I just completed most of the migration from SmartThings that I’ve had for about 10 years, over to Home Assistant. I have almost 300 devices and almost 2000 entities with a bunch of custom Automations, helpers and blueprints being utilized.
I should have left well enough alone.
A few days ago I decided to update the firmware on all of my TPlink/Kasa smart plugs and strips that the app has been bugging me about for a long time.
Now most of the 4x HS300 power strips I have won’t work. Before, they were added with no authentication needed. Now I’m being prompted to authentication but my tplink credentials aren’t working even though they work on the website and the app. At one point I got 2 of them to work by some magic combination of factory resets/removal from the Kasa app completely and re-adding them. Then after some hours or a day or so they both just showed up as problems in HA and reverted back to asking for credentials that don’t work.
One thing I notice is in HA, if they’re going to work, the name of the device shows up differently. Unfortunately I haven’t got any to work in a while so wasn’t able to screenshot or jot down the exact format, but it’s clearly different in how it’s named.
Things I have tried:
I have “3rd party integration” enabled in the Kasa app
multiple factory resets. Again, this worked for a bit, but reverted on it’s own
removing from the TPlink app and using python3-kasa to add one of the strips to the wifi and then connect with HA. It still showed with the wrong name format and asked for credentials that don’t work
changed the password
temporarily changed my password to something stupid simple with no uppercase or special characters (since been reverted)
temporarily turned off 2FA (since been reverted)
contacted TPlink support “we don’t support HA, ask the forums”
I’m at a loss. This strips account for 24 different devices in my home. Luckily, none of them are critical to HA at the moment and still work through Alexa (when I have them added to the Tplink app).
I’m also running into this issue after updating the firmware to the HS300. I’ve also attempted to do the same troubleshooting steps as you without success. Previously everything had been working for a couple of years without issues.
Interestingly enough, 2 of the 3 HS300s that are not working are on hardware version 2.0 and running on firmware version 1.1.2. I have an older one on hardware version 1.0 and firmware version 1.0.21 that is still working.
having same issue, but it’s a new hs300 I just picked up on sale. The stupid part is python-kasa can control the thing from the cli and no authentication is required at all. It’s say’s it’s authenticated to the cloud. Oh man, I used auth and now it requires auth. this is the latest python-kasa version 0.10.2
Discovering device 192.168.1.112 for 10 seconds
== Primary features ==
State (state): True
Current consumption (current_consumption): 7.7 W
Voltage (voltage): 121.8 V
Current (current): 0.13 A
== Information ==
On since (on_since): 2025-10-07 23:28:14-07:00
Cloud connection (cloud_connection): True
Today's consumption (consumption_today): 0.008 kWh
This month's consumption (consumption_this_month): 0.008 kWh
Total consumption since reboot (consumption_total): 0.008 kWh
== Configuration ==
LED (led): True
== Debug ==
RSSI (rssi): -53 dBm
Reboot (reboot): <Action>
== Child left jbl ==
== Primary features ==
State (state): True
Current consumption (current_consumption): 3.9 W
Voltage (voltage): 121.5 V
Current (current): 0.07 A
== Information ==
On since (on_since): 2025-10-07 23:28:14-07:00
Today's consumption (consumption_today): 0.004 kWh
This month's consumption (consumption_this_month): 0.004 kWh
Total consumption since reboot (consumption_total): 0.004 kWh
== Configuration ==
== Debug ==
== Child right jbl ==
== Primary features ==
State (state): True
Current consumption (current_consumption): 3.8 W
Voltage (voltage): 121.5 V
Current (current): 0.07 A
== Information ==
On since (on_since): 2025-10-07 23:28:18-07:00
Today's consumption (consumption_today): 0.004 kWh
This month's consumption (consumption_this_month): 0.004 kWh
Total consumption since reboot (consumption_total): 0.004 kWh
== Configuration ==
== Debug ==
== Child pc ==
== Primary features ==
State (state): False
Current consumption (current_consumption): 0.0 W
Voltage (voltage): 121.7 V
Current (current): 0.0 A
== Information ==
On since (on_since): None
Today's consumption (consumption_today): 0.0 kWh
This month's consumption (consumption_this_month): 0.0 kWh
Total consumption since reboot (consumption_total): 0.0 kWh
== Configuration ==
== Debug ==
== Child USB charger ==
== Primary features ==
State (state): False
Current consumption (current_consumption): 0.0 W
Voltage (voltage): 121.5 V
Current (current): 0.0 A
== Information ==
On since (on_since): None
Today's consumption (consumption_today): 0.0 kWh
This month's consumption (consumption_this_month): 0.0 kWh
Total consumption since reboot (consumption_total): 0.0 kWh
== Configuration ==
== Debug ==
== Child Plug 5 ==
== Primary features ==
State (state): False
Current consumption (current_consumption): 0.0 W
Voltage (voltage): 122.7 V
Current (current): 0.0 A
== Information ==
On since (on_since): None
Today's consumption (consumption_today): 0.0 kWh
This month's consumption (consumption_this_month): 0.0 kWh
Total consumption since reboot (consumption_total): 0.0 kWh
== Configuration ==
== Debug ==
== Child Plug 6 ==
== Primary features ==
State (state): False
Current consumption (current_consumption): 0.0 W
Voltage (voltage): 121.8 V
Current (current): 0.0 A
== Information ==
On since (on_since): None
Today's consumption (consumption_today): 0.0 kWh
This month's consumption (consumption_this_month): 0.0 kWh
Total consumption since reboot (consumption_total): 0.0 kWh
== Configuration ==
== Debug ==
Oh, interesting. You don’t need auth to run commands, or the python-kasa command is caching my credentials.
