My onlykey seems to have reset itself. I plug it in and it has an orange light, opening the software it’s at the initial setup. This is bad, I haven’t done a recent backup, which I suppose is my fault but I also didn’t think this thing would just wipe itself… any suggestions anyone?
Having an orange light would be unusual, this is not one of the defined LED colors and would indicate LED or hardware failure - OnlyKey Features | Docs
Were multiple incorrect PINs entered? Device wipes if that happens or if the self-destruct PIN is entered.
It could be considered yellow. And no, incorrect pins were not entered. Occasionally it wouldn’t register a touch. I’m assuming the self destruct is after 10 consecutive incorrect pins.
From the pictured it appears white, if it is white then you would see in the app that it is in bootloader mode:
Definitely not white, it’s yellow or orange. In the app, there is nothing listed for last message received and it’s at setup.
So I guess so much for this thing being durable. It stays in my watch pocket. It’s used every day multiple times a day. Now it wiped itself, and, I can’t even set it back up. In the Windows only key app, I put in a backup passphrase, and hit next and it does nothing. This is awesome… it only had my 88 character password for my software password manager that can not be reset. Thanks guys, high quality product here.
Even clicking advanced and going that way, it does absolutely nothing. Onlykey quick setup, go into notepad and press and hold 3, yup, does nothing there either.
Thanks onlykey. Too bad I can’t return this thing. Hopefully my wife’s doesn’t go bad too.
So the FAQ is worthless. And there isn’t a support email, just this forum. I’m so angry. This shouldn’t have happened. My backup is absolutely worthless because this thing won’t do jack.
Hey man sorry to hear this. I guess I would chime in to say this. If you don’t have a backup something like this is almost inevitable. It’s always that one time you don’t backup that something like this happens. What were you planning to do if you lost your keys, or OnlyKey gets smashed in your car door, or your house gets hit by lightning and it fries your computer and OnlyKey? You always need a backup, it’s easy to do just hold button 1 on your OnlyKey down to type out the backup bro.
I have a backup, but it’s useless if the onlykey doesn’t work to be able to restore the backup. One or two passwords saved on it have probably changed since my last backup, but my most important one has stayed the same. I’ve had my onlykey for two months, I would expect it to last for a year at least if not several. It isn’t damaged and it’s been taken care of. I take care of my belongings, I don’t even use a screen protector or a case on my phone’s, I’m conscious of what I’m doing. I’m assuming since you can’t contact the company that these probably don’t come with a warranty. I’m sure somewhere it states wether or not it does, I haven’t looked. I thought I had it longer than 90 days and since I haven’t I can probably do something with Amazon. I shouldn’t have to worry about the thing destroying itself though. I would understand if I damaged it, but that isn’t the case here. I like the device, and it’s worked well until now and it’s pretty much left me stranded. I still have access to all of my passwords with my password manager on my phone, but not on a computer since I need the 88 character password instead of biometrics. Now I get to copy and paste hundreds of accounts. I use Bitwarden and they don’t allow you to reset your password. I’m afraid I might screw up my wife’s, but I think I might try to back hers up and then put on my backup so I can get what I need out of it. That should work, as long as it cooperates. Hopefully someone from onlykey will see this and help come up with a resolution.
Thank you to the two of you that have tried so far.
I believe it has a 30 day warranty. They recommend to buy 2 so if you lose a key and you have a backup just restore that to the new key.
The software behind OnlyKey follows the standards and is fully open-source and audited. It even shares parts of the underlying code with YubiKey devices.
So it’s improbable that your issue has been caused by a software failure.
On the other hand, if something was wrong with the hardware, there must have been more similar reports of the device being self-destructed for no reason.
Probably something has gone wrong on your side that was out of your notice.
It’s possible that somebody may have gained access to the key and input the self-destruct PIN or tried too many incorrect PINs which has made the security key wipe itself out.
It’s a very good practice to back up your OnlyKey data to somewhere safe once in a while; Something which you could not have done at all with YubiKey devices.
