KDE Wallet

KDE Wallet is the default password manager on Kubuntu systems. It stores passwords completely encrypted and unlocks upon login. All KDE applications integrate with this password manager, and it stores Wi-Fi passwords, file manager passwords, and other system passwords. It can also integrate really well with Google Chrome and other browsers.

By default, the KDE Wallet master password is the same as your user password. For this reason, if you ever change your user password, your KDE Wallet password will no longer unlock automatically upon login. Fixing this is as easy as adjusting the wallet settings:

• Open System Settings > Account Settings
• Under the tab Wallet Preferences, make sure [x] Enable the KDE Wallet Subsystem is selected
• Click on the bottom-right button labeled Launch Wallet Manager
• When the Wallet Manager app appears, click on the top-right button labeled Change Password...
• When prompted, set your new password to match the password of your user account
• Logout and login to test the change

Some apps that typically require gnome-keyring need libsecret capability. Recent versions of kwallet reportedly provide this capability through the qbus |grep -i secret. This shows org.freedesktop.secrets service. One can inspect these services using sudo apt install qttools5-dev-tools && qdbusviewer. However, since we use KeePassXC as our cross-platform password manager, we use it instead as described below.

KeePassXC

KeePassXC is a cross-platform, sync-able, decentralized password management solution. It has plugins for Chrome (and other Chromium-based browsers), Firefox, and Android clients. We highly recommend this password solution. For many, it’s a great alternative to commercial services like LastPass and 1Password.

Important: if you are using the Thunderbird snap (the default), then you will need to make adjustments as shown in the Browsers Guided Solution.

Some apps that typically require gnome-keyring can use KeePassXC instead. Tested examples include VSCode Settings Sync and Fortinet Client. The key is to enable libsecret capability. The steps below are from this answer:

• Optional: Install libsecret-tools (sudo apt install libsecret-tools). This provides the secret-tool command.
• In KeePassXC, open or create a database to keep your secrets and create a group inside the database like "secret-service".
• Go to Tools > Settings > Secret-Service-Integration and check the Enable KeePassXC Freedesktop.org Secret Service Integration and click Ok.
• Go to Tools > Settings > Secret-Service-Integration, click the General tab, and then in the Exposed Database Groups table, click the small pencil icon next to the database you want to host the secrets. This will show the Database Settings dialog, which has a Secret Service Integration section. Click on Secret Service Integration and then check the Expose entries under this group radio option. Select the group you created in the second step, and click Ok.
• Optional: While the database is unlocked in KeePassXC, test storing a credential by entering the following into a terminal: secret-tool store --label='Created from cli' account test, and then enter your desired password. You should be able to see this new credential in KeePassXC

Some forum posts recommend installing Gnome Keyring; however, this can interfere with the KWallet subsystem. For this reason, we strongly recommend you try to use KeePassXC instead.

KeePassXC’s database file can be stored on a cloud drives with Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, ownCloud, Nextcloud, or similar tool. This is required to synchronize across multiple devices. To learn more, visit the KeePassXC website documentation. In April 2023, the KeePassXC team released a reassuring security audit which we also encourage you to review.

Disclaimer

We try hard to provide a useful solution validated by professionals. However, we cannot anticipate every situation, and therefore cannot guarantee this procedure will work for your needs. Always backup your data and test the solution to determine the correct procedure for you.

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