Setting up a password manager on Linux Mint

(skip this section on SKSLAN-managed workstations)

• pass
• qtpass
• pass-otp (recommended)

Follow these instructions if you haven't set up QtPass / pass before. Otherwise, skip to Importing an existing setup

1. Open “Passwords and Keys” (seahorse)
2. Select “GnuPG keys” on the left
3. Press the “+” symbol in the top left.
4. Select “GPG key”
5. Fill in the fields “Full Name,” “Email Address,” and optionally “Comment”
6. Set the “Encryption Type” to “RSA” and “Key Strength (bits)” to 3072
7. Press “Create” in the top right.
8. Input a passphrase for the key in the “Password” and “Confirm” fields. This will be your “master” password.
9. Your new key should now show up in the list in the main pane of the window.

1. Decide on backup locations for your key; cloud storage, a dedicated backup drive, etc.
2. Right click on your newly generated key
3. Select “Properties” from the context menu.
4. Click on the hamburger menu in the top left
5. Select “Export secret key”
6. Navigate to wherever you want to back up your key.
7. Make sure the file name makes sense.
8. Select “Export”
9. Input your key's passphrase and press “OK.”

1. Open QtPass from the menu
2. It will complain that there is no password store initialised. This is fine. Press OK.
3. Check the box next to your newly generated key in the “Read Access Users” dialog that comes up next.
4. Press OK.
5. Accept the options in the “Configuration” window that pops up next with “OK.”

Follow the instructions in this section if you didn't just set up your password manager. Otherwise, skip to Adding Passwords

This section will be somewhat fuzzy because different people's setups differ.

1. Log in to your Nextcloud Desktop client
2. Configure the folders to synchronise (“Choose what to sync”), including your password folder, and click Connect.
3. Create a symbolic link to your password folder in your home folder, named .password-store (in your file manager, control-shift-drag your password folder to your home folder. You may need to make hidden files visible.)

1. Open “Passwords and Keys” (seahorse)
2. Select “GnuPG keys” on the left
3. Press the “+” symbol in the top left.
4. Select “Import from file”
5. Navigate to wherever your private key has been backed up (Nextcloud or similar.)
6. Open your private key file.
7. Press “Import” on the top right.
8. Enter your passphrase for your private key.
9. Select “OpenSSH keys” and then “GnuPG keys” on the left to refresh the list.
10. Double click your newly imported key in the main pane of the window.
11. Scroll to the bottom and change the “Override owner trust” dropdown to “Ultimate”
12. Close the key information window, and then Passwords and Keys.

1. Navigate to the main “QtPass” window
2. Click on the “Add password” icon in the top left.
3. Type in the domain name of the service you want to save a password for and press “OK.”
4. Type the password to save in the “Password” box.
5. (Optional) Add your email or username in the larger unmarked box, preceded by something along the lines of email: .
6. Press “OK.” to save the password.

(skip this section on SKSLAN-managed workstations)

1. Navigate to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/passff/
2. Click “Add to Firefox”
3. (Optional) Check “Allow extensions to run in private windows” box
4. Confirm with “Add”
5. (Optional) Check the “Pin extension to toolbar” box.

Instructions adapted from https://codeberg.org/PassFF/passff-host - manual installation instructions are available there also.

1. Navigate to https://codeberg.org/PassFF/passff-host/releases
2. Click on the first “install_host_app.sh” link.
3. Open your file manager from the application menu, and go to Downloads
4. Right click on the background, and click “Open in Terminal” from the context menu.
5. Run the following commands (copy and paste, then press Enter):
   1. chmod +x install_host_app.sh
   2. ./install_host_app.sh firefox
6. Restart Firefox