Setting up a password manager on Linux Mint
Install packages
(skip this section on SKSLAN-managed workstations)
- pass
- qtpass
- pass-otp (recommended)
Generate key
- Open “Passwords and Keys” (seahorse)
- Select “GnuPG keys” on the left
- Press the “+” symbol in the top left.
- Select “GPG key”
- Fill in the fields “Full Name,” “Email Address,” and optionally “Comment”
- Set the “Encryption Type” to “RSA” and “Key Strength (bits)” to 3072
- Press “Create” in the top right.
- Input a passphrase for the key in the “Password” and “Confirm” fields. This will be your “master” password.
- Your new key should now show up in the list in the main pane of the window.
Back up your key
- Decide on backup locations for your key; cloud storage, a dedicated backup drive, etc.
- Right click on your newly generated key
- Select “Properties” from the context menu.
- Click on the hamburger menu in the top left
- Select “Export secret key”
- Navigate to wherever you want to back up your key.
- Make sure the file name makes sense.
- Select “Export”
- Input your key's passphrase and press “OK.”
Setting up QtPass
- Open QtPass from the menu
- It will complain that there is no password store initialised. This is fine. Press OK.
- Check the box next to your newly generated key in the “Read Access Users” dialog that comes up next.
- Press OK.
- Accept the options in the “Configuration” window that pops up next with “OK.”
Adding Passwords
- Navigate to the main “QtPass” window
- Click on the “Add password” icon in the top left.
- Type in the domain name of the service you want to save a password for and press “OK.”
- Type the password to save in the “Password” box.
- (Optional) Add your email or username in the larger unmarked box, preceded by something along the lines of
email:. - Press “OK.” to save the password.
Setting up the Firefox addon (PassFF)
(skip this section on SKSLAN-managed workstations)
Installing the Firefox part
- Click “Add to Firefox”
- (Optional) Check “Allow extensions to run in private windows” box
- Confirm with “Add”
- (Optional) Check the “Pin extension to toolbar” box.
Installing the native addon
Instructions adapted from https://codeberg.org/PassFF/passff-host - manual installation instructions are available there also.
- Navigate to https://codeberg.org/PassFF/passff-host/releases
- Click on the first “install_host_app.sh” link.
- Open your file manager from the application menu, and go to Downloads
- Right click on the background, and click “Open in Terminal” from the context menu.
- Run the following commands (copy and paste, then press Enter):
chmod +x install_host_app.sh./install_host_app.sh firefox
- Restart Firefox