Repeatedly asked to authorize browser extension (Safari and Chrome)

joisagile

I am repeatedly asked to authorize 1password browser extension for Safari and Chrome. This happens several times each day. Most times the authorization window appears without a matching window on the browser.

Tried deleting and reinstalling extensions. Shutting down system.

How do I stop this from occurring so often? Thanks.

---

1Password Version: 6.6.4 (664001) AgileBits Store
Extension Version: 4.6.3.90
OS Version: 10.11.6
Sync Type: Drop Box
Referrer: forum-search:authorize browser extension repeat

matthew_ag

Hi @joisagile,

Thanks for reaching out to us and sorry for the trouble with authorization windows appearing so often, I'm Matthew. Hopefully I can help.

This can often happen if you have two 1Password apps installed on your Mac. You can check this by opening the Applications folder and checking if there are two apps, one called "1Password" and another called "1Password 6". If you do have both apps installed, this will result in the behaviour that you're seeing.

Potential Solution
If you do have two 1Password apps, then the solution is to uninstall one of the 1Password apps. I can see that you have purchased 1Password directly from us so you would need to keep the app with the name "1Password 6". To uninstall the other app, follow these steps:

1. Open 1Password and click the 1Password menu. Hold down the Control key on your keyboard. While holding the Control key, select “Quit 1Password and 1Password mini”.
2. Now open Finder.
3. Click on "Applications" on the left hand side.
4. You'll see a list of your installed apps.
5. Find "1Password" and drag it to the Mac's Trash. This will not remove any of your data as that is safely stored in another location on you Mac.

Then open up the "1Password 6" app once more. Depending on which app you were running before you may get one more Authorization prompt per browser but only one. If you restart your browser or the 1Password app, you should no longer get any further authorization prompts.

Please let us know what you find.

Best regards,
Matthew

joisagile

Hi Matthew,

I followed your instructions, but found only "1Password 6" in Applications. Therefore, I was not able to complete step 5 above.

In case there was another 1Password located elsewhere I used Finder, but found no others.

Any other suggestions? Thanks.

matthew_ag

Hey @joisagile,

Hmmm, thanks for trying that. I think the next thing to do is for us to take a look at a Diagnostics Report for you. The following guide will show you how to create a Diagnostics Report:

https://support.1password.com/diagnostics

Attach the Diagnostics Report(s) to an email message addressed to support+forum@agilebits.com.

Please do not post your Diagnostics Report(s) in the forums, but please do include a link to this thread in your email, along with your forum handle so that we can "connect the dots" when we see your Diagnostics Report(s) in our inbox.

You should receive an automated reply from our BitBot assistant with a Support ID number. Please post that number here so we can track down the report(s) and ensure that this issue is dealt with quickly. :)

Once we see the report we should be able to better assist you. Thanks very much!

Looking forward to hearing back.

Best regards,
Matthew

joisagile

The email isn't clear but I think the Support ID number is NVT-19759-219.

Thanks for looking into this.

jxpx777

Great! We have your diagnostics report and will continue the discussion in that email thread.

--
Jamie Phelps
Code Wrangler @ AgileBits
Fort Worth, Texas

ref: NVT-19759-219

jamesa5454

Hi there, I also have to repeatedly authorize my browser. Not several times per day, but definitely several times per week. I have two mac computers, but the problem only occurs on one of them. This problem has been occurring for quite some time - certainly through the last several versions of 1Password

As suggested above I have checked for a duplicate version of the app in my Applications folder, but there is only one

The only significant point to note is that two users are always simultaneously logged into the machine, and each using Chrome & 1Password - not sure if that would affect things when apps are updated?

Would love some help regarding this, as it's a PITA...

Specs are:

Mac OS 10.10.5
Chrome Version 57.0.2987.133
1Password 6.6.4
1Password Chrome Extension 4.6.3.90

Cheers

matthew_ag

Hey @jamesa5454,

Thanks for writing in - may I ask if you installed 1Password for Mac via the Mac App Store or by downloading directly from our website?

You can determine this quickly by checking the name of 1Password in you Applications folder. If it is installed via the Mac App Store, it will be called "1Password" and if it's installed from our Web Store it'll be called "1Password 6".

