Starting up Keybase...

[DeeJay1969]

Keybase GUI Version: 6.0.1-20220609140211+0fc9feea3d

This used to work on my PC, Win10, but suddenly stopped opening.
When I try to open, this is shown, "Starting up Keybase...", but just sits there, forever, unless I click somewhere else on the screen and then it disappears. Not sure what's wrong. Tried to download and reinstall it, same thing. Win10 has all updates available installed. Very annoying as I don't wish to use my cell to communicate, which is why it's installed on my PC.

Related files open in Task Manager Processes:
kbfsdokan.exe
Keybase (5 times)
Keybase utility (2 times)

Lots of CPU/Memory/Disk resources available.

Open to any suggestions how to get it working again.
Thanks in advance,
DeeJay1969

[Somebodyisnobody]

Same problem in #25132

[DeeJay1969]

Read through several reports of same issues on Win10. No actual solutions posted anywhere but a workaround listed in #25064 which is to completely wipe any trace of Keybase and revoke the ID using another device, then reinstall with a new ID. Only works temporarily though, until a reboot or other reason Keybase closes, then you have to repeat the wipe and revoke to get it working again. Unacceptable. There has to be a better solution. Please help!

[Somebodyisnobody]

I can't wipe because the keybase-instance is the only one i have. I am very disappointed, that nobody cares about the problem since february 2022, because it's a blocker.

[ec-max]

This issue seen in the tray icon instance of Keybase is caused by spaces in long filename paths for the Keybase.exe - at least on a fresh install. If you are experiencing this issue try the following steps:

1. Quit Keybase using the burger menu from the tray icon flyout interface. Wait for processes to stop.
2. Open the registry editor and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
3. Edit the entry for Keybase.Keybase.GUI
4. Change C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui\Keybase.exe to C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui\Keybase.exe where USERNA~1 is the folder short name shown with the dir /x command from within a cmd.exe prompt.
5. Manually run C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui\Keybase.exe or reboot your computer.
   6. Enjoy Keybase.

Edit... Others have pointed out that this works manually but not at startup or in shortcuts - the path keeps getting reverted to the long file name. I've switched to a powershell script and task scheduler item that is tested to work each startup. I'll post that separately.

[drspangle]

I'm afraid this fix didn't work for me. I followed the instructions precisely, but sadly the behavior is the same. I was the author of #25064.

[123Venom]

Did not fix it for me either

[ec-max]

I'm sorry this didn't work for some that have tried it. It's uncanny because the behavior is exactly the same as what I experienced, but I guess there are other ways the crypto can't be initialized by that tray instance of the application.

For completeness sake, just covering the couple contributing factors that come to mind:

• Make sure you exited the running keybase instances and had all keybase related processes shutdown before relaunching with the short file name path.
• The client does use %LOCALAPPDATA% - which has the long file name in the environment variable. This may be worth exploring for someone who continues to have the issue.
• Some of the other troubleshooting steps on threads here involve deleting folders from the keybase client. If you've tried other fixes before this one it may be worth going back to a clean install and trying again (since that most closely represents where I came across this reported behavior).

I hope some find that this helps solve their issue or at least gets you started down a successful path.

[ec-max]

Another behavior that I noticed is related to the logging... The working modified command line spawns a watchdog process that has a logging path not encapsulated in quotes...

C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\keybase.exe --log-format=file --log-prefix=C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\watchdog. ctl watchdog

This is unlike other child processes that have paths (taken from env variables) in quotes. Example...

"C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui\Keybase.exe" --type=gpu-process --user-data-dir="C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Keybase"

I wonder if that --log-prefix= is an invalid path or path that can't be written to, if that causes the same behavior for multiple reasons?

[Somebodyisnobody]

5. Manually run C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui\Keybase.exe or reboot your computer.

Manually run works but the key in the registry editor is always changed back to the path with spaces when rebooting.

Nevertheless thank you for this workarround to start keybase manually

[ec-max]

Sorry for not originally testing things better. I got a hacky workaround to work each reboot, using a powershell script and a scheduled task. Here are the details for anyone who wants to recreate it.

