8

So I've got a really annoying problem and Google Chrome isn't providing me any information on what's causing it.

Every time I log into my account I have to again, and again, and again log into every webpage I'm using, because Google Chrome logs me out of everything I am logged in to. However, some cookies do persist, as Google remembers which account I have logged in to, and I still have access to my company's gitlab as well - it's the only service I'm not logged out of.

In case this is relevant, after I open Google Chrome there's an alert box next to my Google Chrome profile which says that Change made on my account requires logging in again (yes, it also logs me out from Google Chrome profile).

The problem does not appear when I do not log out from my system account (e.g. when I only close Chrome and open it again).

It does not happen on other browsers, only on Google Chrome.

Thanks in advance to everyone!

Update 1: Some specs/data:

OS: Ubuntu 16.04
Chrome: 53.0.2785.143 (64-bit)
Addons: Reddit Enhancement Suite, Adblock Plus, Ghostery, ColorZilla, Json View Startup programs: Screencloud + ubuntu default ones

It did log me out even if I wasn't logged into any profile (so there weren't any addons installed as well, so I doubt it's an addon fault)

I also uninstalled Chrome and deleted .cache/google-chrome and .config/google-chrome directories entirely.

Update 2:

I ran Chrome from the terminal using google-chrome --enable-logging -v=1

Following errors did appear in terminal on browser startup:

[13645:13712:1007/142537:ERROR:gcm_store_impl.cc(306)] Failed to open database /home/user/.config/google-chrome/Profile 4/GCM Store: Invalid argument: /home/user/.config/google-chrome/Profile 4/GCM Store: does not exist (create_if_missing is false)
[13645:13712:1007/142537:ERROR:gcm_store_impl.cc(306)] Failed to open database /home/user/.config/google-chrome/Profile 4/GCM Store: Invalid argument: /home/user/.config/google-chrome/Profile 4/GCM Store: does not exist (create_if_missing is false)

However, the folder /home/user/.config/google-chrome/Profile 4/GCM Store does exist.

This error does not appear when starting chrome as root with:

sudo google-chrome --user-data-dir=/root/chrome-data --enable-logging -v=1

Update 3 So I closed Chrome, deleted /home/user/.config/google-chrome/Profile 4 directory and once again configured my account. I logged out, and then the following errors appeared:

[21285:21353:1007/145425:ERROR:gcm_store_impl.cc(922)] Failed to restore security token.
[21285:21285:1007/145425:ERROR:account_tracker.cc(357)] OnGetTokenFailure:  Not authorized.

Update 4:

I managed to fix (or at least I think so) the problems with Google Chrome errors and it does not log me out from Chrome Profile. I did this by moving the whole /root/chrome-data (created earlier) directory to ~/.config/google-chrome and changing it's owner. However, the browser still does not keep cookies after user logout.

