I.E. works great, but "Looking for the 1Password helper" on Chrome/FF - halp?

Hi there @lantheaume,

Thank you for using 1Password! :+1:

It sounds like something is blocking the communication between 1Password extension and 1Password app. Are you using any kind of antivirus software on your work PC? Some of them are known for this, so please let us know. Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Greg

@jrussel: We can't fix this. As Greg mentioned, if something is preventing 1Password from communicating with the browser, the extension cannot function there. Do you have "security" software that may be interfering?

Don't understand why it'd block Chrome and FF, but not I.E. Maybe b/c it's all MSFT stuff?

@lantheaume: I had meant to mention that, so I'm glad you brought it up. The Internet Explorer add-on is able to talk directly with the app. That's just how Microsoft is able to set things up, since it's their browser running on their OS.

In other browsers, we're using WebSockets to communicate between 1Password and the browser, so anything blocking local communications on your computer can block these. That includes antivirus, proxy, firewall, and anything else that interferes with localhost/127.0.0.1 connections. So sometimes it's possible to simply set an exception for that, or for 1Password itself.

Strange update (which could shed some light) - When I opened the computer today I got a message about something being turned off. Might have been "windows defender", but it popped up and left quickly. Then, wonderfully, Chrome extension worked. Firefox still had the same error. So I'm in agreement there's something blocking it - just don't know how to configure or identify. Don't have confidence it'll stay working. :-(

That is really odd. Do you have other extensions in either browser? Apart from that and the other things I mentioned above, your guess is better than mine. If you can identify any software that might be interfering, we may be able to point you in the right direction with regard to a workaround, but without more information we're just grasping at straws. It's entirely possible that it was just a temporary glitch — perhaps with Windows itself (firewall? I haven't heard of Defender causing issues), whatever popped up.

I'm using 1Password 4, b/c I had a personal key for kit - I'm trying to evaluate it for a bit so I can show our other tech staff how it works and see if I can get them to let us trial 1Password for teams. It'd be a big help here. I tried to install 1Password6 first, but it wouldn't let me upgrade .NET and the IT staff I talked to was concerned with some other dependencies if I upgraded it on my laptop.

.Net is a fairly straightforward install, and since it's from Microsoft there isn't much risk in updating it — in fact, it's a good idea to do so as it includes security fixes from older versions. That said, it's no good going against your IT department. Might be worth discussing with them further, but you don't want to get on their bad side. ;)

Anyway - so for right now it works, but suggestions on identifying the block and things to keep in mind about v4 vs. v6?

There are a few things to keep in mind with regard to 1Password 4 and 1Password 6:

1Password 4 is a standalone app that uses only local vaults. It is no longer sold since it won't be receiving new features, only critical fixes as needed. It works with Internet Explorer, and with other major browsers using a WebSockets connection to the extension.

1Password 6 is included with a 1Password.com membership and for the most part uses the same WebSockets setup to communicate with the browser...but we've just introduced Native Messaging support for Chrome. It's something we're working on for other browsers as well (Edge will likely be next), and the best way to think about it is that it works similarly to the way 1Password 4 can with Internet Explorer, only with Chrome right now — e.g. no interference from 3rd party software. 1Password 6 does not, however support Internet Explorer. It's a brand new app, and we're focused on supporting the browsers that are still being actively developed.

I hope that these answers are helpful, but I suspect that they may raise even more questions, so be sure to let me know! :)

Please let us know what you find! We may already have documented a way to configure it, depending on what you have.

Hello @lantheaume,

Thank you for getting back to us with the additional info! :+1:

If you have Sophos, please try to follow the steps in the guide below to configure it to work with 1Password:

Configuring Sophos

Keep us posted about how things progress on your side. Hopefully, you will be all set after that. :)

Cheers,
Greg