KeePass Password Safe is a free, open source, light-weight and easy-to-use password manager for Windows. You can store your passwords in a highly-encrypted database, which is locked with one master password or key file.
Introduction
Today you need to remember many passwords. You need a password for the Windows network logon, your e-mail account, your homepage’s ftp password, online passwords (like website member account), etc. etc. etc. The list is endless. Also, you should use different passwords for each account. Because if you use only one password everywhere and someone gets this password you have a problem… A serious problem. He would have access to your e-mail account, homepage, etc. Unimaginable.
But who can remember all those passwords? Nobody, but KeePass can. KeePass is a free, open-source, light-weight and easy-to-use password manager for Windows.
KeePass supports password groups, you can sort your passwords (for example into Windows, Internet, My Homepage, etc.). You can drag&drop passwords into other windows. The powerful auto-type feature will type user names and passwords for you into other windows. The program can export the database to various formats. It can also import data from various other formats (more than 20 different formats of other password managers, a generic CSV importer, …).
Of course, you can also print the password list or current view. Using the context menu of the password list you can quickly copy password or user name to the Windows clipboard. Searching in password database is possible.
The program features a plugin architecture. Other people can write plugins for KeePass, extending its functionality: support for even more data import/export formats, backup features, network features, etc. See the plugins page on the KeePass homepage for downloadable plugins and an introduction on how to write your own plugins.
Strong Security
- KeePass supports the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES, Rijndael) and the Twofish algorithms to encrypt its password databases.
- Both of these ciphers are regarded as very secure by the cryptography community. Banks are using these algorithms for example, too.
- Even if you would use all computers in the world to attack one database, decrypting it would take longer than the age of the universe.
- Even quantum computers won’t help that much. The algorithms are symmetric so its complexity would be reduced a bit, anyway, the sun will go nova before you have decrypted the database.
- The complete database is encrypted, not only the password fields. So your usernames, notes, etc. are protected, too.
- SHA-256 is used as password hash. SHA-256 is a 256-bit cryptographically secure one-way hash function. Your master password is hashed using this algorithm and its output is used as key for the encryption algorithms.
- In contrast to many other hashing algorithms, no attacks are known yet against SHA-256.
- In-Memory Passwords Protection: Your passwords are encrypted while KeePass is running, so even if Windows caches the KeePass process to disk, this wouldn’t reveal your passwords anyway.
- [2.x] Protected In-Memory Streams: When loading the inner XML format, passwords are encrypted using a session key.
- Security-Enhanced Password Edit Controls: KeePass is the first password manager that features security-enhanced password edit controls. None of the available password edit control spies work against these controls. The passwords entered in those controls aren’t even visible in the process memory of KeePass.
- Also see the security information page.
Multiple User Keys
- One master password decrypts the complete database.
- Alternatively you can use key files. Key files provide better security than master passwords in most cases. You only have to carry the key file with you, for example on a floppy disk, USB stick, or you can burn it onto a CD. Of course, you shouldn’t lose this disk then.
- For even more security you can combine the above two methods: the database then requires the key file and the password in order to be unlocked. Even if you lose your key file, the database would remain secure.
- [2.x] Additionally, you can lock the database to the current Windows user account. The database can then only be opened by the same person who created it.
- Also see keys information page.
Portable and No Installation Required
- KeePass is portable: it can be carried on an USB stick and runs on Windows systems without being installed.
- Installer packages are available, too, for the ones who like to have shortcuts in their Windows start menu and on the desktop.
- KeePass doesn’t store anything on your system. The program doesn’t create any new registry keys and it doesn’t create any initialization files (INI) in your Windows directory. Deleting the KeePass directory (in case you downloaded the binary ZIP package) or using the uninstaller (in case you downloaded the installer package) leaves no trace of KeePass on your system.
- [1.x] KeePass runs, without downloading any additional libraries, on Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, NT, 2000, XP (Home & Pro, 32-bit & 64-bit), 2003 and
- [2.x] KeePass requires the Microsoft .NET Framework (which can be downloaded for free at Microsofts website). Windows Vista already includes this framework; for Windows 98 / ME / 2000 / XP you need to install it, if it’s not installed already.
- Ports for other systems like Linux, MacOSX, PocketPC, Smartphone, etc. are available! See the downloads page.
Export To TXT, HTML, XML and CSV Files
- The password list can be exported to various formats like TXT, HTML, XML and CSV.
- The XML output can be easily used in other applications.
- The HTML output uses cascading style sheets (CSS) to format the table, so you can easily change the layout.
- The CSV output is fully compatible with most other password safes like the commercial closed-source Password Keeper and the closed-source Password Agent, also the CSVs can be imported by spreadsheet applications like Microsofts Excel or OpenOffice’s Calc.
- Many other file formats are supported through KeePass plugins.
Import From Many File Formats
- KeePass uses the common CSV export format of various passwords safes like Password Keeper and Password Agent. Exports from these programs can be easily imported to your KeePass databases.
- KeePass can parse and import TXT outputs of CodeWalletPro, a commercial closed-source password safe.
- KeePass can import TXT files created by Bruce Schneier’s Password Safe v2.
- [2.x] Out of the box, KeePass supports importing more than 20 formats (see Help: Import).
- Many other file formats are supported through KeePass plugins.
Support of Password Groups
- You can create, modify and delete groups, in which passwords can be sorted into.
- The groups can be arranged as a tree, so a group can have subgroups, those subgroups can have subgroups themselves, etc.
- Also see this screenshot.
Time Fields and Entry Attachments
- KeePass supports time fields: creation time, last modification time, last access time and expiration time.
- You can attach files to password entries (useful to store PGP signature files in KeePass for example).
Auto-Type, Global Auto-Type Hot Key and Drag&Drop
- KeePass can minimize itself and type the information of the currently selected entry into dialogs, webforms, etc. Of course, the typing-sequence is 100% user-customizable, read the documentation file for more.
- KeePass features a global auto-type hot key. When KeePass is running in the background (with opened database) and you press the hot key, it looks up the correct entry and executes its auto-type sequence.
- All fields, title, username, password, URL and notes can be drag & dropped into other windows.
Intuitive and Secure Windows Clipboard Handling
- Just double-click on any field of the password list to copy its value to the Windows clipboard.
- Timed clipboard clearing: KeePass can clear the clipboard automatically some time after you’ve copied one of your passwords into it.
- [1.x] Protection against clipboard monitors (other applications won’t get notifications that the clipboard content has been changed).
- [1.x] Paste-once functionality: allow only one paste operation, after pasting the clipboard is cleared automatically by KeePass.
Searching and Sorting
- You can search for specific entries in the databases.
- To sort a password group, just click on one of the column headers in the password list, you can sort by any column.
Strong Random Password Generator
- KeePass can generate strong random passwords for you.
- You can define the possible output characters of the generator (number of characters and type).
- Random seeding through user input: mouse movement and random keyboard input.
Plugin Architecture
- Other people can write plugins for KeePass.
- Plugins can extend the functionality of KeePass, like providing additional import/export methods for other file formats.
- Go to the plugins page for more information and plugin downloads.
Open-Source!
· KeePass free and you have full access to its source code!
· Open-Source prevents from backdoors. You can have a look at its source code and compile it yourself.
· You can yourself check if the security is implemented correctly, you can, if you want, use any other encryption algorithm.
· Opening the sources also encourages other people to port the application to other systems (PocketPC version already in development) or write translations.
· KeePass is OSI Certified Open Source Software. OSI Certified is a certification mark of the Open Source Initiative.