Questions regarding mandatory Passkey authentication on Ubuntu 26.04 (VNC environment)

[HarmoniaLeo]

Environment

OS: Ubuntu 26.04
IBKR Entity: IBKR Japan (IBSJ)
Desktop Environment: XFCE4 via TightVNC (tightvncserver)

Description

Hi there,

I am an IBKR Japan (IBSJ) user. Previously, I relied on IB Key for authentication, which worked smoothly by simply approving the prompt on my mobile device.

However, as noted in some recent discussions, starting from July 1, 2026, IBKR Japan has mandated the use of Passkeys for authentication.

I have configured an Apple device passkey (TouchID/FaceID) on my IBKR account. However, this authentication prompt is not automatically requested or triggered by IBC.

When checking the GUI via the VNC virtual desktop, I observed that the system prompts me to insert a hardware security key. Since I only have the Apple device passkey registered and do not own a physical security key, I cannot proceed.

Questions

1. What is the current recommended way to provide passkey? Would registering a physical passkey be a better or necessary workaround for IBC?
2. I would appreciate any recommendations or advice from other IBSJ users on how they are currently handling the mandatory passkey requirement with IBC.

Note: I am not entirely sure if opening an issue is the most appropriate place for this discussion, or if it belongs in a forum/Discussions tab. If this is not the right place, please let me know and I will gladly close this issue.

Thank you!

[rlktradewright]

[In my view, an Issue is something that is causing an impediment to your use of the product. A discussion is for talking about things that are relevant to the product but don't have any impact on its use, for example suggestions for enhancement, queries about how it works or why it works the way it does, that sort of thing. So I would say raising an iIssue for this is spot on.]

IBC has no involvment in the mechanics of 2FA, except for selecting the required 2FA mechanism if more than one is registered for the account. So for something that issues a prompt, like IBKey, that is entirely done by TWS or Gateway. IBC takes note of the initiation and completion of 2FA (so that it knows when the user is fully logged in), but it doesn't interfere in any way.

So the first thing is, make sure that if you run TWS/Gateway withut using IBC, does the passkey 2FA work properly? If it doesn't, then you'll need to work out why. I can't help with that, as passkey is not available for UK customers. Once that works, doing it with IBC shouldn't make any difference.

If it still doesn't work with IBC, we'll need to get some extra diagnostics. To do this, make sure these entries are set in your config.ini file (they are down the end of the file):

LogStructureScope=all
LogStructureWhen=activate

Now run IBC again. IBC will now write details of all the dialogs it observes to its logfile, which should help me to see what's going on. If you can watch it via VNC, then run it until you it's clear that it's not working; otherwise just run it for, say 1 minute. Then send me the IBC logfile (the whole thing please; attach it to your reply, don't just quote it inline.