1. Create a text file - it can be saved anywhere but I used C:\Scripts\fixKeybase.ps1 :

Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui\Keybase.exe" -WorkingDirectory "C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui" where USERNA~1 is the short filename found using dir /x in a cmd.exe prompt.

2. Launch Task Scheduler and create a new task:

Name: Launch Keybase
General: Run only when user is logged on (selected), Hidden (checked).
Triggers: At log on of specific user: COMPUTER\User Name (where this is your username / computer running keybase), Delay for 30 seconds (this probably isn't needed).
Action: Start a program: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe Arguments: -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\fixKeybase.ps1"
Conditions: (I unchecked everything, if you are on a laptop make sure you uncheck the only run on AC power one)
Settings: Allow task to be run on demand (checked), Run as soon as possible after scheduled start is missed (checked).

You should have keybase working after you reboot. You can also right click and "launch" the newly created task from the scheduled task interface.

Super hacky but should get you over the hump until someone goes and puts quotes around anything in the client code that uses the env variable LOCALAPPDATA...

[XerTheSquirrel]

Sorry for not originally testing things better. I got a hacky workaround to work each reboot, using a powershell script and a scheduled task. Here are the details for anyone who wants to recreate it.

1. Create a text file - it can be saved anywhere but I used C:\Scripts\fixKeybase.ps1 :

Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui\Keybase.exe" -WorkingDirectory "C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui" where USERNA~1 is the short filename found using dir /x in a cmd.exe prompt.

2. Launch Task Scheduler and create a new task:

Name: Launch Keybase General: Run only when user is logged on (selected), Hidden (checked). Triggers: At log on of specific user: COMPUTER\User Name (where this is your username / computer running keybase), Delay for 30 seconds (this probably isn't needed). Action: Start a program: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe Arguments: -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\fixKeybase.ps1" Conditions: (I unchecked everything, if you are on a laptop make sure you uncheck the only run on AC power one) Settings: Allow task to be run on demand (checked), Run as soon as possible after scheduled start is missed (checked).

You should have keybase working after you reboot. You can also right click and "launch" the newly created task from the scheduled task interface.

Super hacky but should get you over the hump until someone goes and puts quotes around anything in the client code that uses the env variable LOCALAPPDATA...

Prepending-WindowStyle hidden to the PowerShell arguments will helpfully not have a lingering PowerShell terminal window open.

[Paulo7414]

Hi,

Creating a shortcut like this, works for me:

Target: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -WindowStyle hidden "Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui\Keybase.exe" -WorkingDirectory "C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui""

Start in: C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0

Replace "USERNA~1" with yours, found using dir /x in a cmd.exe prompt

Working in Windows 11

[MaxQuatro]

None of these methods helps. Apparently the problem also concerns non-Latin letters in the path to the program folder. I have it located in C:\Users\Папа\AppData\Local\Keybase. I will continue to use version 5.9.0, it has no such problem with Cyrillic letters in the path to the folder

[microka]

Sorry for not originally testing things better. I got a hacky workaround to work each reboot, using a powershell script and a scheduled task. Here are the details for anyone who wants to recreate it.

1. Create a text file - it can be saved anywhere but I used C:\Scripts\fixKeybase.ps1 :

Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui\Keybase.exe" -WorkingDirectory "C:\Users\USERNA~1\AppData\Local\Keybase\Gui" where USERNA~1 is the short filename found using dir /x in a cmd.exe prompt.

2. Launch Task Scheduler and create a new task:

Name: Launch Keybase General: Run only when user is logged on (selected), Hidden (checked). Triggers: At log on of specific user: COMPUTER\User Name (where this is your username / computer running keybase), Delay for 30 seconds (this probably isn't needed). Action: Start a program: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe Arguments: -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\fixKeybase.ps1" Conditions: (I unchecked everything, if you are on a laptop make sure you uncheck the only run on AC power one) Settings: Allow task to be run on demand (checked), Run as soon as possible after scheduled start is missed (checked).

You should have keybase working after you reboot. You can also right click and "launch" the newly created task from the scheduled task interface.

Super hacky but should get you over the hump until someone goes and puts quotes around anything in the client code that uses the env variable LOCALAPPDATA...

Thanks! It works for me on Windows 11.

[TheComputerGenie]

#27529 (comment)
Might help some folks, too.