Too many incorrect pins is not possible. There isn’t a way that someone other than myself would even have access to it. If it’s not in my computer, it’s in my pocket. If I’m not at my computer, it’s in my pocket. So unless someone got into my watch pocket, literally the smallest and tightest pocket of a pair of pants, then this didn’t happen. Also, I used incorrect wording about it wiping itself, if that were the case I would be able to restore my backup to it. It is completely unresponsive other than being recognized as a device by windows. Command line commands do not work. The onlykey software looks like the above screen shot. When you plug in a good onlykey, it has a message at the bottom. I also can not get past that screen, it can not be set up. The onlykey will only display the yellow led. Does not register any input. This is by no way misuse or abuse. If they advertise it being able to be kept on a key chain, with sharp metal keys, then surely it can be kept in a small pocket surrounded by denim. Doesn’t matter now other than a warning to other potential owners, I restored my backup to my wife’s onlykey and Amazon is taking care of the replacement since Onlykey will not.
@kosnic have you been able to solve this issue? I have the same problem: from one day to another, the key is broken with an orange light (although depending on the angle, you could say is a yellow light).
I have the same symptoms as you: I see that’s recognized by the computer, but it isn’t responsive (it doesn’t show any feedback when pressing the buttons).
Doing a dmesg after connecting it, I see the output that’s been detected, and its the same output that I see when connecting another key (the backup). Also, with the OnlyKey App, I see the “Setup” screen, but when I try to save the Backup Passphrase, it isn’t saved and it doesn’t go to the next screen. If I try to setup with the “Advanced” mode, it doesn’t allow me to save the new pin numbers.
Trying it on another computer it’s the same: orange light and unresponsive. Trying on the same computer with another key it works fine.
I’m using the latest release of the App (v5.5.0).
Anyone knows is there any way of factory resetting the key from the command line?
If another key works fine then this sounds like hardware failure.
Indeed, it looks like a hardware or firmware failure.
Using onlykey-cli, this is what I see:
$ onlykey-cli version
OnlyKey CLI v1.2.10
With the working key, I see the locked error and then I can unlock it and see the firmware version:
$ onlykey-cli fwversion
(...)
RuntimeError: OnlyKey is locked, enter PIN to unlock
$ onlykey-cli fwversion
v2.1.2-prodc
With the failed key (aka orange light), I don’t see anything (not even the locked error):
$ onlykey-cli fwversion
And with the other commands (like getlabels) I see other kind of exceptions:
$ onlykey-cli getlabels
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/user/.pyenv/versions/3.8.11/bin/onlykey-cli", line 8, in <module>
sys.exit(main())
File "/home/user/.pyenv/versions/3.8.11/lib/python3.8/site-packages/onlykey/cli.py", line 1196, in main
cli()
File "/home/user/.pyenv/versions/3.8.11/lib/python3.8/site-packages/onlykey/cli.py", line 120, in cli
if okversion[19] == 'c':
IndexError: string index out of range
(With the working key I see the slots with the labels once the key is unlocked, just as with the OnlyKey Desktop App).
Just to close this topic on my side: I contacted OnlyKey support so they can honor their refund policy:
We only replace items if they are defective or damaged.
But they say that only applies to the first 30 days. They offer me a 25 USD discount for a new key, but they’re now really expensive. Now they cost 91,95 EUR, and I had paid 48,95 EUR for it.
I’ll not give more money to a product that stops working 14 months on normal use, and I prefer to pay something with a better warranty: here in Europe companies need to offer warranty for 3 years (36 months).
I don’t recommend this product anymore.
I did not. I started over with it. I’ve since abandoned it since 2FA is becoming more popular and got a yubi key for added security. OnlyKey is a great idea in my opinion, but too susceptible to damage. Most of the time it’s probably not a big deal, but for me I had removed my main account passwords from my password manager and solely relied on my OnlyKey. When it failed, it was difficult to get everything back.
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Thanks for the answer @kosnic
got a yubi key for added security. OnlyKey is a great idea in my opinion, but too susceptible to damage
Yes, I’m doing the same. I want to support open source solutions and I think that OnlyKey has lots of great features but if it’s not reliable and it’s too expensive, then I’ll look for closed but working alternatives. I’ve just ordered two YubiKeys.