Fails to connect - garbage characters in passcode

"Able to connect but your passcode is incorrect"

from Stardock Forums

Multiplicity stopped connecting to my secondary computer. When I look at the passcode on the primary, it’s a bunch of random characters like “GÄh«‘&éÆÐ)’¹” which of course aren’t correct (see screenshot).

If I change the passcode to the correct one and test, it confirms it can connect successfully to the secondary computer but the passcode is incorrect:

If I save and go back in, the passcode is a new bunch of garbage characters.

  • I rebooted both computers.
  • I updated the secondary to the latest version.
  • I reinstalled Multiplicity on the primary computer.
  • I uninstalled and reinstalled on the primary computer.
  • I uninstalled and deleted settings and reinstalled on the primary computer.
  • I started a support ticket and was asked to uninstall and reinstall on both computers, with AV disabled. Did that, still the same issue persists; just waiting for next steps from support.
  • Support asked if I was a local admin on the machine, and of course, yes (can't uninstall or reinstall without being admin).
  • I found and deleted the Stardock section of the registry (HKLM\Software\Stardock) and deleted it after uninstalling, rebooted and installed again.
  • I've run the Multiplicity cleaner tool (https://forums.stardock.com/486104/multiplicity-support-faq#reinstalling) on both computers to uninstall and then reinstalled it after rebooting. Same issue.

I’m running Windows 11 (21H2 OS Build 22000.856) on both computers; both are up to date. Any ideas?

I've used Multiplicity for years, and for many months on these computers. I did upgrade to Windows 11 recently on the primary computer, but Multiplicity has been working for weeks just fine.

I also just noticed that if I go to the Settings, Setup encryption key, it's also a bunch of garbage characters, but only on the primary computer. I enter the encryption key, save it, then open it again, and it's back to more random characters.

I'm using the latest version of Multiplicity at this time (3.57 Build 00103.kvm).

multiplicity
9,666 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having issues.

Try uninstall reboot and reinstall reboot and test and report back please.

 


AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

If you read through the steps I've taken you'll see that I have done that multiple times.

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Since Friday, no one is updating the ticket (SSN-35209) that I have open on this. Is there any support person on the forum who can escalate this for me?

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

If you clean boot this Primary PC (as directed, under a new Win admin account), does it then show the passcode characters correctly?

As a simple test, just use 123456768 for a passcode when making the attempt.

https://forums.stardock.com/486104/multiplicity-support-faq#cleanboot

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi, Sean! Thanks for the update. The issue persists. Here are the steps I took:

  1. Created a new, local admin user on the primary PC, and tried it in that profile. Interestingly, the code shows up properly there once I put it in and save it, but as before it connects to the secondary computer but fails due to the same error.
  2. Performed clean boot, ran the batch file both on primary and secondary computer. Same issue.
  3. I have a new laptop I'm setting up, so I tried that as another secondary computer, same issue. It has no extra software on it, just Windows 11.
  4. Rebooted primary computer to normal mode and tried. The passcode (and encryption key) are both garbled characters again, and the error is slightly different. It says it was able to connect like before, but that the encryption key setting is incorrect. It doesn't matter what I put in for the encryption key, when I save it and go back in it's also garbled characters just like the behavior of the passcode. This is what I saw originally in earlier troubleshooting.

 

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

I wondered if the encryption error was showing up in the local new admin user, so I logged off, logged on as that account. The encryption key was garbled, so I updated and saved it. The passcode was garbled as well, so I updated and saved that as well.

Then, it worked!

I logged off and logged on as my regular user account and it worked for a few seconds while I was logging on, but then disconnected. When I went into Multiplicity's settings I got the error again that the encryption key is incorrect. And of course it's all garbled characters.

So I can get it to work in the new user profile, by resetting the encryption key and passcode, but as soon as I go into my own normal user profile Multiplicity garbles and resets both the encryption key and passcode and thus disconnects me from the secondary computer.

Is there something else that the MP Purge batch file is missing, to clear out of my user profile?

Hope that helps.

 

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting lowellp, reply 7

Any thoughts?
End of lowellp's quote

Something is clearly upsetting MP on your main profile (setting, app, update, etc). 

If you can think of anything that you might have done or installed on the day it stopped working, it would be prudent to 'undo' it. 

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

I don't recall the exact day it quit working, unfortunately. Is there no logging that MP does to indicate what might be happening? I guess logging alone might not reveal why the passcode and encryption code keep getting garbled. I've seen some other forum posts where similar issues happened, but there was no resolution other than rebuilding the computer or the issue just going away on its own one day.

