Chrome extension takes forever to load UI after authenticating and is extremely slow and unresponsive

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1

Issue
Since like last week the Bitwarden Chrome extension consistently takes absolutely forever to load it’s UI after i have authenticated myself, and afterwards the UI is very unresponsive and slow.

The authentication screen for the master password loads quickly, but the vault itself after takes a long time to load. While this is going on, the extension looks like this:

image
image542×694 12.3 KB

This happens every single time i try to open the extension, and is happening on two completely seperate machines. I have been using Bitwarden for maybe a couple years now and never had this issue prior.

If i leave the gray screen up for around 20 seconds it’ll finally load my vault, but the extension itself is also very slow and unresponsive. Clicks on simple buttons like the menu at the bottom take forever or don’t seem to work at all. The extension is basically unusable for me at the moment, but as a workaround i can still right click and fill login forms from the context menu. This behavior repeats after clicking away / closing the extension, the next time i open it again it’ll be gray again for another 20+ seconds.

Of course i tried reinstalling the extension but this did not solve the issue.

Environment
I’m using Chrome 126.0.6478.61 with Bitwarden extension version 2024.5.2, this is happening on two seperate machines, I currently don’t know the versions from the other machine but both are on Windows 11 if that matters.

I am self-hosting my Bitwarden soluton but the Bitwarden desktop app and the Firefox extension work 100% fine without any issues so i don’t think it’s related
to the way it’s hosted. I’m only having this in Chrome. I tried disabling adblockers in case that made a difference, but it doesn’t.

I’m surprised i don’t see this anywhere else online, not on here or on Reddit for example. Am i the only one with this issue? Is there anything i can do to debug / try to resolve this or get more information on what’s going on? It’s very frustrating.

2 Likes
2

Just for reference, I am not seeing any problem like you describe. Chrome Version 126.0.6478.62 (Official Build) (64-bit), Bitwarden extension Version: 2024.6.1.

3

@Nemesis Welcome to the forum!

I cannot reproduce this in Chrome (on Windows 11) with browser extension version 2024.6.1. The next thing you should try is probably to update your browser extension to the most recent version.

Another thing to try is to disable all browser extensions except for Bitwarden. One quick way to do this is to go to chrome://extensions/?id=nngceckbapebfimnlniiiahkandclblb and enable “Allow in Incognito”, then open an Incognito browser window (Ctrl+Shift+N) — this assumes that you have not previous allowed any other browser extensions to run in Incognito mode.

Here’s one more thing to try. Copy and paste the URI below into your browser’s address bar (better yet, bookmark this URI, so that you can easily access it for repeated testing):

chrome-extension://nngceckbapebfimnlniiiahkandclblb/popup/index.html?uilocation=popout#/home

If you start with your browser extension window closed, open the above URI in a new tab. This should basically open your browser extension UI in a regular browser tab instead of in the small pop-up window. What behaviors do you observe in that tab? Does it show as a gray screen for 20 seconds? Are the navigation icons at the bottom of the screen unresponsive?

Finally, have you recently made changes to your Bitwarden account KDF settings? What are your current settings?

4

I’m facing the same issue as well from last week, it’s only happening to my chrome as well. With other browser it works well (edge) already tried everything like uninstall & reinstall bitwarden, disable other extension, Even opening with
chrome-extension://nngceckbapebfimnlniiiahkandclblb/popup/index.html?uilocation=popout#/home
have the same issue, blank for 15-20 seconds. Opening in incognito also have same issue, blank for 15-20 then can login, wait again for another 20 seconds.

5

@Bryan_Prajugo Welcome to the forum!

Open a blank browser tab or window (not Incognito), hit F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I to open the Dev Tools pane, and then navigate to the above URI. During (and at the end of) the 15–20 sec wait, examine what is going on in the Console and Network tabs of the Dev Tools pane.

