Chrome 1Password extension fails "Looking for the 1Password helper" on laptop but not on desktop

WalterM

Starting today, the 1Password extension on my laptop's Google Chrome no longer is able to connect to the 1Password app. The extension works on Firefox on the laptop and both Firefox and Chrome on a desktop.

One thing I noticed this morning on the laptop is the Google Chrome was displaying the bookmark bar in solid black and the page in solid white. I could select items but either they showed as black or white blocks. I uninstalled and reinstalled Chrome multiple ways until that got resolved. After that the 1Password extension no longer works.

Sequence of events:

After initial bootup on laptop, Google Chrome showed the bookmar bar and page as solid black and white.
Uninstalled Chrome using Control Panel uninstall.
Reinstalled Chrome
Same solid black and white bar and page.
Restarted laptop.
Uninstalled Chrome using Revo Uninstaller. Also used Revo installed to remove all leftover registry and file entries.
Restarted laptop.
Reinstalled Chrome. Now Chrome displayed bookmark bar and page as normal.
Logged into Google account to get my bookmarks back.
1Password extension not able to find helper.
Started 1Password app OK
1Password extension not able to find helper.
Restarted browser and 1Password app. 1Password extension not able to find helper.
Restarted laptop
Started 1Password app and then browser. 1Password extension not able to find helper.
Removed 1Password extension and restarted laptop.
Started browser and installed 1Password extension. 1Password extension not able to find helper.
Restarted laptop
Started 1Password app and then browser. 1Password extension not able to find helper.
Ran the "1password.exe --setup". Got a popup dialog box "Error parsing arguments: opw-command-line\src\lib.rs:192 failed to parse command line"
Restarted laptop.
Started 1Password app and then browser. 1Password extension not able to find helper.

Both laptop and desktop have:

• the same OS
• the same browsers and versions
• the same security software Norton 360

Details:

Laptop: Windows 7 64-bit

1Password app: version: 7.4.767

Chrome: newly reinstalled today. It was uninstalled using Control Panel uninstall, and then I ran Revo Uninstaller to remove all leftover registry and file entries
Chrome version: 81.0.4044.138
1Password extension on Chrome: newly installed today Version: 4.7.5.90

Firefox: version: 76.0.1 64-bit
1Password extension on Firefox: installed a few months ago

Desktop: Windows 7 64-bit

1Password app: version: 7.4.767

Chrome:installed months ago
Chrome version: 81.0.4044.138
1Password extension on Chrome: reinstalled today Version: 4.7.5.90

Firefox version: 76.0.1 64-bit
1Password extension on Firefox: installed a few months ago

Where the 1Password browser extension works:

Laptop: Firefox
Desktop: Firefox
Desktop: Google Chrome

Where the 1Password browser extension does NOT work:

Laptop: Google Chrome

---

1Password Version: 7.4.767
Extension Version: 4.7.5.90
OS Version: Windows 7 Pro
Sync Type: Not Provided
Referrer: forum-search:Looking for the 1Password helper

Greg

Hi @WalterM,

Thank you for your detailed report! It is really appreciated and it is helpful.

Generally, I would not recommend you to use any kind of uninstaller apps in order to uninstall 1Password from your computer. It may break things and I am afraid this is what happened in the situation that you described. Please try to do the following now:

1) Open 1Password 7 and choose 1Password > Exit.

2) Press Windows logo key + R.

3) Enter the following command in the Run dialog and press Enter: 1password.exe setup

4) 1Password 7 for Windows should be launched after that.

5) Launch Chrome and check if the issue remains.

Thanks! :+1:

++
Greg

WalterM

Ahh, wonderful that did it!

So I had been running:
1password.exe --setup

which is what I found on one of the threads. What worked was:
1password.exe setup
(no hyphens before setup)

On whether the uninstaller had an effect, I had uninstalled Chrome without using the uninstaller app (just used Control Panel -> Uninstall Programs). At a later time I used Revo Uninstaller.

As a data point, a few days before Chrome's 1Password extension broke, my laptop had a very sudden crash (a sudden powerdown). Probably that corrupted some files or registry entries, although at the time no Chrome activity was taking place as far as I could tell.

Thanks, your product rocks and I cannot imagine working without it! I used to use DashLane, and yours is superior.

Cheers,

Walter

WalterM

Ah ignore my statement on the uninstaller, I did use it before finding out the extension was not working.
Thanks!

Walter

bundtkate

The registry entries being corrupted or removed was likely the key, @WalterM. 1Password uses the registry so that the extension knows how to talk to the app and because uninstallers like Revo tend to be more thorough taking away support files and registry entries associated with the app/program you're uninstalling (are those two words interchangeable now?), it can muck up those sometimes delicate connections. Great when you really and truly want to totally get rid of something, not so great when it takes a piece of something else with it.

As for that command, you weren't wrong exactly. The dashes were needed in 7.3 or earlier, but we removed them in 7.4. I like to pretend it's because our development team got tired of hearing me complain about my Text Expander shortcut replacing them with an em-dash, but really it was probably just to make the command a bit simpler. :wink: