New install: Wrong Credentials

[ethan160222]

I've just installed the main_2025-06-21-2.33.0 on my PW4. The Filebrowser webpage loads, but when I try the default credentials I just get "Wrong Credentials". There is no .db file to delete and the log just indicates 403 errors. Any suggestions?

[Fufuwuu]

same problem here. I have even tried to install the oldest version, but no luck.

[jetlifedza]

same here, using v7 for kindle/koreader. first time ever installed, getting to login screen and then "wrong credentials" with admin/admin.
"There is no .db file to delete and the log just indicates 403 errors" exactly the same for me

[jetlifedza]

I only tried newest and last release

[Fufuwuu]

same here, using v7 for kindle/koreader. first time ever installed, getting to login screen and then "wrong credentials" with admin/admin.
"There is no .db file to delete and the log just indicates 403 errors" exactly the same for me

So after i searched alot yesterday. i found out that the file browser binaries generates a random password it's not admin/admin anymore, i think. and i tried to run the binary from the terminal it ran and created the filebrowser.db file but its empty. and i couldn't figure it out. I'm not that tech savvy to do more than this. so i gave up and i hope the developer find a solution. but i don't think the project is that active anyways.

[jetlifedza]

@b- how does this fix solve the issue? I did a completely new "install" and deleted everything and put the new release on the kindle and its the same issue: it says wrong credentials and it does not generate a *.db file that I could delete to reset password

[FlopEJoe]

You can add your own username/password to filebrowser using SSH

tl/dr (if you know how to SSH)

• These are Kobo Clara BW directories
• Other devices OSs probably use different directories
• You'll have to figure out where your filebrowser executable and filebrowser.db is

cd /mnt/onboard/.adds/koreader/plugins/filebrowser.koplugin/filebrowser
./filebrowser users add MyUserName MySecretPassword -d ../../../filebrowser.db

LONG VERSION
WARNING: I doubt these commands would /brick/ a device but I take no responsibility for these actions.

Tested on Kobo Clara BW (device)
The directory locations may be different on different devices.
You'll have to figure out where your filebrowser executable and filebrowser.db is

On the device... 
Start WiFi
Start the ssh server
This is one time and local network so I did it without a password

On Windows (and I assume other operating systems) ssh to the device.
PuTTY, openssh, etc

SSH to
IP address: from "Network Info"
port: 2222

ssh 192.168.xx.xx -p 2222

user: root
password: Just press enter for password

cd /mnt/onboard/.adds/koreader/plugins/filebrowser.koplugin/filebrowser
./filebrowser users add MyUserName MySecretPassword -d ../../../filebrowser.db

You can change the password, add other users, list, etc. Check the helps
./filebrowser -h
./filebrowser users -h

UPDATE USER
./filebrowser users update MyUserName -p MyNewFancyPassword -d ../../../filebrowser.db

LIST USERS
./filebrowser users ls -d ../../../filebrowser.db

ADDITIONAL IDEAS
There's probably other solutions

• add a GUI in filebrowser.koplugin
• filebrowser.koplugin start-up, query db and add user if it doesn't exist
• make a shell script and run it from the KoReader terminal
• avoid the login with filebrowser's "noauth" option

[FlopEJoe]

@b- how does this fix solve the issue? I did a completely new "install" and deleted everything and put the new release on the kindle and its the same issue: it says wrong credentials and it does not generate a *.db file that I could delete to reset password

My filebrowser.db was created in a different directory than the executable.
On the Kobo Clara BW, It exists in /mnt/onboard/.adds/koreader

[b-]

@b- how does this fix solve the issue? I did a completely new "install" and deleted everything and put the new release on the kindle and its the same issue: it says wrong credentials and it does not generate a *.db file that I could delete to reset password

My filebrowser.db was created in a different directory than the executable.
On the Kobo Clara BW, It exists in /mnt/onboard/.adds/koreader

Thanks very much for reporting this. I haven't had a chance to reproduce the issue myself yet, but this probably gives me enough info to try to fix it on my end anyway.

