RubenD

Also seeing this occur in client version 1.17.1. It seems to have started yesterday, even though neither the server nor the client was updated.

On my computer (Ubuntu 20.10) it only works if I unlock the keyring beforehand. If I unlock the keyring beforehand (by using a different application that uses the keyring) it'll automatically log me in upon opening the launcher. This could explain why installing gnome-keyring worked for some people but not for others; it may be unlocked after trying if the installation worked, but be locked again after a reboot.

If I don't unlock the keyring beforehand, it won't ask me to unlock my keyring at all. It just says I'm not logged in and shows the account selection screen. When I log in, it then asks me to unlock the keyring (presumably so that it could store the log-in token).

So it seems that whatever requests the log-in token at start-up doesn't properly cause the password screen to appear that unlocks the keyring.

Workaround: Unlock the keyring with a different application first, then start the Minecraft launcher.