6

Hi @grb, thank you

As far as i can tell 2024.6.1 is the most recent version released on the Chrome webstore, or am i missing something?

I tried this but the exact same thing happens in an incognito window with only the bitwarden extension active.

This has 100% the exact same behavior as the extension, the page stays blank for about 20 seconds and then loads my vault afterwards. This happens consistently every single time i reload the page.

While doing these tests i found something odd: As i mentioned, i am selfhosting my bitwarden, but it is behind a VPN that i am not always connected to. I only connect to it when i want to sync my vault. Now i suddenly noticed that when i am not connected to the VPN, this issue happens, and when i am connected to the VPN, the issue does not occur. (Again, it is still Chrome only, the Firefox extension and desktop app work perfectly fine without my VPN connected)

Interestingly while looking at my console logs and network logs and switching my vpn on and off for a bit to see the difference, i now suddenly don’t have the 20 second gray screen issue anymore. Even when not connected to my VPN and after a system reboot, the delay for loading the vault seems to suddenly be gone. Which is nice, but odd. When i compare the console logs with my vpn off from when i had the issue vs now when i don’t anymore, they don’t seem very different from another, mostly a bunch of ‘unable to connect’ errors. If nessecary i can provide the logs, i did save them, i only don’t have a before & after of the network tab because the gray screen issue is gone for now. I guess i’ll see if it comes back or not.

Also i wrote originally that the extension’s behavior was very odd, unresponsive etc. I also don’t seem to have that issue anymore.

But there is still an issue where after entering my master password, the extension does not continue to the vault. The icon will update, showing the vault has been unlocked, but the extension stays on the master password page. This does not happen in Firefox and started happening around the same time i got that 20 second vault loading delay which is now suddenly gone. It looks like this:

image

After closing and opening the extension again i’ll be in the vault (this time without the 20 second delay).

This same behavior happens when i open the extension page in a new tab (chrome-extension://nngceckbapebfimnlniiiahkandclblb/popup/index.html?uilocation=popout#/home). When i enter my master password and press enter, nothing at all happens. Then when i reload the page the vault is suddenly unlocked.

7

The gray screen issue is back, and here is a screenshot of the network tab while it’s happening:

image
image926×887 44.9 KB

The issue seems to be the “config” call going to http://192.168.2.252:8081/api/config which times out because i am not connected to my VPN and this endpoint cannot be reached. I know you probably understand how Bitwarden works better than i do myself :slight_smile: but i just want to reiterate that this setup without vpn connected etc has always worked perfectly fine, and still works fine on Firefox and the desktop app.

Edit: Also the extension is very unresponsive again. I can’t even switch tabs with the menu at the bottom, my clicks just dont seem to get registered, nothing happens.

8

I’m seeing the same behavior.

  • self hosted
  • chrome extension
  • chrome version: Version 125.0.6422.142 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Vault takes 20 - 30 seconds to load. UI is generally slow to respond. Other browsers (FireFox, Edge) do not have this issue. Happens when self-hosted Bit Warden is unreachable. Did not have this issue with prior version of extension.

9

In your OP, you wrote that you were using version 2024.5.2 — that was the reason for my suggestion.

Opening it in a full browser tab gives you easier access to the Dev Tools, and I see in the remainder of your post(s) that you have already explored the information available there.

I’m curious — did you wait past the 20–30 sec delay time before closing the unlock screen and re-opening the extension?

It seems that these connection timeout errors are the source of the problem, and getting more information about these config calls under various conditions (gray screen, hung unlock screen, unresponsive icons, and when the extension is working normally, for comparison) is probably going to be the key to solving the issue, especially since it seems to have an intermittent character.

Maybe, maybe not. I’m not a dev (nor otherwise affiliated with Bitwarden), and I also have no personal experience with self-hosting. I have probably reached the limit of my ability to provide technical insight into this particular issue.

