Can't get past need for IIB_SECRET_KEY despite proper configuration

[coderCK2]

Hello all, I'm having an issue where upon installing the extension in A1111 for the first time, I am presented with the modal/dialog box stating:

Secret Key must be configured
For security reasons, you must separately configure Secret Key for this extension, refer to the IIB_SECRET_KEY in the .env.example file under the root directory of this extension.
This error only appears when gradio-auth is configured.

I absolutely have copied the .env.example file as .env, and have chosen a string for the IIB_SECRET_KEY, which I saved into the .env file like IIB_SECRET_KEY=secretkey. It didn't work right away, so I did a Reload UI but was still presented with the dialog. I then did a complete exit and restart of the web UI process on my machine (Win10), but was still presented with the dialog. I decided to then remove the secret key and instead set IIB_ACCESS_CONTROL=disable, but I am still presented with the dialog. Any ideas what could be going wrong? I have a feeling it's something simple but I'm just missing it.

EDIT: I also just tried adding set IIB_ACCESS_CONTROL=disable to webui-user.bat (based on what I found in this post) and restarting, but it also did not work.

[coderCK2]

I've tried all kinds of things to get this working, even changing the line endings of .env from Windows to Unix. In the end, I redefined the function get_secret_key_required() (in scripts\iib\tool.py) as return False. That finally did the trick.

FWIW, I think that the line secret_key = os.getenv("IIB_SECRET_KEY") in api.py is failing to retrieve whatever value I set in .env, because if I hardcode it to be secret_key = "test" (for example), it works.

[zanllp]

Did you place your .env file correctly?

[coderCK2]

Did you place your .env file correctly?

Yes, I copied the file in place, renamed it, and modified the copy.

[zanllp]

I cannot reproduce this issue. I tried two different methods, and both of them worked fine. This limitation has been in place for several months, and there haven't been any similar reports before. It's possible that there is an exception occurring with the dotenv package.

[coderCK2]

I had an idea that maybe this was happening because I was launching webui-user.bat from a Git bash for Windows prompt, but even when running from a regular Windows command prompt I am having this issue. So strange.

[tobiasahlstrom]

Same problem here. Had to stop using this extension and change to other image browser :/

[coderCK2]

Did you see my comment here? If you make the same change that I describe, it will work. I've tried other image browsers, and despite this issue, it's the best.

[coderCK2]

@zanllp I figured it out just now. After updating the extension and having to "fix" this once again, I spent some time getting to the bottom of it. It turns out that if I start A1111 from an elevated prompt, the issue is fixed.

It was my comment here that led me down the right path to solving the issue, as it didn't seem right that a call to os.getenv() was failing, unless there was a permissions issue. Running A1111 as administrator allowed that call to function correctly on my system, resolving the problem.

I don't know if every other person using the extension is running as admin, or if there's just something configured strangely with my system, but it might be worth noting somewhere that in order for authentication/secret keys to work correctly in Windows, the user may have to run as administrator.