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I have Ubuntu 20.04 and 22.04 machines with a persistent problem of showing an obnoxious dialog

KDE Wallet Service: The application 'kded5' has requested to open the wallet 'kdewallet'. Please enter the password for this wallet below.

that I have to swat away every time I login. This is a common problem asked about in multiple forums (e.g, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), but with no clear answer. This question is specifically a follow-up to this AskUbuntu question.

In this answer to that question, 'Freeman' claims that the maintainer of kded5 has said this:

On login, networkmanager tries to connect to the wifi and therefore needs access to kwallet. org.kde.plasmanetworkmanagement is a kded module so the request comes from the kded5 process.

Assuming this is true, the source of the problem seems to be that Plasma's network manager assumes the WiFi password will be kept in a KWallet wallet, so every time I login and connect back to the WiFi, kded5 throws this modal trying to open an nonexistent wallet on the Plasma network manager's behalf.

On Gnome-based DEs, I have never encountered a problem like this, so it's natural to ask, "Since this isn't a problem on Gnome, why can't Plasma do the same thing Gnome does?" On these DEs, the network manager stores WiFi passwords in files inside the /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/, which are root-readble only but unencrypted, so there's no need to pester the user constantly to decrypt them the way Plasma does. Indeed, this directory and files corresponding to my WiFi already exist on both computers affected by this problem, so there's no reason the network manager can't get the passwords from them instead of demanding the use of KWallet. In fact, since I have never established a KWallet wallet, and yet I'm able to connect to Wifi, I have to assume that Plasma is already getting the WiFi password from these files, making the KWallet pop-up dialog even more pointless.

So, how do I get Plasma's network manager to stop trying to retrieve WiFi passwords from KWallet?

Please note that whether KWallet is enabled or disabled is neither the problem nor the solution. The annoying dialog is being thrown by kded5, not by KWallet, and kded5 will continue to throw the dialog because it's programmed to look for a wallet regardless of whether KWallet is enabled or not. In fact, I have KWallet disabled, and I continue to have this problem.

Darien Marks
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  • I'm not certain it's true that I have to have at least one password. If I open KWallet Manager, it shows no wallets, so there's nothing for me to even save at least one password in. I've certainly never entered a password or started a wallet deliberately. Besides, none of these suggestions relate to fixing Plasma's network manager. – Darien Marks Aug 14 '22 at 23:48
  • If NetworkManager were trying to open KWallet simply because KWallet is installed, then uninstalling KWallet would seem to be a proper answer to my question. However, [this post](https://stackoverflow.com/q/29594260/7886407) and [this post](https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=223586) both indicate that KWallet cannot be removed because it's integral to Plasma, so I might damage my system by trying it. You've given me no reason to think that you know more about the software than the people in those threads. – Darien Marks Aug 15 '22 at 00:43
  • Please note that the question I asked **IS NOT**, "How do I make the popup stop appearing?". My question **IS**, "How do I make NetworkManager stop trying to open a wallet?". It is a different question that I'd like an answer to regardless of the popup. – Darien Marks Aug 15 '22 at 00:43
  • "... which requires that you use the system's password manager" I don't see why. The password is in a file inside `/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/`, the network manager can get it from there instead of from the system password manager, which is what I assume happens in Gnome. I don't have to set up the system password manager in Gnome, or input a blank password anywhere in Gnome. The fact that I don't have this problem when using Gnome is proof that a solution where the NM doesn't have to ask to open a wallet is possible. – Darien Marks Aug 16 '22 at 19:01
  • I've checked, and my WiFi password is not stored in either the Gnome keyring or in KWallet. According to [this answer](https://askubuntu.com/a/701980/734267), it is indeed being stored in `/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/`. Evidently I am not required to use the system's password manager, so what I'm asking -- causing NetworkManager to seek the password from that file instead of from KWallet -- should be possible. – Darien Marks Aug 23 '22 at 23:23
  • In fact, the `plasma-nm` [souce code](https://github.com/KDE/plasma-nm) has a file `secretagent.cpp` with a function `useWallet()` whose purpose appears to be determining whether or not Network Manager under Plasma should access secrets via KWallet or not. If so, then a way to make this function return 'false' is precisely what I'm looking for. I don't know C++, so if anyone who can has any ideas, I'm open to them. – Darien Marks Aug 23 '22 at 23:57

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