Wire suddenly logged out, login does not work- way to recover messages?

[MoonlightViper]

Wire version: 3.6.2885 Wire for web version: N/A just using desktop Operating system: Qubes 4, running in debian 9 VM Which antivirus software do you have installed: None

Description of Issue: Today I started Wire and it randomly asked me to login to my account again. There were two accounts showing up on the sidebar still (which had been setup on that instance of Wire), but on both it prompted me to login when I clicked on the icon for the account.

I then tried to login, but the login request did not complete- Wire accepted the credentials but then got stuck on the progress bar loading messages, and then redirected me back to the login page with no error messages or any other explanation for the apparently failed login.

After removing one of the accounts from the sidebar, Wire then allowed me to login successfully, but showed no messages and instead claimed that it was the first time I've used that device with the account. Despite using that account on that Wire instance for several months.

On a separate instance, one Wire account is prompting me to login suddenly (same problem) and the other seems to have stayed logged in without issue and continues to show message history. So it seems like it may be an account-specific issue.

This seems to be a new issue. I had started Wire within the last couple weeks and it was fine, the account was logged in and I could see my messages. I did not actively update anything in between. I notice that it seems to be running a Wire version from this month though, so I wonder if this could be a problem with a recent automatic update.

What steps will reproduce the problem? Unfortunately I'm not sure how to reproduce this reliably, it happened somewhat suddenly and I'm not sure why. One of my other Wire accounts is also fine, so it is not consistent across accounts. Below are the steps that I followed though.

1. Start Wire. I had not started this instance for a week or two. The account that was ok was one I had used more regularly, so maybe this factors into it.
2. Wire suddenly prompts me to login. I try to login.
3. Wait for it to login. It shows the progress bar and says it is loading messages but then suddenly redirects back to the login page.
4. Try to login again. The same thing happens regardless if I restart Wire or the VM. The only way to fix it is to remove the account from the Wire instance and then login again. But then all of the messages are gone.

What is the expected result?

Start Wire, account already logged in, messages still there

What is the actual result?

Wire starts and shows accounts on sidebar but prompts me to login to them. After I try to login, it seems to be loading the messages (showing the progress bar) and then redirects me back to the login page. This continues even if I try to login again, restart Wire, or restart the VM.

If I remove one of the accounts and readd it, it allows me to login but it says that it is the first time the account has been used on the device and thus does not show any messages (even though I could see the messages for the same account on the same device a week or two ago).

It seems like it is possible to work around the login issue by removing the account and re-adding it. But it would be really nice if there was a way to recover the messages- surely they must be in the database somewhere? Is there a way to extract them?

Possibly related issues- https://github.com/wireapp/wire-desktop/issues/2100 https://github.com/wireapp/wire-desktop/issues/3716 https://github.com/wireapp/wire-desktop/issues/2833 https://github.com/wireapp/wire-desktop/issues/3740

[kxk]

I have the exact same issue. Any updates on this?

[realvictorprm]

same here

[AfricaSaga]

Same here, installed using flatpak on centos I get an "unexpected error" 9 times out of ten, and sometimes it just works...

[dk4tu]

same here. workaround: switch language to english and log in worked for me.

[nidico]

I have just seen the same issue on a Linux desktop. Once the damage was already done, I noticed (with ps) that Wire was running twice - closing the "broken" instance left a running instance which needed to be killed manually.

I wonder if the issue would have been avoided, if - instead of logging in - the user would have first killed both wire instances and then started wire again. Unfortunately, it's too late now.

[pepper-jk]

Any progress on this? Is it possible to import back ups from mobile into the desktop app?

I just had this issue again and lost my messages on my main machine this time. -.-

I wonder if the issue would have been avoided, if - instead of logging in - the user would have first killed both wire instances and then started wire again. Unfortunately, it's too late now.

Too bad I missed this possible solution.

But shouldn't it be possible to avoid this completely by just not spawning a second process "out of nowhere"?

[Filbuntu]

Same here, Ubuntu 20.04. The logging-out (logout, being logged out) has happened more often in the past months, before it was rare. I can also help with debug. This bug is really annoying.

[nidico]

This has just happened again (and last month) and left me with the last manual backup.

