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Chrome on Ubuntu always asks for password for keyring. There are many posts out there suggesting ways to remove the prompt by setting up a keyring. However, I also found that when I am prompt for a password, I can press cancel and chrome still runs normally. I feel uncomfortable to surrender my password if Chrome actually doesn't need it.

So,

  1. What is that keyring used for? Is it caused by virus? (so that I can decide to give my password to chrome or not)

  2. Is there a way I can get rid of the prompt without surrendering my password?

5
  • 1
    Technically, Chrome doesn't need your password, but it does need its stored passwords in the Keyring. Did you turn off the asking for password when you log in to Ubuntu? Doing that will prevent the Keyring from loading so when you go to Chrome it will ask for your password only the first time each time you restart/reboot. You can always look at the Keyring by running seahorse from a terminal window.
    – Terrance
    Feb 19, 2017 at 6:24
  • @Terrance I am the only user of my PC, so I do turn off asking for password when I log in. However, even if I press cancel when prompt, I still get my facebook and Google automatically login, so it seems it doesn't need the password to store the website credential?
    – cytsunny
    Feb 19, 2017 at 6:34
  • 2
    Oh, you can still get to it just fine. Just that certain security things may not load properly. It was suggested on sites to set the keyring password to blank in order for it to stop asking, but that can be a big security risk to your system. I guess you could always launch it using this command so it shouldn't ask: google-chrome-stable --password-store=basic
    – Terrance
    Feb 19, 2017 at 6:39
  • @Terrance In other words it is for encoding the saved password? And how about you make that to an answer so that I can mark that as a correct answer?
    – cytsunny
    Feb 19, 2017 at 6:41
  • You can also put --password-store=basic into ~/.config/chromium-flags.conf.
    – TNT
    Aug 4, 2021 at 13:57

3 Answers 3

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Chrome asks for the password when your account is set for autologin. Doing this makes it so that the keyring doesn't load when you reset/reboot your system. This can also happen when the keyring password no longer matches the login password when autologin is not enabled. Or it is simply a bug between Chrome / Chromium and Seahorse.

Chrome is asking for the password to the keyring so it can access stored information in the keyring. You can view the keyring on your system by running the command seahorse from a terminal window. You can also just bypass the asking by closing the window and still get to your sites without a problem. Some of the security may not load properly.

However, you can use the following command from a terminal window to bypass the keyring asking:

google-chrome-stable --password-store=basic

Hope this helps!

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  • Why not uninstall seahorse.
    – mchid
    Mar 12, 2018 at 2:39
  • 1
    Chrome asks for the password when your account is set for autologin. Note: I don't have autologin for my user account, I have to enter my system user password when I log in to my computer. But I still get this prompt. Feb 5, 2019 at 4:26
  • 1
    @user1151080 This particular case here was that exact reason. There might be a chance that your keyring and your login password could have been set differently. I have experienced that before where even once they were both set to the same it would still ask. Honestly, there might be a bug on it, but since I no longer use Chrome as my default, it is hard for me to tell you for sure. You might want to see askubuntu.com/questions/867/…
    – Terrance
    Feb 5, 2019 at 5:02
  • @user1151080 not true. chromium also asks for the password when autologon is not set
    – theking2
    Dec 19, 2019 at 20:22
  • @theking2 I honestly think that it is a bug because of seahorse actually asking for the password if auto login is enabled or not. It is also not consistent at all. I have no idea if it was ever filed as a bug or not. I might have to check.
    – Terrance
    Dec 19, 2019 at 21:18
1

You can turn off the popup by removing the need for Chrome to store passwords.

  1. Go to Settings
  2. Go to the bottom of the page and select " + Show advanced settings"
  3. Under Passwords and Forms click on Manage Passwords
  4. Uncheck Auto Sign-in and delete all Saved passwords by hovering over them and clicking the X. Close that popup
  5. Under Passwords and Forms uncheck "Offer to save passwords"
  6. Restart Chrome

This should not affect your ability to stay signed in on websites where you select the "Stay signed in" option on the site itself.

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  • But if that's the case, then why I still get autologin even if I press cancel and didn't give my password of my system?
    – cytsunny
    Feb 19, 2017 at 6:39
  • When you follow the steps above, do you see any sites listed on the "Manage Passwords" popup in steps 3 & 4? As to why, when I just ran through the steps on my system I had 3 sites listed, I never save passwords but I know for a fact that the way MY window manager and MY settings are setup that sometimes the focus is automatically set on OK on any popup, meaning I have accidentally hit enter on "Save password" atleast a few times.
    – m_krsic
    Feb 19, 2017 at 6:42
  • @m_ktsic that is the only sensible and true answer in this thread
    – theking2
    Dec 19, 2019 at 20:24
0

It wants some security. Option one, as above is to say, "not doing the password thing".

Option two is to just log in with a password. Do this by removing the user from the nopasswdlogin group, and then require a password when logging in.

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