Install Keepass In Linux Mint, Ubuntu

Going from XP to Linux, one app I really needed badly to use, more than any other, is my password manager KeePass. Luckily, it IS possible to move your database across from Windows to Linux!

How are we going to do this? Basically KeePass is a Windows program but it can still be run on Linux. Why? Because it is unique: it runs on the .net platform. This means it can be run on Linux using a program called "mono". You may have heard of "Wine" - this is a full Windows emulator that can in theory run any Windows program. We don't need to go this far. Mono will work just fine.

First, you need to use the portable version i.e. the one that keeps all important files in a single folder and nowhere else. I was already doing that so no issue there. Otherwise, I recommend downloading it and moving your database file (and any keyfiles if you use them) so you are happy with using it in Windows first before you go any further.

I stuck my Keepass installation on a USB key and then copied it from there into Linux, I put it in my home directory (/usr/home/<yourname>).

Then I needed to install Mono. You can do this by searching for it in Software Manager. That is the best way. I actually did it manually in a Terminal Windows by typing "sudo apt-get mono-complete". It ran OK but it ended with a ton of errors, I am not sure why. But when I checked Software Manager, it told me it was installed! Plus it seemed to run OK later. If I would do it again, I would use Software Manager.

To run Keepass, you need to open a terminal window and type the command:

mono <path to Keepass executable>.

For example if you put a folder called "KeePass" in your home folder and your name is charles then you would type:

mono /usr/home/charles/KeePass/KeePass.exe.

Of course, you can save yourself the trouble by saving this into a script that you can double-click each time you want to open it.

That's it. You can see it looks just like the regular Windows KeePass, except that it looks slightly different the way it is rendered in mono which is a kind of "virtual machine".

One more thing: it won't do the autotyping until you install another program, a tiny program called "xdotool". Close KeePass then go to Software Manager and install xdotool. When done, you can reopen KeePass and the keypress feature will work.

I got a lot of this good information from this very helpful thread, by the way.