[nidico]

If it helps: I generally have all (7) available devices used as this error leads to creating a new one and leaves a stale one. (Which is annoying as I cannot easily distinguish between the old devices as they're all/mostly "Wire Linux" and I typically don't note down the fingerprint of my used devices).

[missytake]

This bug is reported to me about once a month by non-technical users in my circles, it's pretty severe.

[kabaluyot]

Experienced it too, macos big sur ... Randomly logging out then wiping all messages

[Leza89]

Just happened to me today on Wire-Desktop, Windows 7 after waking my laptop from sleep; Never had issues with that before – just recently I had this issue with Wire-Webapp on Windows 7 at my Desktop-PC.

[MacGurus]

Just happened to me today on Wire-Desktop, Windows 7 after waking my laptop from sleep; Never had issues with that before – just recently I had this issue with Wire-Webapp on Windows 7 at my Desktop-PC.

if you run into this again - when you come back from sleep and it asks you to log in you may have luck just quitting wire and starting it again rather than logging in again and risking that it thinks you're on a new device

[Leza89]

if you run into this again - when you come back from sleep and it asks you to log in you may have luck just quitting wire and starting it again rather than logging in again and risking that it thinks you're on a new device

Oh I'm doing this regularly already but thanks for the tip. Wire WebApp requires a start-quit-restart sequence everytime I boot up my Desktop..

[johnnieo]

My issues with this problem are focused on wire management. They respond to trickets in a few weeks, but with low level insight. For example, clear your cache. Or use your email number or remove the @ symbol. In my case, login works on the browser app but not on the desktop app. After decribing the issue and supplying screenshots and detailing intelligent efforts to resolve it ~ simplistic responses such as this are frustrating. Wire is not alone in assuming user error and ignorance

A separate issue exists with the browser app. Though Wire insists that it is multi-platform, threads from the desktop app do not appear in the browser app.

[MacGurus]

"> My issues with this problem are focused on wire management. They respond to trickets in a few weeks, but with low level insight. For example, clear your cache. Or use your email number or remove the @ symbol. In my case, login works on the browser app but not on the desktop app. After decribing the issue and supplying screenshots and detailing intelligent efforts to resolve it ~ simplistic responses such as this are frustrating. Wire is not alone in assuming user error and ignorance" <<<<--- you could delete all the data in appdata and try to login again there may be some corruption -- but you would lose all message history - you could also get the latest installer and install it in case there was an issue with a glitched update

"> A separate issue exists with the browser app. Though Wire insists that it is multi-platform, threads from the desktop app do not appear in the browser app. " <<<<<----this is actually because of how wire works - to use it on the browser you ideally would need to stay logged into wire on the browser that you login with -- you could download a fork of your favorite browser then dedicate that to a permanently logged in wire session if you want to keep it separate from your other browsing or use something like container tabs on firefox- it IS multi-platform the confusion here is that the messages will NOT populate on a new login in the browser (or other client) for security reasons (hence why I mention staying logged in or having a dedicated browser just for wire session - the web login does act as a device/session if you look at your devices)

I am not affiliated with WIRE just wanted to expand on your observations/situation

[johnnieo]

@MacGuras, appreciate your response. Per your suggestions. Lossing history is not acceptable so cannot wipe out appdata, Am up to date on newest versions (they come automatically in LMDE5). However, i f you mean uninstall from the pckg mgr, am hesistant to do it without reassurances that the history will not be lost.

Two colleages experienced related issues on windows and linux; weird and broken login errors. Your thoughts about using dedicted browsers or containers are good ideas. But am using tab mgt plug-ins which depreciates tabs when not in use; maybe there is a way to protect wire tab (to keep it logged in). Currently, the browser app works but times out (with or without the tab mgt untility). Logging back in works so that aspect appears stable. Unfortunately, desktop history does not sync with the browser app. If the program does not sync by default (as you suggest), wire should alert users and provide instructions.

The multi-platform promise fails, in our view. If it requires locking tabs or using containers or manually porting history or any other workaround - it should be clearly stated. Instead, customer services repeatedly asks for screesnhots and then disappears! We wonder if security priorities may be interfering with desktop and multiplatform syncing, and are concened that Wrie may be in too deep..