My first post here, so Hi.
Since (I think) a recent upgrade (now on 1.12.4) the first time I open Obsidian on my Ubuntu PC after booting the machine I get a popup headed Authentication Required and saying that the login keyring has not been unlocked and asking for my password. I auto login on the machine so have not entered my password on booting.
Is there a good reason for this and is there anything I can do to avoid the requirement.
Welcome.
Check out:
This stuff happened to me too, but not with Obsidian. Bothersome stuff.
The thing is, if you’re dependent from online services and you login automatically, then your keyring won’t unlock.
Your keyring stores the auth keys to allow online and offline privileges.
So, try to deactivate online dependent stuff in Obsidian like:
Thanks for the suggestions.
I was not aware of the sandbox vault. With that selected I still get the login prompt.
If I Cancel out of the login prompt several times then Obsidian does startup (with the Sandbox) and in Settings > Keychain I see
There doesn’t seem to be an option to disable it.
Then the issue is build-in.
In sandbox mode, deactivate core plugins that need online access, eg Obsidian’s core browser, sync and whatever service requiring online access.
.. Meh, better not this way. Would mean you’ve to cancel out Everytime you launch Obsidian.
Maybe try to launch Obsidian from terminal to see what triggers this auth dialog.
See the official help pages of Obsidian CLI
I’m not yet using the latest version of Obsidian, my version is yet without command line interface.
You should be able to find a “verbose” option or similar, this will show you what triggers the auth dialog during launch from terminal. Keep windows side by side, otherwise you cant see your terminal when it happens.
I have disabled all the core plugins and still it asks for the pwd.
The technique to use to get a verbose startup log is
`$ ~/AppImages/Obsidian-1.12.4_xxx.AppImage --no-sandbox --enable-logging --v=1 2>&1 | tee obsidian.log`
The log just before the request for the pwd is
[20297:0303/214720.012072:VERBOSE1:components/os_crypt/sync/key_storage_util_linux.cc:46] Password storage detected desktop environment: GNOME
[20297:0303/214720.012084:VERBOSE1:components/os_crypt/sync/key_storage_linux.cc:116] Selected backend for OSCrypt: GNOME_LIBSECRET
[20337:0303/214720.342901:WARNING:sandbox/policy/linux/sandbox_linux.cc:404] InitializeSandbox() called with multiple threads in process gpu-process.
[20337:0303/214720.346357:VERBOSE1:components/viz/service/main/viz_main_impl.cc:86] VizNullHypothesis is disabled (not a warning)
[20345:0303/214735.044085:INFO:content/child/child_thread_impl.cc:909] ChildThreadImpl::EnsureConnected()
Does that provide any clues?
I updated on Linux Mint and never saw issues. I install with .deb package but look around in Ubuntu settings instead. Ask a bot (Claude.ai).
As you can see, there’s a warning. Maybe sandboxing isn’t configured correctly, check out articles like:
Do you enter your login pwd during login, or starting a browser or any other reason before starting obsidian?
I have removed the AppImage and installed 1.12.4 from the provided deb file. I still see the issue. I have upped the reporting to –v=2. This is the complete log up the point where it pops up the login dialog, using the command
obsidian --enable-logging --v=2 2>&1 | tee obsidian.log
[1:0304/114736.953269:INFO:third_party/webrtc/rtc_base/cpu_info.cc:75] Available number of cores: 12
[28487:0304/114736.953268:INFO:third_party/webrtc/rtc_base/cpu_info.cc:75] Available number of cores: 12
[28487:0304/114736.953558:VERBOSE1:content/zygote/zygote_main_linux.cc:201] ZygoteMain: initializing 0 fork delegates
[1:0304/114736.953588:VERBOSE1:content/zygote/zygote_main_linux.cc:201] ZygoteMain: initializing 0 fork delegates
[28483:0304/114736.957308:VERBOSE1:dbus/bus.cc:918] Method call: message_type: MESSAGE_METHOD_CALL
interface: org.freedesktop.DBus
member: GetNameOwner
signature: s
string "org.freedesktop.login1"
2026-03-04 11:47:37 Loaded main app package /opt/Obsidian/resources/obsidian.asar
[28483:0304/114737.169936:VERBOSE1:components/os_crypt/sync/key_storage_util_linux.cc:46] Password storage detected desktop environment: GNOME
[28483:0304/114737.175020:VERBOSE1:components/device_event_log/device_event_log_impl.cc:200] [11:47:37.171] Display: EVENT: x11_display_manager.cc:110 Displays updated, count: 2
[28483:0304/114737.175086:VERBOSE1:components/device_event_log/device_event_log_impl.cc:200] [11:47:37.175] Display: EVENT: x11_display_manager.cc:112 Display[3850489720471617] bounds=[0,0 1600x900], workarea=[0,0 1600x900], scale=1, rotation=0, panel_rotation=0 internal detected
[28483:0304/114737.175119:VERBOSE1:components/device_event_log/device_event_log_impl.cc:200] [11:47:37.175] Display: EVENT: x11_display_manager.cc:112 Display[9] bounds=[1600,0 1920x1080], workarea=[1600,32 1920x1048], scale=1, rotation=0, panel_rotation=0 external detected
[28483:0304/114737.175623:VERBOSE1:net/proxy_resolution/proxy_config_service_linux.cc:500] Will get proxy config from gsettings.
