Biometric Login - Desktop Communication Interrupted

[tenebris93]

Steps To Reproduce

1. Go to the Chrome browser extension.
2. Watch as the Chrome browser extension attempts to open Windows Hello for biometric login. (Silent Fail - No notification)
3. Click on login using biometrics.
4. User is treated with Desktop communication interrupted error.

Expected Result

The user should be prompted to authenticate via their preferred biometric signing method. In my case Windows Hello Face Recognition.

Actual Result

A new error notification appears instead that informs the user that the: Desktop application invalidated the secure channel. Please retry this operation.

Screenshots or Videos

Error Message:

Windows Desktop Client Version:

Chrome Browser Extension:

Desktop Settings:

Chrome Browser Settings:

Additional Context

This was working perfectly fine until I was prompted yesterday to update the desktop client to version 2023.4.0

Operating System

Windows

Operating System Version

No response

Web Browser

Chrome

Browser Version

113.0.5672.64

Build Version

2023.4.0

Issue Tracking Info

• I understand that work is tracked outside of Github. A PR will be linked to this issue should one be opened to address it, but Bitwarden doesn't use fields like "assigned", "milestone", or "project" to track progress.

[tenebris93]

I originally opened an identical ticket to this but then closed it due to thinking it was due to user error. However, after restarting my PC it started happening again. Thus I have remade this ticket.

[atjbramley]

Hi @tenebris93 ,

I attempted to reproduce your issue with both Windows 10 and Windows 11 Pro 22H2 and was unable to do so.

I think your error could have its origin in a corruption or conflict isolated to your specific environment, and would encourage you to reinstall the extension to see if this resolves itself.

We use GitHub issues as a place to track bugs and other development related issues. If your issue persists, please write us back using our contact form, so we can continue troubleshooting: https://bitwarden.com/contact/

You can include a link to this issue in the message content.

Alternatively, you can also search for an answer in our help documentation (https://bitwarden.com/help/) or get help from other Bitwarden users on our community forums (https://community.bitwarden.com/c/support/).

The issue here will be closed.

Thanks!

[nosh56355]

@atjbramley
Unhappy that you closed the issue so quickly. I have the same problem on all Browsers (Edge, Chrome, Brave, Firefox)
w/ Win11 Version 10.0.22621; Bitwarden Version: 2023.4.0 Server version: 2023.4.3.
BTW Reinstall on Edge didn't help.
Suggest to reopen the Ticket.
Thanks, NoSh

[tenebris93]

@nosh56355 I was able to mitigate that error after doing a uninstall using the free version of Revo Uninstaller and then uninstalling the browser extension. Revo will ask you to delete some registry entries and a few leftover files that Bitwarden leaves behind. Just select them all and delete them. After that, I restarted and then reinstalled the desktop client and browser extension. Once reinstalled, I set up the desktop client first and then the browser extension. It works now almost 99% of the time and when that 1% happens where it gives me that error. I just cancel and try to unlock it again. It seems to work just fine after that. That being said, it seems like every time there is a major update to Bitwarden that changes functionality. It just ends up causing more and more stability issues. Hopefully, they will be able to get someone else to repo it on their side and then push out a stability patch to remove the error entirely.

[nosh56355]

Gotcha: you need to enable biometric authentication in the desktop app. Otherwise the browser extension throws this error.

[LeedsCode]

I've been having this issue too and finally decided to look it up and try to fix it.
What fixed it for me is:

1. Log into the Bitwarden desktop application w/ master password (there was no option to use biometrics for me)
2. Do nothing - let the vault lock from your timeout (mine is set to 1 minute)
3. This time I clicked "Unlock with Windows Hello" - it's probably "biometrics" or "fingerprint" on non-windows machines
4. I was successfully able to use my fingerprint to login here
5. Go to a website and login, now it asks for my fingerprint

[boypt]

I've been having this issue too and finally decided to look it up and try to fix it. What fixed it for me is:

1. Log into the Bitwarden desktop application w/ master password (there was no option to use biometrics for me)
2. Do nothing - let the vault lock from your timeout (mine is set to 1 minute)
3. This time I clicked "Unlock with Windows Hello" - it's probably "biometrics" or "fingerprint" on non-windows machines
4. I was successfully able to use my fingerprint to login here
5. Go to a website and login, now it asks for my fingerprint

On step 2 I lock the Bitwarden desktop by pressing Ctrl+L, also works. The Unlock with Windows Hello button shows up after manual triggered lock.

[TheAdamGalloway]

Not sure if anyone has got to the bottom of this, but it recently started happening for me on Mac with Brave browser. No doubt I will be able to fix it with a reinstall but still quite frustrating that there's no root cause identified.

[Lolle2000la]

I have the same issue and I think this happens on the desktop client side. I don't know how the connection is done, but if you close the app and reopen it, communication will usually fail.

Maybe the code that handles the communication should be put into a Windows service (and the MacOS equivalent) so that auth can work regardless of if the client is open (yet).