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

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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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 44,306 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
    2020-11-02T18:17:43+00:00

    I have Windows Home and the Hp Task, and I had the problem, until I changed the option of the task to run it only when I was loggued on. Some people tends to say it is HP's task fault  but it has to do instead with a buggy APi in windows that is invoked because of the original option of the task. Changing yhe option changes the API used. If the API is invoked with other task than HP's the same will happen. This bug appeared with the 2004 version of windows. 

    The password amensia wasn't just with office product but also with all sites (eg Gmail, Facebook, Youtube, etc.)

    Many newcomers to this quite long thread, only read latests post, so the same questions that have already been answered, are asked again and again.

    Most interesting answers are found on page 14-19 of this posts.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-03T14:39:36+00:00

    TY for your response. I have been following this and many other threads since they started and have tried every possible suggestion and nothing has worked. I am having a huge issue because it is happening on 80+ computers in the office, we recently upgraded every computer from scratch with windows 10 pro. Every employee now has to reenter their outlook password about 5-6 times per day and every password to every website, program, network drive, etc.. do not stay i am at a loss and everyone in the company is getting frustrated. The strange part is i have 5 computers at home all with windows 10 pro and the 2004 update and none of them have any issues with passwords that is why i was thinking it was only computers on domain networks because i do have 2 computers off the network in the office and they do not have any issues. 

    I am just so frustrated i don't know what else to try, if it was just me i would deal with it but i have 80+ systems here all with frustrated people..

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-03T16:14:55+00:00

    It appears that some process or background process is invoking the same API as HP HPCustParticipation task was doing, before I changed the option to "allow it to run only when the user is loggued on".

    It could be a process or a Task.  I would go across the task, and put this option for whatever task that seems suitable to switch to this option.

    Also in my case I tried and suggested some steps found elsewhere, which implied to play with user rights and deleting some files related to password retention. One of them had a serious effect about making all password record by Edge disappear. But it only worked a few days.

    Enough bizarre is the fact that when I changed to HP task option, and rebooted, all passwords disappeared in Edge where restored. As said by many, this is a serious bug in the crypto API.  From then all problems were gone.

    What is process or task that trigger the but through some bug in the API? It could be HP tasks or other task that is set to start automatically, either through the Task Scheduler, or may by an auto-start job.  I would try to investigate which of them, by suspending or disabling them.

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