System

Installation / Portability


KeePass 2.x installation, uninstallation, portability and updates.

Setup  General information

When downloading KeePass, you have the choice between 3 different packages:

The installer and the portable version are described in detail below.

The source code package contains everything you need to compile KeePass. It includes the C#/C++ source code and header files, resource files, sources for building the installer, etc.

Both installed and portable KeePass versions require a .NET framework, see the downloads page for details.

Updating KeePass:
When a new KeePass version has been released, you can update your existing KeePass installation, without losing any configuration settings. The steps are depending on which package you are using (installer or portable), see below.

Translations should also be updated when you install a new KeePass version. You can find the latest translation files here: KeePass Translations.


Setup  Installer program (KeePass-2.xx-Setup.exe file)

The KeePass development team provides an installer, which copies KeePass to your hard disk, creates shortcuts in the start menu and associates KDBX files with KeePass, if desired.

Additionally, KeePass is automatically configured to store its settings in the application data directory of the current user. This way multiple users can use one KeePass installation without overwriting each other's settings (each user has his own configuration file). The setup program must run with administrative rights, however KeePass runs fine without administrative rights once it is installed.

Installation:
To install KeePass, run the KeePass-2.xx-Setup.exe file and follow the wizard.

Updating:
Run the KeePass-2.xx-Setup.exe file. You do not need to uninstall the old version first. Your configuration options will not be lost.

Uninstallation:
In order to uninstall KeePass, run the uninstallation program, which is accessible by a shortcut in the start menu folder of KeePass, or in the program section of the system control panel. If you also want to remove your configuration settings, you need to delete the configuration file in the application data directory of your user profile, see Configuration.

Silent Installation:
The KeePass installer KeePass-2.xx-Setup.exe supports command line switches for silent installation, i.e. the program gets installed without asking the user for target directory or association options. The default settings of the installer are used.

The /SILENT command line switch performs a silent installation and shows a status dialog during the setup process. No questions will be asked though.

The /VERYSILENT command line switch performs a silent installation and does not show a status dialog during the setup process.


Setup  Portable version (KeePass-2.xx.zip file)

The portable version can be carried around on portable devices (like USB sticks) and runs on any computer directly from the device, without any installation (provided that a .NET framework is installed). It doesn't store anything on your system (in contrast to the setup package, see above). KeePass doesn't create any new registry keys and it doesn't create any configuration files in your Windows or application data directory of your user profile.

Make sure that KeePass has write access to its application directory. Otherwise, if it doesn't have, it'll attempt to store the configuration options (nothing security-relevant though) into the application data directory of the currently logged on user. For more about that, see this page: Configuration.

Installation:
KeePass does not need to be installed. Just download the ZIP package, unpack it with your favorite ZIP program and KeePass is ready to be used. Copy it to a location of your choice (for example onto your USB stick); no additional configuration or installation is needed.

Updating:
Download the latest portable package of KeePass, unpack it and copy all new files over the old ones. Your configuration settings will not be lost (the settings are stored in the KeePass.config.xml file, which won't be overwritten, because KeePass ZIP packages don't include a KeePass.config.xml file).

Uninstallation:
Simply delete the KeePass folder. This will leave no trace of KeePass on your system.


Setup  Running KeePass under Mono (Linux, Mac OS X, BSD, ...)

In addition to Windows, KeePass 2.x runs fine under Mono, i.e. Linux, Mac OS X, BSD, etc. In order to run KeePass, follow these steps:

  1. Install Mono ≥ 2.6 (older versions will not work and are not supported). Depending on your platform, the packages to install are called mono-stable, MonoFramework, mono-devel or mono-2.0-devel; see the Mono project page, if you are unsure which packages to install. On some platforms, the Windows Forms implementation (System.Windows.Forms) is offered as a separate package; KeePass requires this package, so if you see one, install it, too.
  2. If you want to use auto-type on Linux / Mac OS X / BSD / etc., you additionally need the xdotool package.
  3. Download the portable version of KeePass (file KeePass-2.xx.zip) and unpack it in a location of your choice.
  4. When being in the KeePass directory, run the command line "mono KeePass.exe". Alternatively, right-click onto the KeePass.exe file, choose "Open with Other Application" and type in mono as custom command.

For the last step you might want to create a shortcut or shell script file with this command line (use an absolute path to KeePass.exe, if the shortcut / shell script file is in a different location).

Global Auto-Type:
In order to use global auto-type, you need to create an appropriate system-wide hot key. This only needs to be done manually once. KeePass performs global auto-type when it's invoked with the --auto-type command line option.

For example, to create a system-wide hot key for global auto-type on Ubuntu Linux, follow these steps:

  1. Press Alt-F2, enter gconf-editor and click [OK].
  2. Navigate to apps -> metacity -> keybinding_commands.
  3. Double-click one of the command_i items, enter
    mono /YourPathToKeePass/KeePass.exe --auto-type
    and click [OK].
  4. Click the global_keybindings node on the left.
  5. Double-click the appropriate run_command_i item (for example, when you've used command_5 in the previous steps, double-click run_command_5 now) and specify the hot key of your choice. For example, to use Ctrl-Alt-A as hot key, you'd enter <Control><Alt>a.

Important: for global auto-type, the version of the xdotool package must be 2.20100818.3004 or higher! If your distribution only offers an older version, you can download and install the latest version of the package manually, see the xdotool website.