Monomeeth
  • 1,257
  • 2
  • 14
  • 24
Skysplit
  • 181
  • 1
  • 6
  • 1
    OS Version, Chrome Version, Add-Ons. Log on and off scripts/programs? Possibly deleting data that Chrome requires? – DankyNanky Oct 07 '16 at 09:26
  • 1
    Curious, make another user account with Chrome, sign in and test for me? – DankyNanky Oct 07 '16 at 09:42
  • @MichaelNancarrow Just did it. Same issue on another accout (the one which Is certainly working, 'cause I'm using this account at home on Windows. On Linux I've got different one). Again, warning stating that `changes has been made on this profile` and I need to log-in once again - and all logged-in sessions gone. Maybe, indeed, it's something with profiles and permissions/disk issue(got SSD)? – Skysplit Oct 07 '16 at 09:54
  • Anything from here onwards would be a guess from me :) good luck on a solution! – DankyNanky Oct 07 '16 at 09:58
  • @MichaelNancarrow Thanks! I hope I'll find it until I lose my sanity though :) – Skysplit Oct 07 '16 at 10:02
  • 1
    Can you try re-installing chrome? – Don't Root here plz... Oct 07 '16 at 11:46
  • @Don'tRoothereplz... Already did it. I also removed `.config/google-chrome` and `.cache/google-chrome` directories. Updated my answer about this – Skysplit Oct 07 '16 at 11:55
  • @Don'tRoothereplz... My question* of course :) – Skysplit Oct 07 '16 at 12:02
  • 1
    Have you tried running chrome as an administrator and then signing in? Then, restarting as regular user. – Mr. Hargrove Oct 07 '16 at 12:03
  • @Mr.Hargrove So I ran `sudo google-chrome --user-data-dir=/root/chrome-data` and logged into my chrome profile. Then I logged out from system account, logged in once again and ran same command `sudo ...`. There were no issues with that account when starded with `sudo`. The normal user account has been logged out from every webpage again. Is this what you wanted me to do? :) – Skysplit Oct 07 '16 at 12:19
  • @Skysplit Darn, that usually fixes it for me. Will keep researching.. – Mr. Hargrove Oct 07 '16 at 12:20
  • @Mr.Hargrove I just added errors that appeared when I started chrome from terminal. Hope this will help a bit – Skysplit Oct 07 '16 at 12:29
  • In your errors that you added it's telling you that you're missing folders/files. Try creating them? – Mr. Hargrove Oct 07 '16 at 12:42
  • @Mr.Hargrove This folder does exists however :/ – Skysplit Oct 07 '16 at 12:43
  • Ah, maybe it's corrupt? Save it someplace where you'll remember and then delete it from that dir. – Mr. Hargrove Oct 07 '16 at 12:44
  • @Mr.Hargrove I fixed that (please check post edit), but it seems this was not the case of losing cookies after system user logout :/ – Skysplit Oct 07 '16 at 13:43
  • Have you tried clearing the web cache on chrome? It could be a corrupt cookie or pref. – Mr. Hargrove Oct 07 '16 at 13:53
  • @Mr.Hargrove yes, It didn't help :/ I won't be able to check any other solutions during weekend, but I'll surely will do on Monday! Thanks for help! – Skysplit Oct 07 '16 at 14:21

3 Answers3

0

I too would ask you to start over, by uninstalling and killing all chromium processes.

An operational note, you really shouldn't be logging in as the system account. You log in as yourself, and if you need to do system things, become root temporarily.

Also, logging out will kill any processes started by you which haven't been placed in the background.

For install:

sudo /bin/bash
exec su - root
pgrep -l chromium    # ensure list is empty, otherwise kill those processes
                     # pkill chromium
apt install chromium-browser
exit
id   # confirm you are now yourself and not root
# start chrome with specific directory
chromium-browser --user-data=~/.config/chromium >/dev/null 2>&1 &
# you could make this an alias in your .bashrc:
# alias chrome='chromium-browser --user-data=~/.config/chromium >/dev/null 2>&1 &'

You could add nohup to keep it running after logout, but re-attaching to it after logging in is problematic.

Once chrome is started, edit settings:

Choose Continue where you left off
Choose Offer to save your web passwords (in advanced settings)
strobelight
  • 751
  • 3
  • 13
0

Even if you resolve the issue at hand with your Chrome Browser installation; it won't necessarily help you in the event of a system/browser crash...

I do alot of testing work on my dev & sys admin machines, so perhaps I crash my browser & system more than most; which was really frustrating when researching topics and all of a sudden you lose all of your tabs...

My solution was to install, TabsOutliner:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggkanocgddhmamlbiijnphhppkpkmkl

... in the event of a crash, it will allow you to really easily reopen them one at a time, or in groups.

George 2.0 Hope
  • 544
  • 5
  • 12
0

If you have automatic login to Ubuntu, i.e. you don't need to type password on login screen when you start your computer, it might cause the problem because Chrome doesn't have rights to read/write to your profile folder. I solved the issue by disabling automatic login to Ubuntu.

  1. System Settings -> Security&Privacy
  2. Choose Security tab and Password settings
  3. Unlock and turn off automatic login
Jakub Macina
  • 101
  • 2
  • Can you link a source to this or has this personally worked for you? I did some Googling and didn't quite find anything that related to your answer, but it sounds like a promising thing to try. – DrZoo Nov 10 '16 at 20:57
  • It solved the problem for me. – Jakub Macina Nov 10 '16 at 21:14