I'll try to get a test build with this fixed by this weekend.

Thanks for all of the support, I didn't expect this project to actually get popular! 💖

[b-]

I should have been doing other things, but I got stuck in a loop working on this... and I think I've fixed it once and for all.

The issue is that Filebrowser doesn't honor all the args if this isn't the first time starting it -- it WON'T reset your admin password if you specify it on the start command line, for instance. It also won't honor the noauth arg.

Now, before starting the filebrowser server, the plugin explicitly does the following:

1. removes the filebrowser.db (so it's a "fresh start")
2. inits the filebrowser db (filebrowser init)
3. creates a first user: koreader with the password koreader
4. sets auth method to noauth
   then it starts it.

I really need to spend time refactoring the whole plugin based off the current SSH.koplugin though, because that'll almost certainly fix issues on other platforms that don't have start-stop-daemon, etc.

Please test and report back -- I'll leave the issue open for now.

[b-]

Also, regarding:

add a GUI in filebrowser.koplugin

this is why I intend to refactor/rebase off the current SSH.koplugin. It has enough of a gui that I figure I should be able to hack it into one for this.

I just get really frustrated by lua, and especially by its string.format(). I wish it had more modern string interpolation.

If anyone wants to contribute, by all means I appreciate any and all help.

[FlopEJoe]

I should have been doing other things, but I got stuck in a loop working on this... and I think I've fixed it once and for all.

The issue is that Filebrowser doesn't honor all the args if this isn't the first time starting it -- it WON'T reset your admin password if you specify it on the start command line, for instance. It also won't honor the noauth arg.

Now, before starting the filebrowser server, the plugin explicitly does the following:

1. removes the filebrowser.db (so it's a "fresh start")

2. inits the filebrowser db (`filebrowser init`)

3. creates a first user: `koreader` with the password `koreader`

4. sets auth method to noauth
   then it starts it.

I really need to spend time refactoring the whole plugin based off the current SSH.koplugin though, because that'll almost certainly fix issues on other platforms that don't have start-stop-daemon, etc.

Please test and report back -- I'll leave the issue open for now.

I'll check the updates and test it... probably tonight or tomorrow. I vaguely remember hacking other people's lua scripts many years ago.
I like how the update localized your filebrowser db
I worried about manipulating the one in .adds/koreader in case other plugins used it

[b-]

I worried about manipulating the one in .adds/koreader in case other plugins used it

Nah, I'm pretty sure that's just because I tried to manually come up with the path in the first place and got some of the flags wrong 😥

The worst part is if you compare the previous versions of the plugin, I was already setting e.g., binPath properly using the Lua functions provided by Koreader… but I should give myself more slack since I'm still really new to Lua.

I do really wish there was a native string interpolation feature, though — printf functions really suck.

[FlopEJoe]

Darn... you may be shooting at a moving target.
They say "filebrowser" is in maintenance mode but they sure make a lot of changes.

The very latest filebrowser executable: v2.40.2 does not work with your latest: Commit 6b2013c

On a whim, I tried a slightly older version (v2.33.6) and that works with today's commit

New filebrowser executable: v2.40.2

• "Filebrowser started!"
• "Failed to reset Filebrowser config."

I can't connect to the server
And the filebrowser.db does not have an entry for username and password
I stopped filebrowser/wifi, started them again and got the same error

filebrowser.log

2025/07/17 19:47:07 Listening on 0.0.0.0:80
2025/07/17 19:47:29 /api/login: 500 192.168.1.14 the resource does not exist
2025/07/17 19:47:29 /api/login: 500 192.168.1.14 the resource does not exist
2025/07/17 19:47:33 /api/login: 500 192.168.1.14 the resource does not exist
2025/07/17 19:49:20 Stopped serving new connections.
2025/07/17 19:49:20 Graceful shutdown complete.

Older filebrowser version: v2.33.6

• "Filebrowser started!"

I can can connect and transfer
The filebrowser.db has an entry for {"id":1,"username":"koreader","password":"$2a...