Kee stopped working in Firefox -- and in Chrome

Kee browser extension
1

(UPDATE: SOLUTION FOUND. See subsequent post.)

In Firefox 84.0.2 for Windows, the Kee extension stopped working for me this week, after having worked well for years, including on the same websites where it has previously worked.

Websites with KeePass entries no longer autofill, and the little “V” Kee icon no longer appears in any form fields. KeePass itself continues to work, and the KeePass hotkey works as it previously did, for some websites. The Kee extension icon still appears in the browser’s toolbar (without “OFF”), and the padlock icon in the Kee drop-down menu is still green.

None of my Kee or KeePass settings have changed. I am running Kee 3.6.27, Keepass 2.47 (although this issue also existed in 2.46, before I tried updating this morning), KeePassRPC 1.14, and Firefox 84.0.2.

Reinstalling the Kee extension did not fix the issue, nor did revoking authorization in KeeRPC and re-authorizing.

Oddly, when I autotype a stored password from KeePass, Kee pops up its “Do you want Kee to save this password?” message, even though the password is already stored in (and indeed is being autotyped by) KeePass. It’s as if Kee has become totally disconnected from KeePass, despite the toolbar icon being the normal color and the padlock icon being green.

Chrome is also affected. Odd.

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SOLVED.

I just recalled that this happened once before, as posted here and here.

The solution then, as now, is to re-select the “Kee home group” in KeePass (right-click on a folder in the KeePass folder hierarchy > Set as Kee home group). Doing this restores the Kee extension functionality in both Firefox and Chrome, with immediate effect.

For some reason, the Kee home group sometimes seems to be forgotten, and without a home group, no matching entries are found. Perhaps it’s a bug that the home group is forgotten, or perhaps it’s unintentional user error, but whatever it is, the impact is sudden and annoying but the fix is quick.

2 Likes
4

Thanks for posting the solution.

One of the most common explanations for this sort of mysterious “forgetting” of Kee settings is due to a long-standing limitation in the KeePass merge algorithm. Thankfully there will soon be support for an improved algorithm which will reduce the likelihood of that happening. At the moment it’s pencilled in for the next release of KeePass, although whether it will have an immediate impact will depend upon exactly where else your KeePass KDBX file is being edited (which versions of KeePass, or other ports of KeePass, etc.). In any case, there is now some hope that things will eventually behave more predictably for everyone that accesses their KeePass database from more than one place. :slight_smile:

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Unfortunately, Kee stopped connecting to KeePass2 via Firefox on my Windows 10 system. I do sync the KDBX file between this computer and a Windows 11 computer via a network drive.

I have tried the suggestions in this thread. I have also removed/reinstalled Kee from Firefox. I have Kee{ass R{C v1.15.1.0 and the latest Kee (as of this post) on Firefox. I’ve reverted to Chrome with ChromeKeePass (I know, old) on the Windows 10 computer so my PWs will fill in while this issue is figured out. Suggestions appreciated!

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Problem
• The Kee Plugin (in FireFox and Chrome) stopped working and could connect to KeePass.
• It either showed Red Symbol with Off or Orange Symbol (“KeePass not open/unlocked”) of course KeePass was open/unlocked.
• Could not select “Kee as Homegroup”

Solution
Plugin folder
» Use “KeePassRPC_v1.14” or “KeePassRPC_v1.15.1”
KeePass
» Set any Folder in KeePass as “Kee as Homegroup”
Plugin folder
» Remove old KeePassRPC
» Insert new KeePassRPC (1.16)

=> Now the plugin in FireFox and Chrome is working again, but still with KeePassRPC (1.16) it’s not possible to set “Kee as Homegroup”

Software
KeePass 2.55 (64-bit)
» KeePassRPC 1.16.0.0
FireFox 121.0 (64-bit)
Chrome Version 120.0.6099.200 (64-Bit)

7

The correct naming for this option is “Set as Kee Homegroup”
This works fine here with the following versions:
Windows 11
Firefox 121.0.1
KeePassRPC 1.15.1.0
KeePass 2.55

Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.3007)

8

Indeed

As stated: the Problem seems to be in the Version 1.16.

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Had a brief problem with KeePass RPC and Chrome too, but that was a port conflict that I fixed. I used the “Set as Kee Homegroup” option on my top level folder in KeePass. No check mark appears. Even after restarting Firefox it still will not connect.

Should I revert to V1.15.1.0, is that the only fix?

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You can still change (and view) the Kee home group from within the Group Edit dialog window - we just removed the context menu option in v1.16 because it caused more problems than it solved.

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Why would you set Kee home group? What advantages does that give?

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It is an organisational option that lets you use a single password database for passwords you need on websites (i.e. most of them) and those that you don’t want to ever be available to the web browser (e.g. an entry with a PIN number for a bank card).

One could swap between a group of “home” and “work” passwords too, although perhaps the system is too tedious for that.

I’m not sure if there are any use cases that really require the feature today but that’s the historical reasoning behind its existence.

13

Thanks for explaining it!

And thank you for all the hard work that goes into the kee extension and maintaining it it’s really good!