Synchronize secrets with your PC

[Roger Tawa]

Hi all,

If you've ever wanted to access your secrets on your PC, give Chris Wood's PCSecrets a try. You'll need the following:

1/ PCSecrets running on the PC. Get it from sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pcsecrets/files/?source=navbar

2/ PCSSync, a companion android app that keeps your secrets on the phone in sync with the PC. Get it directly from the Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ceperman.sync

Chris and I worked closely together to make sync as easy and secure as possible. Let us know what you think.

Transfer Secrets to a New Phone

PCSecrets is also a good way to transfer secrets to a new phone. First make sure to keep your existing phone in sync with your PC. When you get a new phone, install Secrets for Android and PCSSync, and sync. You're done!

Thanks,

Roger

[Roger Tawa █ ♣ █]

Hi all,

Forgot to mention: if you are a developer and want to write your own sync agent, please take a look at the docs Chris put together:

https://docs.google.com/a/tawacentral.net/document/d/1KqiRi-VawCvCCJ_q5_Oxz-gWmTuizKHfNZS4dGrrE_M/edit

=================================================
Roger Tawa
http://tawacentral.net/
[When you stop, you're done.]

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[twzg...@gmail.com]

I would presume all the syncing are done within the internal system network of the connected devices or over a TCP/IP or UDP network ?

[Borstel]

Hi,
after installation of the Windows-installation (exe) and start, I get the message " Could not find the given path" after the 2nd Input of the password. What could be my mistake?

Thank you for your help. Borstel

[Chris Wood]

That's correct. In technical terms, PCSync issues a UDP broadcast and this is picked up by PCSecrets. This is how they "discover" each other. They then communicate using TCP/IP.

Chris Wood

[Chris Wood]

Hi Borstel,
I assume you're talking about PCSecrets. Can you give some more information?

Chris Wood

[Borstel]

Hi Chris,

 yes I´m talking about PCSecrets. I have installed the .exe . After the 1st. start there is the request for a password and the confirmation of the password.

After pressing <ok> I get the massage " Could not find the given path"  - it seems like a Windows-message. I`m using win7- 64

 

Borstel

[Chris Wood]

Hi Borstel,

I'm guessing that there's a problem creating the PCSecrets directory, which will be in "{user.home}\Application Data". On Windows 7 "Application Data" is an alias for AppData\Roaming. Check if these directories exist.

PCSecrets has been tested to work on Windows 7, 64-bit.

Chris

[Borstel]

Hi Chris,

I have C:\Users\anblf\AppData\Roaming , but there is no PCSecrets-directory,

 

Borstel

[Chris Wood]

Hi Borstel,
If you didn't get my direct reply to you, this was it...

The error seems to be happening at the point that the PCSecrets directory gets created - which explains why it's not there. You could try creating the PCSecrets directory manually - this would at least show that it can be created...

In a cmd prompt:

cd "Application Data"

mkdir PCSecrets

The "Application Data" directory is an alias (for AppData\Roaming) and doesn't seem to behave like a normal directory e.g. dir doesn't list anything. Nevertheless, if the PCSecrets directory is created OK then it should appear in AppData\Roaming.

Then try PCSecrets again.

Unfortunately you can't switch on the log before the props file is created in the PCSecrets dir, so we can't get more info out of the program at this point (I may consider creating a cmd line option for doing this in the light of your problem)

Chris

[Chris Wood]

Hi Borstel,

It seems that the "Application Data" construct doesn't work on your win7 system although it should (and does on mine). Nevertheless using the environment variable APPDATA value looks to be a more robust technique - thanks for testing the changed code and showing that it works OK. I'll release a new version shortly with this update in it.

Chris

[Danny Green]

First off, great app, been using Secrets for Android for a long time.

Have there been any reports of newer phones not being able to sync with PCSecrets? My father lost all his data in Secrets for Android for the second time this year and PCSecrets is a great solution to his (which becomes mine) problem! Here at the office, I was able to get it to sync with my rooted LG G2 perfectly fine on my Win7 PC, but with his new stock T-Mobile Galaxy S5, every time I hit "Sync" within Secrets, which is after I hit "Sync" in PCSecrets, Secrets for Android says "Sorry, there are no sync agents available". PCSecrets Sync on his phone says it's active, we're on the same network, I've made sure his PC firewall wasn't trying to block something, so am I missing something here? I basically set both phones up the same way, the rooted G2 ran perfectly, the stock S5 can't seem to find PCSecrets. I really love having my secrets on my PC and I know it will be a huge benefit to him as well. 

[Chris Wood]

You caught me on vacation otherwise I'd have responded earlier...

No reports of this problem that I'm aware of.

Most likely the apps were installed in the wrong order. Secrets for Android *must* be installed first, then the sync agent. If the agent in installed first, the permission to access the unencrypted secrets is unknown to the Android system, and gets ignored. This is just the (unfortunate) way Android works. Without the permission, Secrets for Android will ignore the agent. I recently had the same issue when I bought a new Moto G. The Google migration process was smart enough to install the same apps as on my previous phone, but got the order wrong. You can check if this is the issue by using Settings -> Apps -> PCSecrets Sync to view the permissions - if "access unencrypted secrets" is missing then this is the problem.

It's easy to fix - just remove PCSecrets Sync and reinstall. Don't forget to start the sync app (you only need to do this once) - Android requires you to do this for security.

Full documentation on PCSecrets Sync can be viewed at http://pcssync.sourceforge.net/doc.html

Chris Wood

[Brandon Snodgrass]

I just ran into the same issue with my new tab s.  Uninstalled sync and reinstalled it.  Problem solved.  Thanks!

[Chris Wood]

Excellent!