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Linux desktop client crashes on startup
Since updating to the latest version of the client, the Linux desktop client consistently crashes on first startup, and sometimes crashes again after already running.
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Hello folks,
I'm sorry that 1Password for Linux is crashing when you first first boot your device. This is a known issue that our development team is investigating and hopes to fix in a future update to 1Password. While I don't have a timeline on when a fix will be released, the fix will be noted in our release notes as soon as it is available.
As noted in this thread, the issue should only affect the first launch after boot and subsequent launches of the 1Password app should work normally. If you're seeing different behaviour then please reach out to support@1Password.com so that we can dig deeper.
-Dave
I find it astonishing that this has not yet been fixed. Clearly it is not an issue of reproducibility because apparently it was reproduced internally four months ago. Is it difficult to fix? Is it low priority because Linux users are expected to be able to deal with unpolished software? Or because Linux users are (presumably) a small proportion of 1Password's (paying!) customer base, and therefore not worth the time?
Please excuse the tone; I bear no ill will towards anyone at 1Password, especially not Dave and the rest of the community team who have the unfortunate job of updating people on this when there are no updates to give. But it's extraordinary that a bug like this has survived several production releases of a commercial piece of software after having been reported a year ago.
1P_Dave
Moderator
ModeratorI’m really sorry for the continued impact this issue is having. I know it’s not ideal, and I truly appreciate your patience while our development team continues to investigate.
When you have a moment, could you please try the following and let me know what happens?
- After booting your Linux device, wait about 10–20 seconds before manually launching 1Password for Linux. Does 1Password still crash?
- Try turning off “Keep 1Password in the system tray” under 1Password > Settings > General.
Do either of these workarounds make a difference? Your results will help our developers better understand what’s causing the issue and work toward a fix.
-Dave
Neither makes a difference.
I did some more experimenting and I discovered I can make 1Password crash at will, without needing to reboot. It appears to be the same crash as happens at boot.
- Get 1Password to start without crashing. (No mean feat, but that's why we're here.)
- Let 1Password reach the password screen. This specific screen probably doesn't matter, but it's an indication that the program has started properly.
- In a terminal, run either killall -SIGTERM 1password or killall -SIGKILL 1password.
- Wait for all of 1Password's processes to exit.
- Launch 1Password again.
(*) A slight variation is to let 1Password crash and then start from step (3), which kills the zombie processes.
I found three behaviours in 21 attempts at this:- Every (5) after SIGTERM in (3) resulted in a complete crash on startup. This totalled 10 crashes. I think about three of these were (*). Basically, it doesn't matter whether 1Password crashes or not; a SIGTERM used either to kill the whole thing or just the zombie processes after a crash will always be followed by a crash on the next launch.
- Excluding (*), every (5) after SIGKILL in (3) was a proper startup, with no crash. This totalled 7 normal starts. So if 1Password does not crash and I kill the whole thing with SIGKILL, then it won't crash on the next launch.
- For (*) with SIGKILL, one (5) was a crash, and on three occasions I got the crash popup followed by a normal start when I dismissed the popup.
It's a bit weird and I don't think I've explained it very well, but maybe it'll be useful in some way. I can clarify if needed.> uname -a Linux lnx-p15s 6.12.48-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri, 19 Sep 2025 16:11:04 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux- 1P_Dave
Thank you for providing such detailed information! I can reproduce the same issue but what I'm seeing is that 1Password will re-open if you wait long enough after dismissing the "1Password quit unexpectedly" message. Are you seeing the same behaviour?
This implies that the message seems to be talking about the abrupt closing of 1Password processes (without a proper closing of the app) and not a crash that occurs after trying to relaunch 1Password after closing those processes. The length of time it takes 1Password to re-open after dismissing the message does seem long and I've filed an internal issue for this.
Let me know if 1Password does re-open for you, after you force-closing all processes using the Terminal commands you provided, if you wait a minute or two after re-launching 1Password and dismissing the "1Password quit unexpectedly" message.
-Dave
Issue=PA-850
Hi 1P_Dave. Thanks for experimenting with this.
what I'm seeing is that 1Password will re-open if you wait long enough after dismissing the "1Password quit unexpectedly" message. Are you seeing the same behaviour?
I tried waiting it out, and yes. (And it's not just me.) It takes around 30 seconds on average on my system. This would explain why I haven't noticed it before: normally I relaunch 1Password straight away. Or I try to – I guess the one I launch manually sees that a 1Password process is already running, so exits. The window that eventually pops up is thus from the original instance, not mine. This makes sense because it usually feels like it takes ages for 1Password to start after I launch it – in fact, must just be waiting out the ~30 second delay after dismissing the error message for the original program to show a window.
message seems to be talking about the abrupt closing of 1Password processes (without a proper closing of the app) and not a crash that occurs after trying to relaunch 1Password after closing those processes
I think you must be right. It still fits in with the message that shows up after booting. If the message is referring to the unexpected manner in which 1Password last exited and not a new crash, then 1Password is failing to exit cleanly whenever I shut down my system. As far as I know, 1Password receives SIGTERM when I do this, which would explain the similarity between the behaviour after booting and when trying to restart 1Password after killall -SIGTERM 1password. In both cases, the previous 1Password instance exited due to a SIGTERM.
Assuming you are correct, I see at least two bugs. First, 1Password does not respond correctly to a SIGTERM, which is supposed to be a friendly request for a program to terminate gracefully. It doesn't look like the termination is graceful. IMO it should handle a SIGTERM as though I had used the "Quit" option from within the app.
The second bug is the delay after dismissing the popup, which you said you raised internally.
Another issue is that the error message, "1Password quit unexpectedly", is poorly phrased if it is supposed to communicate that 1Password quit unexpectedly last time. "Did not close properly"/"Did not shut down correctly"/"Did not exit correctly" are all clearer. OTOH, macOS uses "<blah> quit unexpectedly" when a program has just crashed, which is a different situation from what is apparently happening here.