What I would recommend is that you examine those config calls (and anything else that seems suspicious) in your Network logs during various instances of the undesirable lags/freezes, and also look at the config calls in the Network logs when you are connected to the VPN, and on the other browsers with and without VPN.

Armed with these observations, you should reach out to Bitwarden’s customer support for further assistance. I would also highly recommend that your report this as a bug, by posting a New Issue on Bitwarden’s GitHub. In fact, I have a feeling that your issue is related to Issue #9561, so if you create your own issue report (including all of your Network log information from various tests), it may be a good idea to include a link to Issue #9561, as well; also link to this thread on the Community Forum.

10

@Loganizzi Welcome to the forum!

Do you also use a VPN, and do you see any differences in behavior when the VPN is on or off?

Can you please try to repeat some of the tests described by @Nemesis, and let us know what you see in the Network logs?

Also, please refer to my comment above.

11

We are having this issue as well

  • Self hosted

  • Chrome Version 126.0.6478.61

12

@KheKit Welcome tot he forum!

Are you also using a VPN?

Can you read through the thread and try some of the tests yourself?

13

We are not using VPN, I don’t see the same error on our side in the screenshot. Right now is just running very slow. I reached out support and will link it to the related issue. Hopefully it can get resolve soon. Thank you!

14

If you don’t see any timeout errors on the network tab in the Dev Tools, then try examining the Chrome task manager (Shift+Esc) to see if there are any clues there in terms of CPU usage or network activity.

15

I’m having the similar problem on Chrome (Version 126.0.6478.61 (Official Build) (64-bit)) on NixOS with a self-hosted install.

Following are the messages in console:

console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 4ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 4ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 8ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 8ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 16ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 16ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 32ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 32ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 64ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 64ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 128ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 128ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 256ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 256ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 512ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 512ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 1024ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 1024ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 2048ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 2048ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 4096ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 4096ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 8192ms
console-log.service.ts:43 No state version found, assuming empty state.
console-log.service.ts:43 Waiting for migrations to finish, waiting for 8192ms

UI eventually loads after few seconds, but it’s reproducible everytime after clicking on the Bitwarden icon.

16

To get back to this, you are right and i got confused because i think the extension updated without me noticing, but i am having the same issue on 2024.6.1 just like reported here by others.

Interesting theory, and you seem to be right. I did not connect those dots :slight_smile: After waiting about 20-30 seconds after entering the master password it does continue to the vault successfully.

That is a good find, it seems pretty much identical. I will post my findings in there too.

1 Like
17

@Ishi Welcome to the forum!

Could you clarify whether or not you are also seeing any errors on the Network tab (e.g., timeout errors), and also indicate whether or not you use a VPN?

18

@grb Thanks! I have my instance hosted behind a wireguard network. My instance’s records are in public DNS with RFC1918 IPv4 address, and ULA IPv6 address. My computer’s default route is my router, not any VPN endpoint.

I don’t observe any timeouts, or errors in network tab. I can open the UI of my instance just fine in the browser.

Initially I noticed this behaviour in Brave, and then I switched to Chrome. And then few weeks later, it manifested in Chrome as well. In Firefox, the extension works fine.

So, my guess is something to do with the recent Chrome update, that Brave, and Google Chrome recently got which broke extension like this.

HTH

19

Also I would like to add it works fine in Chrome (on macOS). Only Chrome on GNU/Linux (NixOS, and Guix) is affected by this.

20

In Issue #9561, the self-hosted server is off when the problem occurs, so I think that is a substantial difference versus what users in this thread are reporting.

Therefore, I think the best course of action is to start a New Issue on GitHub, and reference Issue #9561 from your issue; linking this Community Forum thread would also be advisable.

@Nemesis @Bryan_Prajugo @Loganizzi @KheKit @Ishi I would encourage any one of file a bug report (New Issue) on GitHub, or contribute to the discussion if someone else has posted the issue before you. Please remember to provide information about your browser and operating system, in addition to other relevant information about your set-up and observations.