A number of others users have reported this issue however they all appear to have installed 1Password via the Mac App Store. We aren't sure why this is happening yet but since it appears it doesn't occur for users who download via our website, we are suggesting switching over to the other version as a workaround.

If you have the Mac App Store version...
...you can switch to the version we distribute by:

1. Open 1Password and click the 1Password menu. Hold down the Control key on your keyboard. While holding the Control key, select “Quit 1Password and 1Password mini”.
2. Now open Finder.
3. Click on "Applications" on the left hand side.
4. You'll see a list of your installed apps.

5. Find "1Password" and drag it to the Mac's Trash.

   This will not remove any of your data as that is safely stored in another location on you Mac.

6. Download the version of 1Password for Mac directly from our website here:

   https://1password.com/downloads

7. Once downloaded, please run the installer. Once the installer has completed you will have a new app called "1Password 6" in your Applications folder. You'll know the right version is installed because of the "6" at the end of the name of the app.

8. You should be able to open up the newly installed app and it will show you the welcome screen. Please don't worry as this is just because it needs to know where your data is.

   You'll need to pick from 1 of 4 options:

   • If you use 1Password.com, log in by clicking "1Password.com" at the top of the below screenshot.
   • If you use Dropbox / iCloud to sync choose one of the highlight options in the below screenshot.
   • If you don't sync at all, choose "More Options..." > Search my Mac.

   

Please let me know if that helps at all.

Best regards,
Matthew

jamesa5454

Thanks for your reply Matthew.

The app in my applications folder is called "1Password 6", so based on your description I'd say I'm using the version that Agilebits distributes? I also recall having to manually update as I was affected by the "1Password failed to connect to 1Password mini" problem. Also, I don't have 1Password listed as an app I purchased in my Mac App Store purchase history

I'm happy to follow your steps regardless if you think it will help?

matthew_ag

Hey @jamesa5454,

Thanks for your reply, sorry that wasn't the issue. I wouldn't recommend following those steps as it appears something else is happening. Instead, I would like to examine a Diagnostics Report to examine what's going on in more detail.

The following guide will show you how to create a Diagnostics Report:

https://support.1password.com/diagnostics

Attach the Diagnostics Report(s) to an email message addressed to support+forum@agilebits.com.

Please do not post your Diagnostics Report(s) in the forums, but please do include a link to this thread in your email, along with your forum handle so that we can "connect the dots" when we see your Diagnostics Report(s) in our inbox.

You should receive an automated reply from our BitBot assistant with a Support ID number. Please post that number here so we can track down the report(s) and ensure that this issue is dealt with quickly. :)

Once we see the report we should be able to better assist you. Thanks very much!

Matthew

jamesa5454

Thank you Matthew. I have created and emailed the diagnostics report as requested. The Support ID number is #XLH-31336-552

matthew_ag

Thanks @jamesa5454,

We got your email and will be taking a look shortly :chuffed:

Matthew

ref: XLH-31336-552

mitchoff

I see several people have this problem -- including me. There are at least 2 threads about this issue in the support forums. Any chance of this getting solved?

matthew_ag

Hey @mitchoff,

Thanks for writing in. Being asked to re-authorize the browser(s) is most likely caused by having two versions of 1Password for Mac installed. You can check if you do by opening Finder and going to your "Applications" folder - do you see two apps with these names?

• "1Password"
• "1Password 6"

If you do, then you would need to uninstall one of these apps. If you're using a 1Password Membership account then fixing this will be easy. You can follow my steps I wrote earlier in this thread to go about uninstalling one of the apps.

If you don't have two 1Password apps installed perhaps something else is going wrong that is causing the re-authorization to happen. In that case please send in a Diagnostics Report:

Sending Diagnostics Reports (Mac)

Attach the diagnostics to an email message addressed to support+forum@agilebits.com.

With your email please include:

• A link to this thread: https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/77139/repeatedly-asked-to-authorize-browser-extension-safari-and-chrome#latest
• Your forum username: mitchoff

That way we can "connect the dots" when we see your diagnostics in our inbox.

You should receive an automated reply from our BitBot assistant with a Support ID number.  Please post that number here so we can track down the diagnostics and ensure that this issue is dealt with quickly. :)

Once we see the diagnostics we'll be able to better assist you.