It's odd that it persists beyond the MP purge process. I will have to have a look at that batch file and see all the places that it's being purged, and follow up and make sure things are indeed being purged. It's hard to imagine it's working properly, purging everything, and then on a fresh install the same issue arises.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

The thing is, the root cause is not likely MP at all.  If it were, it would not work under any profile.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

That's one possibility. But if there's some sort of conflict with something that's running in my profile, it's odd that even on a clean boot with nothing but Microsoft and Multiplicity items in startup + services, Multiplicity keeps garbling my encryption key and passcode as soon as I save them. What program or setting has the power to mess up MP that way, consistently, if it is indeed some outside influence?

Interestingly when I first put in the passcode, it's correct, and testing (before saving) says it can connect except that the encryption key (in the Security settings, already garbled) is incorrect. As soon as I click the Save button in MP and the passcode UI closes, MP garbles the passcode, and any testing fails to connect. I can never get a successful test because as soon as I correct the encryption key and save it, MP garbles it immediately. If I re-open it's garbled.

Isn't there any way to troubleshoot this within MP? For example, the passcode and encryption key are saved in the registry.

  1. Is there a way to debug what's happening when I click the Save button in MP, and just before I do that?
  2. Is there a way to unencrypt the passcode in the registry to see if it's also garbled? 
  3. Isn't there logging that can be enabled to track the actions in the app, so a dev can review and see what's going wrong?

I don't mind if I have to install some kind of debug version or whatever.

[EDIT] I did some more troubleshooting. I did a clean boot to my profile, and only let MS and MP services run. I ran Process Monitor to see if the registry keys for the passcode and encryption are actually modified when I click Save in MP, if I'm just using the same values. They aren't. I also checked by looking at the encrypted data in the registry. If I enter the same passcode and save, nothing changes. If I change to a different passcode, the registry data changes. When I change it back to the original passcode, the data shows the same value as before.

So MP, the app, is garbling the passcode and encryption keys and not honoring the values that it stores in the registry. It's not using those values. That seems to me to be an MP issue.

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

This:

Quoting lowellp, reply 11

So MP, the app, is garbling the passcode and encryption keys and not honoring the values that it stores in the registry. It's not using those values. That seems to me to be an MP issue.
End of lowellp's quote

Just does not reconcile with:

I've used Multiplicity for years, and for many months on these computers. I did upgrade to Windows 11 recently on the primary computer, but Multiplicity has been working for weeks just fine.
End of quote

Nor have we had any recent reports of this nor an update to MP for several months. I am not saying that MP does not need to account for something (new or old), its just not 'the app itself'.

If you have Windows 11 Pro, and are able to fire up an instance of Windows Sandbox, does it happen in it:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-sandbox

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

I'm not sure how those two statements are linked.

But regardless, how can we get MP to load and respect the values that it has saved in the registry for both keys?

I'm guessing the issue won't appear in Windows Sandbox, as that's pretty much like using an entirely separate computer.

If there's no additional logging that's available from MP, or no "debug version" I can use that would provide additional troubleshooting, I suppose there's not much more support can do at this point?

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting lowellp, reply 13

I'm not sure how those two statements are linked.
End of lowellp's quote

It shows that MP was working fine for years but something on the PC changed and now it's not.  MP did not change, something else did.

Quoting lowellp, reply 13

I'm guessing the issue won't appear in Windows Sandbox, as that's pretty much like using an entirely separate computer.
End of lowellp's quote

It would showcase (or not) that MP, on a clean PC instance, functions as it did on your main profile for years - proving (or not) that it's not MP, it's something on the profile.

Don't mistake my motives here, I want to know what it is too.  I would very much like a definitive answer to why this happens for very few when something on the PC changes - whatever that something is.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top

The registry keys are encrypted locally to prevent copying over to another computer as the encryption uses a per machine key.

It appears for whatever reason your user account is no longer able to encrypt and decrypt those values correctly.  Given other user accounts on the same machine can, it points to something installed locally that is interfering with it.

What antivirus package are you using?

I also assume the registry keys are not being reset by something else as Multiplicity will only write to those keys when you save changes to the keys.  For them to reset outside of that would point to an outside factor.

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

I'm using Sentinel One. As part of the uninstall/reinstall process, I disabled it, and the issue persisted. And yes, the registry keys are staying consistent and not being reset. They only change when I change the keys in MP. And when I change the keys in MP back to what they were, the encrypted registry keys return to what they were. So MP is properly saving the keys to the registry but failing to read them in my user profile.

It might be time for me to just build a new user profile. I'm planning on switching my computer from the local domain to Azure AD, so that requires a new profile anyway. This might just go unsolved.

Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top

So in the end I abandoned trying to fix this issue. In switching over from a local domain (AD) profile to Azure AD I created a new profile, and Multiplicity now works. I wish the app had some sort of logging or that we could have done smarter troubleshooting, but at least it's working now in the new profile.