SmartThings was even less capable, it’s lack of full compatibility with the Kasa plugs and power strips is one of the main reasons I moved to Home Assistant
I just created an account to reply to this thread. I was having this same problem and was doing some troubleshooting when I found a solution that worked for me. I was trying to add the HS300 to HA while connected locally (192.168.x.xx for me). But it kept asking for authentication with no other option.
So Instead I connected to my HA remotely (I have my HA exposed over https with my own url yadayadayada I know ,bad, risky).
I tried to add the HS300 again and it worked instantly with no username and password inputted for auth.
This may or may not work for you
Had the same issue after updating HS300 firmware on two separate devices. Since I have both the Kasa app (from previous devices) and the Tapo app (from more recent Matter devices), I have them linked in the Tapo app. In Tapo, this is under ‘Services>Link Tapo with Kasa". Also in Tapo, there is an option to toggle "Third-Party Compatibility’ that I believe is new. There is a message/warning that specifically mentions Home Assistant.
Once I toggled this to ‘On’ I was able to re-authenticate the TP-Link Smart Home integration in HA with just email & password. No addition authentication required even though I enabled 2FA on my TP-Link account while troubleshooting.
I had the exact same problem. I also fixed it. I went into the Tapo app and turned off 3rd party compatibility and then turned it on again. Then I inputted my credentials in HA and it let me login. This was happening with two power strips and the fix worked for both
Darn. Wish I would have read this forum before I started jacking around with stuff. I updated firmware and lost 2 HS300’s, both Hardware v2.0 and Firmware 1.1.2 at this point. Neither would work with HA. Changed my password, no fix. Reset one to factory, no work. Sad because now I have to re-work my automations too. But when I went into Tapo app and enabled 3rd party integrations, the one that I had NOT removed, suddenly went back to working. Wish I had just done that from the start. Would have saved some effort.
Thanks for all who contributed to the info!
By the way, did anyone else have it happen that after this firmware, the plugs on the HS300 are all in reverse order? On the app, what show’s as outlet 1 is really outlet 6, and they are all mirrored in number. They really screwed stuff up. It’s not nearly reliable yet at this point. Half of the time I go try to use a device it’s not accessible, and then it comes back again. Really frustrating.
Versions: HA Core 2025.3.4 Frontend 20250306.0 running in docker
I have seen similar reports of “Unable to authenticate” across multiple devices. In a simple 2-device configuration (with ESPHome at mom’s house), HA worked when I provided the “wrong” auth key, but then broke a few minutes later but then worked with the “right” auth key. So internally HA is getting confused between my two (and only two!) devices. I suspect the same thing is happening here. Has anyone tried static IPs for their devices yet? My HS300’s (my house) keep losing monitoring (but control still works?), so I suspect something similar is going on here.
I think I’ve spent 3 hours troubleshooting this and I finally found my fix: restarted my access point, had the HS300 connect to another AP, and reloaded the integration. It started up fine without any the prompt to authenticate. How long it will last? Time will tell… It has now happened to me on 3 of the 4 HS300s that I have currently.
I just got my HS300 yesterday, plugged it in, paired it up with Kasa app which updated the firmware and fired up HA. But it wanted the login info and spent about 3 hours before finding this thread with changing passwords, resetting the strip in a loop. Then I installed the Tapo app that I never knew about and turned on the 3rd party integration. Then the HS300 integrated after restarting HA. Thanks!
It can also be resolved on the Kasa app. Press “Me” at the bottom of the screen then select “Settings”. Then select “Third-Party Compatibility” and toggle On. Not to be confused with “Third-Party Services”.
Thanks for noting the third party compatibility vs. the services! That worked for me! I already had set to on but needed to toggle off, then back on, to get my kasa power strip devices to work as they were in HA.
This is the way. Thank you! I also added the device in the Tapo app rather than Kasa app and then turned off and then back on the switch. Not sure if this did anything, but everything works, was not asked for any authentication.
