S8 phone removed the keyfile requirement that I had set up on my tower PC and laptop.  Here's what happened:

1. First I generated a keyfile using my tower PC and synced it with my Google Drive account.

2. Then I copied the keyfile to my laptop and phone.

3. Then I changed my master password on my laptop choosing the keyfile that I just copied, using the "Resolve" button, and synced it to Google Drive.

4. So far everything is OK.

5. Then I changed my password on my S8 phone but it did not ask me to choose the keyfile and it synced to Google Drive OK.  I was waiting for it to ask for the keyfile but it never did.

6. Then I found that my laptop did not ask to choose a keyfile when I closed and opened Enpass.  It only asked for the master password.  I believe now that my procedure on my phone removed the keyfile requirement on the database on Google Drive, but I did not realize that at the time.  I kept fooling with Enpass on my laptop for a long time unsuccessfully.

7. All this time, I would close Enpass on my tower PC and open it again and it always asked for the password and to choose the keyfile, so I thought that Enpass on my tower PC was OK.

8. Finally I added a new login on my tower PC and then checked Enpass on my laptop.  I clicked "Sync Now" and it synced BUT the new entry was not shown on the laptop.  WHAT?

9. So I checked the "Sync Now" on my tower PC and it said it was not synced in red letters.  WHAT?  All this time when I closed Enpass and opened it, it asked for my master password and choose keyfile and Enpass would open normally.  But it was not synced with Google Drive and I had no way of knowing that.  I resynced my tower PC and then checked my laptop and the new entry appeared on my laptop.  BUT now when I close and open Enpass on my tower PC, it only asks for the master password and no longer asks to choose the keyfile.  So my tower PC and laptop are syncing without the keyfile now. Arggggg!

8. Sleeping on it lat night, it dawned on me that trying to setup the keyfile on my S8 phone in step-5 must have removed the keyfile requirement on the database in Google Drive and my laptop and tower PCs lost the keyfile requirement.  Everything went down hill from there!

Why didn't my S8 phone have the "choose keyfile" option when I changed the master password, even though the database had the keyfile requirement set by my tower PC?  Enpass on the phone did warn that the database would be changed but since I had copied the keyfile from my tower PC to the phone, I assumed at the time that somehow the phone knew that since it did not ask to choose the keyfile.

I'm going to give Enpass one last try today knowing the above and see what happens.  Any advice you can give will be appreciated.

Edited January 15, 2019 by skylark

[skylark]

Finally got Enpass to sync using keyfile for my 2 PCs and phone.  Enpass is not consistent with the UI for changing the master password on the phone vs on the desktops.

The main problem found was on my S8 phone:

1. On the desktops, when entering the new password twice, there is an "Advanced" bar at the bottom (which by the way is easy to miss since it is at the extreme bottom and is light gray).  Advanced gives the opportunity to generate or choose the keyfile.  Make the "Advanced" bar green or something obvious!
2. On the phone, there is no "Advanced" bar what so ever.  This is why I missed it previously.  To tell Enpass to use a keyfile, one must tap the 3 dots at the upper right which then opens the window that allows choosing the keyfile.  This needs to be changed!  Be consistent!  Put an "Advanced" bar on the phone like on the desktop!  No first user of Enpass would ever know that the keyfile selection is opened by tapping the 3 dots at the upper right.

Once I got my phone working with the keyfile, then I set up Enpass on my laptop with the keyfile.

My procedure for lurkers was:

1. Disconnect all computers and phones from the cloud.
2. Setup the tower PC by generating a keyfile.  Sync to Google Drive.
3. Copy the keyfile to the laptop and phone.
4. Setup the phone with the keyfile and sync to Google Drive.  I did the phone before my laptop since the phone is harder to figure out how to use the keyfile.
5. Change the user name in one of my entries using my tower PC.  Check if the change is reflected on my phone.  It was.
6. Setup my laptop with the keyfile and sync to Google Drive.  Check to see if the user name change is reflected on my laptop.  It was.

ANOTHER PHONE UI PROBLEM:

In Enpass on my two windows PCs, checking "Security" shows an option that says: "[  ] Remember the location of last used keyfile."  This is how to tell if Enpass is using a keyfile.  BUT on my S8 phone, there is no such entry in "Security".  It appears that, that option is not on the phone since Enpass tries to make the phone easier to use by not making the user have to choose the keyfile.  But this is inconsistent.  it should be the same on the phone as it is on the desktops.  Currently there is no way that I can see to verify on the phone that it is using a keyfile other than the fact that sync with Google drive works.  But what if sync with Google Drive stops working?  We need a way to verify sync with the cloud is enabled.  Be consistent!

Enpass really needs to make a tutorial video showing how to set everything up and how to use autofill on websites.  The current way is to force the "potential" user to dig, dig, dig, experiment, experiment, screw up, screw up, and then give up.  It takes much perseverance to get everything working.  I bet many, many people gave up on Enpass and went to another password manager that is easier to set up.  As it is, it took me about a week of persistent Googling and experimenting, and I mean most of every day since I'm retired, to get Enpass working on 2 PCs and 1 phone. (Though I did try keepass when I had problems with Enpass during the week.)

I plan to use Enpass if it keeps working (now that I think I know how to set it up), and I hope that the user base grows so that Enpass will be around forever.  Make the tutorial video!
Skylark

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by skylark
added text for clarification