pEp-json server has stopped working - Repeates forever

[Bob Denny]

Fresh install of Enigmail 2.0.12 on Windows 87 stable system , fresh install also of Thunderbird 60.8.0 (32-bit). As soon as Enigmail is enabled, these things start popping up repeatedly (see attachment). I followed the trail to C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\tbirdprofile\pepmda\binpep-json-server.exe. Running it from the command line results in

> pep-json-server.exe
Cannot create first session! PEP_STATUS: 0x122 "PEP_INIT_CANNOT_OPEN_SYSTEM_DB".
Inner exception caught in main(): "Cannot create first session! PEP_STATUS: 0x122 "PEP_INIT_CANNOT_OPEN_SYSTEM_DB"."

What does this mean? I do have a certificate in Kleopatra. What is the SYSTEM_DB? Where is it supposed to be? How to I fix this? I have to disable Enigmail for now in order to even use T-Bird. I am just a user.

[Bob Denny]

Delete me, I found the Junior mode on Thunderbird's options not in Enigmail Preferences. Force Enigmail/SMIME got rid of the constant pep-json-server death popups. Now to figure out how to create its SYSTEM_DB

[Patrick Brunschwig]

You cannot start the pep-json-server the way you did. You have to start it as follows or it will not run properly:

cd C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\tbirdprofile\pepmda\share\pEp
..\..\bin\pep-json-server

[Bob Denny]

Thank you Patrick. My problem began as above with pep-json-server.exe failing every 15 seconds when pEp is enabled in Enigmail. I was looking for more info on the problem, and that's why I tried starting it from the shell. I started it as you indicated (thanks) and it went back to the command prompt without showing an error. I then went back to Enigmail and switched to "Force using pEp (Pretty Simple Privacy)". Within 10 sec, it crashed with the above pictured "stopped running" box and the detail shown below (the 0xc0000005 is an access violation in the C++ runtime). The errors appear several times a minute. This is the problem I came here to try to solve. I can't use pEp in Enigmail at the moment.

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:    APPCRASH
  Application Name:    pep-json-server.exe
  Application Version:    0.0.0.0
  Application Timestamp:    5bbfe9a8
  Fault Module Name:    msvcrt.dll
  Fault Module Version:    7.0.7601.17744
  Fault Module Timestamp:    4eeaf722
  Exception Code:    c0000005
  Exception Offset:    000143df
  OS Version:    6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
  Locale ID:    1033
  Additional Information 1:    0a9e
  Additional Information 2:    0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
  Additional Information 3:    0a9e
  Additional Information 4:    0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

[Patrick Brunschwig]

Two questions:

1. What is the output of ..\..\bin\pep-json-server.exe --version ?
2. Are there *.pep.bkpfiles in C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\GnuPG ?

[Bob Denny]

Wow, that was fast!
1:

> ..\..\bin\pep-json-server.exe --version
pEp JSON Adapter.
        version 0.14.1 "(39) Gem├╝nden". package_version="1.0.24"
        pEpEngine version 0.9.0
        pEp protocol version 2.0

2: There are no such files even in the subfolders.

[Hernani Marques]

Dear Bob: Which Windows version (you say "Windows 87") are you using exactly with which service pack?

For Windows 7 32-bit you need at least Service Pack 2 to be installed.

[Bob Denny]

Windows 7 SP1, but with all updates therough present including the “Windows 7 SP1 Convenience Rollup” of May 2016 which functions as an SP2. This sytem is an extermely stable development machine which is 100% up to date to the present day with Windows Update. The 87 was a typo, sorry.

[Hernani Marques]

Heyo Bob

Is there any reason why you can't update your Windows system to SP level 2? I think, with this SP Convenience Rollup alone, not all dependencies are met. :/

We wrote here, minimum version supported for Win 7 32-bit, is (proper) SP2: https://pep.foundation/blog/enigmailpep-current-update-1024-fixes-bug-under-windows/index.html

However, I was not aware such pop-ups would show up. That might be something which happens only with the Convenience Rollup: I will try to reproduce that. In other versions (SP1 and less for Win7 32-bit), the pep-json-server.exe binary was not supposed to start at all, leading to the classic mode.

[Bob Denny]

With the "Windows 7 SP1 Convenience Rollup" of 2016 it is not possible to install SP2 because all of the changes for SP2 are already in. Please research SP2 vs this Convenience Rollup. This was a choice on my part three years ago. If this is what's stopping pEp then I'm afraid I'll need to do without it. I am not going to jeopardize my system to pound in an update that WIndows Update will not install. Repeat: I have every update available installed on my Windows System including today's Security Essentials 1.299.571.09. Attached is proof I am up to date as of KB4507449 10-July-2019 "Quality Rollup" which will not go in without SP2 or the SP1 Security Rollup. Let's try to solve the actual problem.

[Bob Denny]

Can we possibly solve the real issue here... i.e., what's failing inside of pEp? I have no other issues on this big system with any of the software and that aincludes all sorts of developement tools, video editors, other security products, network monitors, astronomy test tools on and on. No problems.

[Patrick Brunschwig]

I'm sorry, but the SP1 Convenience Rollup (SP1-CR)and SP2 are not identical.
According to Microsoft, the Convenience Rollup does "not include any specific post-Service Pack 1 updates in convenience rollup 3125574" that fall under certain conditions. In other words, SP1-CR may contain all security fixes of SP2, but a Service Pack is more than that.

In particular, Service Packs may contain newer versions of libraries and introduce new behavior, whereas patches to a given Service Pack won't do that. If the pEp developers say that the minimum required version for pEp is SP2, then you should not be surprised if SP1-CR is not sufficient.

[Bob Denny]

OK, well I will go away then.