I have a Surface Pro 5 with a Windows Hello camera that wasn't working and I wasn't able to fix it. Looked like I'd need to do a reset to fix the drivers, so instead I decided to give 2004 a try, hoping the update would refresh the camera drives. Indeed this worked, but I've been having a lot of problems since the update: Seems like all sorts of applications and OS features won't remember my username/passwords anymore. Every time I log in I have to sign into both one drive personal and one drive business. Outlook keeps asking me to log into my office365 every few hours. Acrobat keeps asking for my Adobe login every time a load a pdf if I haven't done so in a few hours. Settings periodically makes me fix my insider account configuration by re-authenticating with Hello Lastpass extention in Firefox keeps asking me to enter my password despite being configured to only require a fingeprint (it first asks me for my fingerprint, but then also asks for the password) probably some stuff I can't recall right now. I wasn't having any of these issues before the update. I tried following Lastpass's support advice to fix it by reinstalling the extension and resetting several settings but this didn't help. It's possible these are all individual issues, but since it seems to be an issue with remembering credentials across a variety of applications, I'm suspecting it's a system wide issue and maybe not specific to these applications. I checked that the credential manager service is running. It was set to manual. I changed it to automatic and rebooted but this didn't seem to help. Anyone have an idea what could be going on here? Thanks!

Update 2/8/21 This issue has been fixed by Windows in this Windows 10 update, February 2, 2021—KB4598291 (OS Builds 19041.789 and 19042.789) Preview (microsoft.com) . Addresses an issue in which using local Service for User (S4U) affects Data Protection API (DPAPI) credential keys and causes users to sign out unexpectedly. I am updating the Outlook Known Issue article to reflect the same, Outlook and other apps won't remember password after Windows Updates - Outlook (microsoft.com) .

Issue resolved in KB4601319 monthly update. If you continue to hit the issue, let us know. February 2, 2021—KB4598291 (OS Builds 19041.789 and 19042.789) Preview (microsoft.com) Addresses an issue in which using local Service for User (S4U) affects Data Protection API (DPAPI) credential keys and causes users to sign out unexpectedly.

A lot of things that run on Windows use the data protection API. Namely, the functions CryptProtectData and CryptUnprotectData . These functions rely on Windows keeping secret keys in your account inside of a hidden directory. This mechanism was broken for some people with the 2004 update. Causing anything that relies on it to no longer function properly. This includes but is not limited to: Stored credentials in the password vault in your control panel VPN authentication mechanisms Private keys of your certificates Configuration files of some 3rd party applications If this mechanism breaks, the things will stop to function. For most users, the most common manifestation of the problem will be that they need to repeatedly log in into some applications after every system restart, even if the application is supposed to remember the password. The linked post has a link to the tool the screenshot is from. It checks if your problem is caused by a broken DPAPI or not. The linked post also has a potential solution for the problem that might work.

Could you please give some more details about what you mean?

You actually might have this problem: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/data-protection-api-dpapi-seemingly-broken/3f37f1dc-2e74-4ee1-8de8-84a1923082a6 The first answer contains a link to a tool that tries a few things with the DPAPI. If the output looks like this image, you're screwed.

Systemwide password amnesia (v2004 build 19041.173)

Anonymous

I have a Surface Pro 5 with a Windows Hello camera that wasn't working and I wasn't able to fix it. Looked like I'd need to do a reset to fix the drivers, so instead I decided to give 2004 a try, hoping the update would refresh the camera drives. Indeed this worked, but I've been having a lot of problems since the update:

Seems like all sorts of applications and OS features won't remember my username/passwords anymore.

Every time I log in I have to sign into both one drive personal and one drive business.
Outlook keeps asking me to log into my office365 every few hours.
Acrobat keeps asking for my Adobe login every time a load a pdf if I haven't done so in a few hours.
Settings periodically makes me fix my insider account configuration by re-authenticating with Hello
Lastpass extention in Firefox keeps asking me to enter my password despite being configured to only require a fingeprint (it first asks me for my fingerprint, but then also asks for the password)
probably some stuff I can't recall right now.

I wasn't having any of these issues before the update.

I tried following Lastpass's support advice to fix it by reinstalling the extension and resetting several settings but this didn't help.

It's possible these are all individual issues, but since it seems to be an issue with remembering credentials across a variety of applications, I'm suspecting it's a system wide issue and maybe not specific to these applications.

I checked that the credential manager service is running. It was set to manual. I changed it to automatic and rebooted but this didn't seem to help.

Anyone have an idea what could be going on here?

Thanks!

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Update 2/8/21

This issue has been fixed by Windows in this Windows 10 update, February 2, 2021—KB4598291 (OS Builds 19041.789 and 19042.789) Preview (microsoft.com).

Addresses an issue in which using local Service for User (S4U) affects Data Protection API (DPAPI) credential keys and causes users to sign out unexpectedly.

I am updating the Outlook Known Issue article to reflect the same, Outlook and other apps won't remember password after Windows Updates - Outlook (microsoft.com).

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Answer accepted by question author

Sumit 44,316 Volunteer Moderator

Issue resolved in KB4601319 monthly update. If you continue to hit the issue, let us know.

February 2, 2021—KB4598291 (OS Builds 19041.789 and 19042.789) Preview (microsoft.com)

Addresses an issue in which using local Service for User (S4U) affects Data Protection API (DPAPI) credential keys and causes users to sign out unexpectedly.

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335 additional answers

Anonymous

2020-10-18T01:30:22+00:00
A lot of things that run on Windows use the data protection API. Namely, the functions CryptProtectData and CryptUnprotectData. These functions rely on Windows keeping secret keys in your account inside of a hidden directory.

This mechanism was broken for some people with the 2004 update. Causing anything that relies on it to no longer function properly. This includes but is not limited to:
- Stored credentials in the password vault in your control panel
- VPN authentication mechanisms
- Private keys of your certificates
- Configuration files of some 3rd party applications
If this mechanism breaks, the things will stop to function. For most users, the most common manifestation of the problem will be that they need to repeatedly log in into some applications after every system restart, even if the application is supposed to remember the password.

The linked post has a link to the tool the screenshot is from. It checks if your problem is caused by a broken DPAPI or not.

The linked post also has a potential solution for the problem that might work.
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Anonymous

2020-10-17T23:03:35+00:00

Could you please give some more details about what you mean?
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Anonymous

2020-10-17T22:58:51+00:00

You actually might have this problem: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/data-protection-api-dpapi-seemingly-broken/3f37f1dc-2e74-4ee1-8de8-84a1923082a6

The first answer contains a link to a tool that tries a few things with the DPAPI. If the output looks like this image, you're screwed.
Was this answer helpful?

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