Note: For the best Dashlane experience on a computer, you no longer need to install both an app and an extension. All you need is a web browser on your computer (Linux machines and Chromebooks included), and in just a few clicks you can check out our powerful web app!
Installing Dashlane is easy in most cases. However, depending on your hardware, your version of Windows, and your network, installing the Dashlane app on Windows may be a bit less smooth than expected. This article will help you get through the installation.
Contents
- Installing the Dashlane application
- Importing the passwords saved in your browsers
- Installing the browser extensions
- What could go wrong and how to fix it
- The app doesn't launch, clicking the shortcut does nothing
- The app cannot be launched because of an administrator restriction
- Installation stuck at connection to server
- File missing or inaccessible
- Frequently asked questions
Installing the Dashlane application
Go to the Dashlane website (www.dashlane.com) and click on Let's get started, or else you can download Dashlane directly from this link. You can then launch the Dashlane installer you just downloaded and it will do the rest. Depending on your hardware and your network, the installation usually takes between one and ten minutes.
After the installation is done, you should either Log in to your existing account or Create an account if you do not already have one.
Importing the passwords saved in your browsers
After the installation and during the account creation, the application will ask you whether you want to import your passwords from your browsers and it will let you choose which passwords you want to import.
Installing the browser extensions
After the installation and after you logged in to your Dashlane account, the app should automatically prompt you to install the extension in your favorite browser.
If it is not the case, you can click on Extensions on the top bar menu of Dashlane and manage your extensions from there.
To learn more about the browser extensions, see here.
What could go wrong and how to fix it
The app doesn't launch, clicking the shortcut does nothing
First, it is important to note that Dashlane needs to be installed on every Windows user session you wish to use it on.
Considering the way Windows manages user sessions, the inability to launch the Dashlane app could be due to the fact that it was installed on a Windows user session that is not the one you are trying to launch it from.
This could happen if:
- you launched the Dashlane installer directly from the browser you used to download it and this browser was run as administrator (right click + "Run as administrator" option) or run as a different Windows user (right click + "Run as different user" option).
- you ran the Dashlane installer as administrator (right click + "Run as administrator" option) or as a different Windows user (right click + "Run as different user" option) after downloading it.
In case of doubt, we recommend re-downloading our installer from https://www.dashlane.com/download, leaving the browser in order to find the installer file where it was saved and then running it in normal mode (not as administrator or as different user).
The app cannot be launched because of an administrator restriction
In some cases and most of the time in work environments, IT/administrators can prevent executable files from being launched from the AppData folder, where Dashlane is actually installed.
This type of restriction is mostly made to prevent malicious software from running on the computer so IT/administrators may not agree to remove or configure this restriction. In this case, you can try using our standalone browser extension instead.
Installation stuck at connection to server
If the installation gets stuck at the step "Connecting to Dashlane server", it usually is because something is preventing it from communicating with our server.
Most of the time, this inability to contact our server is due to network restrictions. In this case, we recommend making sure that internet traffic to the following domains is not restricted:
- ws1.dashlane.com
- *.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com
File missing or inaccessible
When launching the Dashlane app, you may get an error message from Windows, informing you that Dashlane couldn't be launched because a file is missing (not found) or inaccessible (access denied).
This is usually caused by an antivirus or other security software that mistakenly detected Dashlane files as malicious during the installation and either put them in quarantine or corrupted them in a way that they are not digitally signed anymore.
In this case, the best thing to do is to configure your security software to allow Dashlane to run on your computer (set up exceptions).
If you want to be sure that the issue comes from the security software before undertaking its configuration, you can temporarily disable it while you re-install Dashlane and launch it. If everything works with the security software disabled, you will have the confirmation that the issue came from there.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to run Dashlane or my browser in Admin mode?
In order to work in your browser, both Dashlane and the browser must be run with the same administrator privileges.
For security reasons, we recommend that you run both Dashlane and your browser in normal mode and not as an administrator. Applications which are run as an administrator on Windows have full access to your system, which can be dangerous when using a browser. You can learn more here.
Is there a full offline installer?
Yes. You can download it here.
Is there a portable version of the Dashlane desktop app?
No. Dashlane needs to be installed in the corresponding Windows User session's App Data folder in order to work properly. This makes it impossible to carry on a USB key (for example).
Is there a 64 bit version of the Dashlane desktop app?
No. Dashlane was designed as a 32 bit application and it doesn't need more memory allocated in order to work properly. Note that it doesn't make it incompatible with 64 bit Operating Systems or 64 bit browsers.
Can I prevent the Dashlane app from updating automatically?
Not really. The only way would be preventing the app from accessing the internet but this would cause other problems in the app.
The reason why we made it impossible is because we believe everything needs to be up to date on a device in order to guarantee the best level of security of our users' data. The same goes for OS updates and browser updates. We strongly recommend downloading updates as soon as they're publicly available (no alpha or beta versions).