Systemwide password amnesia (v2004 build 19041.173)

Anonymous
2020-04-10T20:46:55+00:00

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!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2020-10-12T21:28:18+00:00

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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Sumit 44,316 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2021-02-10T03:14:41+00:00

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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  1. Anonymous
    2020-10-08T14:13:04+00:00

    I must be more precise. My solution still works this morning (another reboot), except for one thing: Onedrive client still request authentification. 

    I realized that I didn't only applied receipe 8, but few of them in sequence. At one moment I realized that some of them where equivalent.

    I applied Step 1 first. 

    When I tried Step 2 I found nothing to change.

    I applied step 3 completely. I found a bit scary to do step 3, playing with rights on system folder is something I didn't like to do.

    I looked to Step 4 to find things correct, nothing to change.

    I didn't do step 5, I don't understand in what adding a generic credential to windows manager would work. BTW my microsoft account is already there.

    I bypassed step 6.  It seemed a way to specify credentials to different sites.

    I bypassed step 7 also.

    **I did step 8.**I probably tried to close and re-open Edge between the step to see if the problem was gone.  I saw a change only at step 8.

    I don't remember if I rebooted my computer in between before step 8.  The problem started to change at step 8. I had to re-enter credential once at next login. Now this is the third reboot, next day, and aside Onedrive client, everything still works. I cross my finger. Take note of the warning in step 8. This will erase all saved passwords that are recorded in Edge. You are better to save it if they are not recorded somewhere else in a password manager.

    When you read all the web page I referred to, it seems that it has something to do with some bug that leads to corruption of files in the "Protect" directory. 

    I must add that I'm working with 2 factor authentification with both microsoft Authenticator and google authenticator.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-10-08T12:44:56+00:00

    The user in my case runs a local account so... But I think other affected customers that my colleagues work with have had Microsoft accounts. The only ones where we up to date have no issues is with customers who are domain attached.

    I've seen this workaround before, and also seen people confirming it doesn't work, but thanks anyway.

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  3. Sumit 44,316 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2020-10-08T12:33:24+00:00

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