KeyPassX says "Wrong signature" when opening a .kdbx (version 1.x) file

Question

I have a KeyPass 2.x file (*.kdbx) that I created on a Windows computer using KeyPass 2.x. When I attempt to open the file on Mac OS X Lion using KeyPassX, I get the error "Wrong signature."

Answer 1

I discovered I could solve the problem by exporting the .kdbx file (2.x) to a .kdb file (1.x).

To do this, open the password file on a Windows computer using KeyPass 2.x. Select File -> Export, choose the file type as *.kdb and enter a filename. Then, you can open the new file on Mac OS X using KeyPassX.

Since my passwords don't change that often, I simply export a new copy for my Mac every time I modify the original on Windows.

Answer 2

You probably have the old (0.x) version of KeePassX. The latest 2.x or newer is needed. :)

The same applies for Linux. If using Arch Linux, note it has several packages:

• keepassx (0.x)
• keepass2 (2.x)
• keepassc (community 2.x with keypasshttp support))