Keepass vault password no worky

[0brand]

I've been trying to resolve a problem with both of my Debian-8 vault-appvms.  For some reason my Keepass passwords no longer work.  When I type in the password I get this message:

Unable to open database. Wrong key or database file is corrupt

I have been using the same password for both my Keepass databases for quite some time now so the problem isn't due to forgetting or miss-typing my passwords. Normally this would not be much of a problem except for the fact that restoring from backups is not remedying the issue.  I've restored both my Keepass vault-appvms and my Debian-8 Template.

Looking back at the day before this happened there is only one thing that I did that may have contributed to the problem.  I removed my sys-usb (netvm) and created a sys-usb (appvm). After I created the new sys-usb I realized that It would not run unless I set pci_strictreset to false. This was not acceptable to me so I removed the new sys-usb and created a new one with:

 

sudo qubesctl top.enable qvm.sys-usb

sudo qubesctl top.enable qvm.sys-usb

The reason I think this may have contributed to the problem is because the first two times I tried to restore my appVMs  things did not go well.  The first time the Gui completely froze and I was unable to unmount the drive. The second time the backup-restore did not complete but at least the screen did not freeze up.  The third time I used a backup from a couple days prior and everything went smoothly.  It did not solve the problem though. I still can not unlock my Keepass vaults.

I'm not really sure what to do next. Is it possible that my backups are somehow being corrupted  when I restore them?  I'm a little flustered at this point and I could use some guidance.

Thanks in advance

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[qubester]

On 07/18/2017 02:27 PM, '0brand' via qubes-users wrote:
> I've been trying to resolve a problem with both of my Debian-8 vault-appvms.. For some reason my Keepass passwords no longer work. When I type in the password I get this message:

> Sent with [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com) Secure Email.
>

If it makes you feel better, I had the thing fail. with the same
messages, and I'd swear, I did nothing at all, after that I stopped
using it ..... as pretty pointless to use something that MUST be
reliable and have it fail so easily, whatever caused it IMHO of course
; I think mine was in the Vault VM

[qubenix]

qubester:

Which Keepass? On debian:

user@host:~$ apt-cache search keepass
keepass2 - Password manager
keepass2-doc - Password manager - Documentation
keepassx - Cross Platform Password Manager
kpcli - command line interface to KeePassX password manager databases
libfile-keepass-perl - interface to KeePass V1 and V2 database files

I ask because I have been using keepassx for three or four years with
only two databases. I keep multiple copies on different storage devices
and I have had only one copy ever become corrupt, but it was the fault
of the usb device. I use keepassx and kpcli with pleasure.

--
qubenix
GPG: B536812904D455B491DCDCDD04BE1E61A3C2E500

[yreb-qusw]

keepass2
guess that is a good idea to keep copies in various places
I don't actually know why I would use a usb device with keepass2, so
that wasn't it.
honestly, it was a trial, in the vault appVM , I was a bit shocked that
it failed within a few weeks, was enough, for me to use my other
password manager instead ......YMMV of course

[qubenix]

yreb-qusw:

To explain the usb stick, I keep a TAILS usb stick with me that has a
copy of my keepassx db on it. Just in case I need to access this data
while I'm away from any of my computers. It was this device that became
corrupted, but only after massive IO abuse. I knew it would be toast
sooner or later, but I always keep backups of this device as well.

Always follow 3-2-1 backup rule!
http://thehelpfulhacker.net/2011/08/04/the-backups-321-rule-illustrated/

--
qubenix
GPG: B536812904D455B491DCDCDD04BE1E61A3C2E500

[0brand]

Which Keepass? On debian:

I use the same as you Keepassx.

I'm thinking it may have something to do with dom0 backup/restore. I have multiple 512 Gib usb drives i do backups on. I don't want to try to restore from one of my other ones because I'm afraid they may become corrupted as well.

My next step doing a fresh install on my other hard drive and see if I can restore my kepassx databases onto that. If that does not work I guess I'm out of luck.

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[cooloutac]

I've never had a database keepassx become corrupt. I use fedora for my vaultvm.

