I tried on edge and chrome too, but they both did not work. Ahh well, it doesn’t matter that so it should be fine.
Tried this, but it still didn’t work, thanks for the help
Wonder if anyone has a workaround or solution yet? The extension version is 1.51.0; Edge version is 91.0.864.67 and bitwarden desktop version is 1.27.1.
Also I do not need to keep Bitwarden desktop app unlocked and running to use the “biometrics” with Edge browser extension unlock, right?
I can’t speak for Edge, but using Chrome you definitely do have to have the desktop app open and unlocked in order to unlock the browser extension with biometrics.
Could you try toggling the setting on/off? We only generate the manifests when enabling the feature. And if the setting were enabled in a previous version it probably hasn’t generated the manifests for Edge.
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I’m still having this issue with the Brave/Chrome browser extension 1.53.0 and Mac App store desktop version 1.28.3 (535). I’m running Big Sur 11.6 (20G165) on an M1 Macbook Air. When I click “Unlock with Biometrics” in the extension, I get the message “The Bitwarden Desktop application needs to be started before this function can be used.”
I already have a tmp directory and NativeMessagingHosts for Chrome. Allow URL Access turned on. Unlock with biometrics works fine in Safari without the need to have the Bitwarden desktop app open.
@michaelvelasquez The desktop app is needed in the background for all browsers except Safari, which has native touch id access.
Interesting. If that’s the case, was this entire thread some sort of misunderstanding? Why did some people report that adding the tmp directory solved the issue for them in Chrome?
Sometimes the desktop app didn’t create the directory to allow communication between the desktop app and the browser extension, thus causing the issue.
Is this suppose to work with Linux? I’m trying with Firefox, Chrome and Edge and it keeps giving me a message saying: Browser biometrics requires desktop biometric to be enabled in the settings first. I’ve tried all the various and sundry hacks described above to no avail.
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Hi @gbcox!
Currently biometrics are supported via Windows Hello and TouchID on macOS.
Hi @tgreer, so then: Browsers extensions that work with desktop's apps
shouldn’t actually be closed. It’s not supported on Linux, correct?
That thread was merged into the larger topic of having the desktop app maintain the session across all browsers:
There were separate topics for Windows Hello and Touch ID support, which are closed. There is an open topic for Linux biometric support though:
Thanks for the quick reply and explanation. These threads are all over the place, and the nuance (at least with me) was lost. When I saw “Enable Browser Integration” on the Linux Desktop app accepting a checkbox, that caused me to believe this was a done deal and there was a bug or something keeping it from working, when in fact the feature isn’t yet available, and it appears that it isn’t going to be available for quite some time.
It might be a little extra work, but if indeed the feature isn’t forthcoming, I would recommend putting some code in the Desktop app that if it’s running on a Linux platform, it “greys out” the checkbox and selection so people can’t check the box. That way they know the feature isn’t available. That would save people spinning their wheels trying to get something to work that won’t.
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I just ran into this issue after migrating to a new Macbook. I was initially seeing the browser extension not taking the configuration to enable unlock with biometrics. Every time I checked the box, it would uncheck when I navigated away from the Settings. I was finally able to get it to work by “popping out” the extension window and then going into settings and checking the unlock with biometrics settings, immediately after doing that my browser prompted me for additional permissions and then the setting “stuck” and re-enabled unlock with biometrics on the extension. Sounds like a bug but hopefully that will help others out.
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I try to figure why I can’t use the biometric unlock with the Firefox add-on.
I recently change my computer and with the same configuration, it works on the older one, but not the new.
Firefox 94.0.2
Plugin : 1.54.0
Bitwarden desktop : 1.29.1
Language : french
I enable navigator integration into the desktop application (and try to disable, re-enable, reinstall the app)
Check the permission for the Firefox plugin (and also remove and reinstall it)
Reset Firefox and his configuration.
But when I try to enable biometric, the plugin says it can’t access the desktop application.
How can I debug this ?
Thanks for your help.
Same thing happens in Firefox v95.0 with BW extension 1.54.0. Edge has no issues
@aroubine are you running any other browser plugins? I’ve seen another post that said that sometimes it makes a difference when you’re running cookie or script blocking apps at the moment you’re installing the BW plugin. Did you try (re)installing BW after disabling all other plugins? (you can turn them back on afterwards)
Just try, I have Greasemonkey which can maybe have an impact.
The only extension I keep when I try (I don’t have the choice) is Forcepoint Endpoint which is forced by the administrator of my work.
Unfortunately, nothing changes.
This was the fix for me with Edge on Windows, I followed these steps, after each one I clicked the close button on the settings screen then re-opened it.