Remote Files, Google Drive, Error "The specified device is invalid"

I am unable to connect Google Drive to LibreOffice.

Error Message: “The specified device is invalid”

My Environment:
LibreOffice Version: 6.1.2.1, Build ID: 6.1.2.1-3.fc29, Fedora 29 Workstation 64-bit, Gnome Desktop 3.30.2, Google G Suite, 2-Step Authentication

Actions Taken:
Open LibreOffice Calc. Select “File>Open Remote…”. Choose Google Drive from the “Add service” drop down menu. Enter user and password. Prompted for 6-digit code. Enter 6-digit code from Google Authenticator. Receive error message “The specified device is invalid”.

Additional Information:
I have tried to enter the 6-digit authentication code provided by the Google Authenticator for 2-Step authentication and I have tried to use a Google App-Specific code, but both produce the same error message in LibreOffice.

3 Likes

I have the same problem in LibreOffice Version: 6.2.7.1

1 Like

Still (2022-08) unable to connect Google Drive to LibreOffice.

Error Message: “The specified device is invalid”

My Environment:
LibreOffice Version: 7.3.5.2, Ubuntu 22.04, package version: 1:7.3.5.2-0Ubuntu0.22.04.1, Gnome v 42.2 Google G Suite, login (2-Step Authentication) I am unable to connect Google Drive to LibreOffice.

Actions Taken:
Open LibreOffice Writer. Select “File>Open Remote…”. Choose Google Drive from the “Add service” drop down menu. Enter user and password. (does not prompt any 2-step auth tokens) Receive error message “The specified device is invalid”.

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In short: it will not work with Ubuntu-packaged build. While usually I recommend to use distro packages, in this specific case the only way is to use a TDF build, and follow the steps described in the link.

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What is TDF build?

TDF = The Document Foundation, the foundation behind LibreOffice that provides packaged generic builds for various platforms you can download from Download LibreOffice | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft .

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Installed LibreOffice 7.5.3.2 from TDF, GoogleDrive remote service setup kind of works: drive connection setup can be done w/ 2FA, but every time any files from drive are accessed or operated on, the same dialog must be walked thru and while operation (save/get/etc) is in progress, LibreOffice applicarion freezes i.e crashes. Also, files storrd in the drive can not be opened in the drive.

Definitely does not work i.e. can not be used to access files remotely in Google Drive.

Good morning I try what you say …
Windows 7 … Libreoffice 7.5
Thank you

I get this
Access blocked: LibreOffice’s request is invalid

XXXXXXXXXXX@gmail.com
You can’t sign in because LibreOffice sent an invalid request. You can try again later, or contact the developer about this issue. Learn more about this error
If you are a developer of LibreOffice, see error details.
Error 400: invalid_request
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Error 400: invalid_request

The out-of-band (OOB) flow has been blocked in order to keep users secure. Follow the Out-of-Band (OOB) flow migration guide linked in the developer docs below to migrate your app to an alternative method.

Request details: redirect_uri=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oo

1 Like

Goos morning Libre Community,

I face the same problem trying to connect my Google Account with 2FA on Libre Office 24.2.1 on Windows 11. Google replies with Error 400: invalid_request.
— Quoted text from google page—
Access blocked: LibreOffice’s request is invalid for
xxx@gmail.com

You can’t sign in because LibreOffice sent an invalid request. You can try again later, or contact the developer about this issue. Learn more about this error :slight_smile: support.google.com accounts answer 12379384

If you are a developer of LibreOffice, see error details.

Doing so google search i read the following article saying that google upgraded its infrastructure and does not support legacy 3rd party apps using the oAuth v2.0
support google com accounts answer 12379384

I think that Libre Office developers must update the code using the latest authentication method that Google supports…

John

I don’t know if this extension works because I am not interested in storing files in Google Drive but you can try, OAuth2OOo » Extensions

There is a reported bug tdf#101630 - Google Drive two-factor authentication (2FA) not working again

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Hi, I’ve faced so many times extract problem please try to sing out and login again your gmail account.

hey… I’m from India and I would like to share with you about the WhatsApp Starts Deleting Google Drive so WhatsApp had cautioned that beginning November 12, any reinforcements that hadn’t been refreshed in over a year will be consequently expelled from Google Drive stockpiling. Android clients can refresh their duplicate and arrange its refresh recurrence as long as they have an individual record on Google .

I too need some help! I am unable to configure LibreOffice to get and save to GoogleDrive. It keeps on referring to the “Google Drive asks for authentication 6-digit pin” but no pin is sent/received. I have tried with and without Google’s 2-Step Verification, but no luck. I see a number of online forums highlight this. Is there any possibility this will be able to be configured and work? I rely heavily on saving and editing documents on GoogleDrive locations and using LibreOffice. GoogleDoc has a few limitations for me. Any guidelines will help.

1 Like

I too have the same problem. Mine is LibreOffice 7.0.3.1 x64.
LibreOffice can connect to the internet, there’s no firewall blocking, because it does connect to check for updates.
But it is not able to authenticate.
Initially I too was wondering where that 6 digit pin would come from. And maybe there would be a notification on the phone, or SMS, something. Nothing came.
I checked online, and people said enable 2 step verification, and set up Authenticator, which I did. And I used the 6 digit password from Authenticator too. Tried it more than once after the Authenticator refreshed the PIN. But still it gives the same Error Message. “The Specified Device is Invalid”.
And I am not able to figure out how to go ahead. Any help would be so welcome.

Your’s is not an answer but a me-too posting. Please do not use the Answer field for comments that are not an answer to the original question, use Comment instead. Thanks.

You could had followed the link pointing to the bug in the answer by mariosv. Google keeps changing the API and devs have to keep up with that. In short, upcoming LibreOffice 7.2.0.2 should have support again. See that bug’s comment 82 for restrictions on what will work.

Hi, with LibreOffice 7.5.2, tried both rpm and deb builds from this link on Ubuntu 22.04 and I still get the same error message. Can you confirm if the API related problems are back or is there a problem on my end? Thanks

As best as I can tell, as of this post this feature still does not work as advertised and as instructed in the LO Help files, and no viable solution has been posted. I no longer even attempt to use the Google Drive connection supposedly baked into LibreOffice; instead I have resorted to FreeFileSync (donation version). Even if TDF should ever fix the problem—or make it clear how to connect to Google Drive in a way that actually works when you follow their instructions—I would continue to use FreeFileSync because it has one-way AND two-way synchronizing.

You are not alone. I have attempted to get Remote Files to work on and off since April 2023. Using Google as a test, keep getting “Specified Device is Not Valid” error. I was able to get Remote Files to work a few years back, albeit very slow and non-intuitive.

I have recently decided to get back onto this topic. I utilize Ubuntu (version 22 presently) with the 7.3 version of LibreOffice.

Without any interaction with the developers as of yet, I can imagine this is a case of one-step forward and two-steps back. Third-party storage sites have soared in use in the past ten years, with attending security issues. The remote storage applications I have used at the enterprise level usually involve an elaborate exchange of keys for the user, the device and the session. My guess is that this evolving standard has been a challenge for the open source community to keep up with.

Have you tried FreeFileSync? I doubt that TDF will ever provide anything comparable to FFS.