And sorry if this sounds absurd, but very frequently the database file will become unselected, this happens to everyone in my family all the time and you sometimes will repeatedly try the password, to have it fail, not realizing you actually have to re-select the database file again. This happens if you don't shut down keepassx properly.

[0brand]

And sorry if this sounds absurd, but very frequently the database file will become unselected, this happens to everyone in my family all the time and you sometimes will repeatedly try the password, to have it fail, not realizing you actually have to re-select the database file again.

It does not sound absurd at all. There is a keepassx bug that is causing problems if users shutdown their database improperly just like you said.  Its probably the same one I was reading about.  And to be honest with you I would take any suggestions at this point no matter how absurd you think it is ; )

When I was first having the problem I removed the keepassx databases and restored from backups.  Like I said I was having problems restoring them.  I just realized that the old vault-appvms that I removed keep showing back up in /var/lib/qubes/appvms .  Maybe this is either the problem or a symptom of the problem?

Hopefully I will have a solution soon.  For what its worth I really appreciate everyones response and If you you have any more suggestion I would like to hear them.

[yreb-qusw]

On 07/21/2017 12:10 AM, 0brand wrote:
> And sorry if this sounds absurd, but very frequently the database file will become unselected, this happens to everyone in my family all the time and you sometimes will repeatedly try the password, to have it fail, not realizing you actually have to re-select the database file again.
> It does not sound absurd at all. There is a keepassx bug that is causing problems if users shutdown their database improperly just like you said. Its probably the same one I was reading about. And to be honest with you I would take any suggestions at this point no matter how absurd you think it is ; )
> When I was first having the problem I removed the keepassx databases and restored from backups. Like I said I was having problems restoring them. I just realized that the old vault-appvms that I removed keep showing back up in /var/lib/qubes/appvms . Maybe this is either the problem or a symptom of the problem?
> Hopefully I will have a solution soon. For what its worth I really appreciate everyones response and If you you have any more suggestion I would like to hear them.
>

> Sent with [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com) Secure Email.

your are still top-posting :P

[Franz]

I did not trust a password manager and wanted something more flexible so used cryptsetup to luksOpen a file and then mount it as a partition. Password are in a spreadsheet that appears when it is mounted. Over the years sometimes the spreadsheet asked to be recovered (it always worked), but I learned to close it properly to avoid that.  I do not know if this is less corruption prone than a password manager, but have a feeling that a spreadsheet is a much more common and mature product than a password manager.

[rup...@tutanota.com]

21. Jul 2017 21:48 by 169...@gmail.com:

I did not trust a password manager and wanted something more flexible so used cryptsetup to luksOpen a file and then mount it as a partition. Password are in a spreadsheet that appears when it is mounted.

I have the feeling that spreadsheets are more complicated than password managers. Have you heard of "pass"? It's a simple command line password manager. I believe it is more bullet proof than any spreadsheet. In particular, each password is stored in a separate file, so there should be no issues with properly closing any database.

Over the years sometimes the spreadsheet asked to be recovered (it always worked), but I learned to close it properly to avoid that. 

I hope you keep backup copies of your spreadsheet nevertheless.

RupB

[Franz]

On Sun, Jul 23, 2017 at 12:58 AM, <rup...@tutanota.com> wrote:

21. Jul 2017 21:48 by 169...@gmail.com:

I did not trust a password manager and wanted something more flexible so used cryptsetup to luksOpen a file and then mount it as a partition. Password are in a spreadsheet that appears when it is mounted.

I have the feeling that spreadsheets are more complicated than password managers.

Yes probably password managers are simpler, but spreadsheet are more mature. They exist since more than 30 years. Everything has been checked.
 

Have you heard of "pass"? It's a simple command line password manager. I believe it is more bullet proof than any spreadsheet. In particular, each password is stored in a separate file, so there should be no issues with properly closing any database.

I had a look, but it seems more complicated to use. For example for adding a website and other information you seem to need some language.

 

Over the years sometimes the spreadsheet asked to be recovered (it always worked), but I learned to close it properly to avoid that. 

I hope you keep backup copies of your spreadsheet nevertheless.

Yes, I keep backup copies of the vaultVM.

Best

RupB