Thanks very much!
Matthew

mitchoff

Thanks Matthew

I've seen this same advice in other threads: check for two installs, send in a diagnostics. I haven't found any mention of someone solving this problem by sending in their diagnostics though -- have you been able to fix this issue for other people?

matthew_ag

Hey @mitchoff,

The double 1Password for Mac installation is the most common cause. Usually when people send in the Diagnostics Report we advise them on which of the two versions of 1Password they need to uninstall.

Sometimes people who hit this don't have two versions of 1Password installed - in that case they were hitting another issue where intermittently a previously authorized 1Password browser extension tried to connect to the 1Password for Mac app and the 1Password app rejected the connection. It rejected the connection because it failed to retrieve some specific information about the original authorization. I can confirm if this is happening for you by examining a Diagnostics Report.

As regards a fix for this "forgetful 1Password for Mac" issue, we haven't nailed down a root cause for it but have recently re-written the whole module that manages the authorization with 1Password for Mac as part of some up coming and yet-to-be-released changes. While I can't say it will fix the problem, it might.

I'd be very happy to take a look at a Diagnostics Report for you if you wish and I can report back here with my findings to ensure others reading this can tag along.

Looking forward to hearing back.

Best regards,
Matthew

mitchoff

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Matthew.
Here's my support number: #XCG-48696-684
Thanks!

matthew_ag

Hey @mitchoff,

I found your ticket :chuffed: We will be in touch soon about this issue and will post an update here once we understand your scenario.

Thanks!
Matthew

ref: XCG-48696-684

mitchoff

Great, thanks Matthew!

littlebobbytables

Hi @mitchoff,

The reason you've not seen a single proven solution in the forums is that there isn't one. While the main cause I see can be generally labelled as "forgotten authorisation details" we've seen cases of this "forgetting" happening in either 1Password or the browser and the solutions are very different. The diagnostic report helps determine which is forgetting and then we can try to resolve it.

In your case it appears to be Safari. It's sending a new extID each time meaning Safari is failing somewhere in the chain of saving the details (the extension cannot do so directly) and retrieving them on behalf of the extension. I've tried to be as surgical in the past as possible but the only thing we've found that works so far is a blunt approach.

1. Launch Safari.
2. Use the menu option File > Export Bookmarks... and save somewhere safe like your Desktop.
3. Download the trial version of AppDelete with this link, http://www.reggieashworth.com/downloads/AppDelete.dmg
4. Copy it to your Applications folder and then launch AppDelete.
5. In AppDelete use the menu option "Tools > App Reset...".
6. Select Safari in the Finder window that pops up and click the "Choose" button.
7. The main AppDelete window will change and display a number of entries relating to Safari with all of them ticked except for the top entry for the actual application.
8. Click the "Delete" button.

This will purge Safari completely, right back to a never been used state. Can you now try installing a fresh copy of the extension from our page 1Password Safari Extension from Apple's Safari Extension Gallery and see if the issue persists.

Regardless of the outcome we will need to get your bookmarks back. Now if you sync bookmarks via iCloud I believe you should find the bookmarks are all there as normal. If you don't synchronise bookmarks (I don't myself) you can import your bookmarks after this reset of Safari by making use of the menu option File > Import From > Bookmarks HTML File... in Safari and pointing it to the file you saved in step 2. above. So whether you synchronise bookmarks or not you shouldn't be at risk of losing them.

In the past I would never have recommended an app delete application, instead preferring to delete specific files. The fact is that while working with a user we found that AppDelete worked and I kinda like how it works so I purchased it. If used carefully (don't use it on 1Password!) it can be a useful tool and it seems to cure whatever state Safari has gotten into in all cases so far.

mitchoff

I had a complete different issue that required me to trash my keychain and create a new one -- it looks like doing that solved my 1password issue as well.

Drew_AG

Thanks for letting us know, @mitchoff! I'm happy to hear it's all working correctly now. If you run into more trouble with 1Password or have any questions about it, please don't hesitate to let us know. Have a great weekend! :)

nromo22

my support # is QUA-66419-597.

jxpx777

Thanks, @nromo22. We'll follow up via email.

--
Jamie Phelps
Code Wrangler @ AgileBits
Fort Worth, Texas

ref: QUA-66419-597