[28483:0304/114737.175687:VERBOSE1:net/proxy_resolution/proxy_config_service_linux.cc:1307] Obtained proxy settings from annotation hash code 11258689
[28483:0304/114737.175706:VERBOSE1:components/proxy_config/pref_proxy_config_tracker_impl.cc:199] 0x367400405b00: set chrome proxy config service to 0x3674000e8fa0
[28483:0304/114737.176656:VERBOSE1:content/browser/renderer_host/media/media_stream_manager.cc:1555] MSM::InitializeMaybeAsync([this=0x367400471780])
[28483:0304/114737.176681:VERBOSE1:content/browser/renderer_host/media/media_stream_manager.cc:1555] MDM::MediaDevicesManager()
[28483:0304/114737.176694:VERBOSE1:content/browser/renderer_host/media/media_stream_manager.cc:1555] MSM::MediaStreamManager([this=0x367400471780]))
[28483:0304/114737.176974:VERBOSE1:dbus/bus.cc:918] Method call: message_type: MESSAGE_METHOD_CALL
interface: org.freedesktop.DBus
member: GetNameOwner
signature: s
string "org.chromium.bluetooth.Manager"
[28483:0304/114737.188457:VERBOSE1:components/os_crypt/sync/key_storage_util_linux.cc:46] Password storage detected desktop environment: GNOME
[28483:0304/114737.188473:VERBOSE1:components/os_crypt/sync/key_storage_linux.cc:116] Selected backend for OSCrypt: GNOME_LIBSECRET
[28548:0304/114737.432368:WARNING:sandbox/policy/linux/sandbox_linux.cc:404] InitializeSandbox() called with multiple threads in process gpu-process.
[28548:0304/114737.432893:VERBOSE1:components/viz/service/main/viz_main_impl.cc:86] VizNullHypothesis is disabled (not a warning)
The sandbox warning is still there, but I suspect that it is unrelated to the problem. The lines before that seem to me to be the cause. This is using the sandbox vault and all core plugins are disabled.
Hmm, Increasing verbosity levels didn’t reveal anything more than we know already.
“Sandbox” is general term to understand as “isolate processes” this is a test/protection measure. So, “sandbox vault” has nothing to do with a “sandboxed application”.
There’s yet another key popping up: os_crypt: I think, it refers to a Google component
Probably new stuff integrated in electron: this is the software framework that Obsidian needs to run.
Q
Yes, it seems that it is a Chromium component that handles encryption of sensitive data. GNOME_LIBSECRET is the backend that Gnome provides for handling passwords. So it does appear to be this line that is popping up the password dialog. Arguably Obsidian should not be using that unless sync or something similar is enabled.
No
I think those are specifically about appimages, and I did have to follow the first one (or similar) when I initially installed the appimage.
I will report the issue as a bug. I can live with it for the moment, I just need to hit escape three times when I start it.
Thanks Again.
Been a long time when I had to disable key chain for Github Desktop. Maybe the setting I used was for “never bother me for any app”, or that sort of thing. I am rarely on Linux btw…
The response on the bug report is that this is the way it is now and is not going to be changed.
I would post a link to the bug report but the forum will not allow me to.
Pre-requisites: A machine running Ubuntu with Gnome (I am running 24.04 but I suspect that is not relevant) which is configured to auto login (so the user’s password is not entered on startup), with Obsidian 1.12.4 installed using AppImage or snap (or in fact the deb).
Start Obsidian.
Obsidian should startup
The system shows a popup headed Authentication Required saying that the login keyring has not been unlocked and asks for the user password.
Obsidian version: 1.12.4
Installer version: 1.12.4
Operating system: #14~24.04.1-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Jan 15 15:52:10 UTC 2 6.17.0-14-generic
Login status: not logged in
Language: en-GB
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: dark
Community theme: none
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 3
Plugins enabled: 0
RECOMMENDATIONS:
none
Ideally obsidian would not ask for the keyring to be unlocked if no plugins that use it are enabled.
Hitting Cancel (or Esc) three times allows obsidian to start and in Settings > Keychain I see the image below.
In the log I see, before the authentication dialog is popped up:
[20297:0303/214720.012072:VERBOSE1:components/os_crypt/sync/key_storage_util_linux.cc:46] Password storage detected desktop environment: GNOME
[20297:0303/214720.012084:VERBOSE1:components/os_crypt/sync/key_storage_linux.cc:116] Selected backend for OSCrypt: GNOME_LIBSECRET
This happens even with the sandbox vault with all core plugins disabled.
Have you ever stored a secret in Obsidian?
No, I don’t believe do. I have not used sync or any other online service.
Let me know if this is still present in v1.12.5 when you get it.
OK, will do..
We have investigated this a bit more.
What you see is correct. In Obsidian 1.12.x we have also started encrypting website cookies. You are asked for a password when that subsystem is initialized.
Generally, the keyring managed by the desktop environment is unlocked when you login with a password. But since you have set up login without a password, you are asked to enter the password to unlock this functionality.
We are not going to change this. Sorry.
That is a pity.
