SQL Server Management Studio 18 remember password not working?

galletto 251

With one of the latest updates of SSMS 18 (I'm now on 18.6), the remember password feature does not seem to work anymore. Am I missing something?

Cheers,
Galletto

Leo Muller 46 Reputation points

2020-11-02T11:36:18.317+00:00

It seems that SQL Server Management Studio from time to time randomly sees to forget your password that you clearly asked to remember. Even though many times it may remember, and then one day, it forgets.

This seems to happen ALWAYS when you have something stored in your CLIPBOARD when you open SQL Management Studio.
hermecDBA 1 Reputation point

2020-12-02T23:53:58.13+00:00

If anyone also has this issue, please vote it up here:
https://feedback.azure.com/forums/908035-sql-server/suggestions/41354875-ssms-18-6-remember-password-option-doesnt-work
Will de Haan 66 Reputation points

2020-12-04T08:06:58.167+00:00

@hermecDBA that forum asks me to provide a password, but it's not clear to me for what account?
Jay Imerman 21 Reputation points

2020-12-17T19:33:55.393+00:00

For the Vote Up, we need an "Up +1000" for this particular issue! It has been doing this for years now, and it is so annoying.
Jay Imerman 21 Reputation points

2020-12-17T19:34:05.283+00:00

For the Vote Up, we need an "Up +1000" for this particular issue! It has been doing this for years now, and it is so annoying.
galletto 251 Reputation points

2020-12-21T08:15:35.503+00:00

I tried voting, but it won't accept my login there.
Bill Guenthner 1 Reputation point

2021-08-13T14:05:14.007+00:00

I don't understand it either. Microsoft struggles to keep basic functionality working in many of their applications. It can't be a lack of talent so it has to be a lack of caring.
Anonymous

2024-07-18T18:07:50.69+00:00

This is still a problem in mid 2024
Jay Imerman 21 Reputation points

2024-07-18T18:43:48.7033333+00:00

Oh yes, I don't really expect them to actually fix it. It was more aspirational than anything.
IAN GREEN-MORRIS 0 Reputation points

2025-02-07T14:20:45.08+00:00

February 2025. Still drives me crazy. Please fix this. Thank you.
Scott Craig 1 Reputation point

2025-12-19T09:52:51.2133333+00:00

I've been using SQL Server now for about 20 years, and for as long as I have used it this bug has been in place ! December 2025 and SQL Server still forgets passwords !!!

11 answers

Stacy Clark 31 Reputation points

2022-01-24T07:03:55.157+00:00
I add my servers in the Registered Servers and be done with it. Except for when you have to change the connection on an existing query window, that does suck. Profiler on the other hand...

Also if you're like me and bring your laptop to clients to use SSMS locally where AD auth doesn't work because you're not on their domain, you can use this to launch SSMS with the target domain credentials and login with Windows Auth (assuming you have an account there ofc):
```
runas /netonly /user:DOMAIN\myusername "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\Ssms.exe"
```
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Scott Craig 1 Reputation point

2023-01-19T13:51:01.9166667+00:00

I've been using SQL Server Managment Studio for over 20 years, and this problem is prevelant in all versions. It is now 2023 and is still happens !!! Why can't MS fix this, surely it must annoy the engineers who write it to !!
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Pham X. Bach 6 Reputation points

2022-01-21T07:44:15.847+00:00

For me, I solve my problem by running "SQL Server Manage Studio" (SSMS) by Admin right (right click, Run as Administrator) and tick check box "Remember password", type password and connect.
Then the next time I run SSMS normally and boom, no need to type password again.
It seems that SSMS have problem writing credential and run as Administrator do solve it.
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Jay Imerman 21 Reputation points

2022-01-21T14:35:13.993+00:00

@Pham X. Bach I think you missed the point - the problem that we stated was that SSMS sometimes remembers the passwords using that checkbox, but then will forget it at some point. But, I wonder if the intermittent nature of the issue may indicate a permissions problem, so perhaps running as Administrator is a fix. However, if you are operating on a system that you don't control, and you don't have elevation privileges, that is not a solution for you. We need to look into the cause of the issue - and that was the purpose of our efforts.

Pham X. Bach 6 Reputation points

2022-01-22T04:29:27.41+00:00

If the case is as you said (SSMS sometimes remember saved password, sometime not), run as Administrator the first time seems not to be the solution.
If the case is as my case and OP's (the remember password feature does not seem to work anymore) then run as Administrator could be one solution, in case you have enough elevation privileges.
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Jay Imerman 21 Reputation points

2021-01-08T14:21:38.187+00:00

@Michael Küfner and @Cris Zhan-MSFT - THANKS for that! As of right now, I have removed the file and recreated connection credentials. Initially, it is working, I can confirm after several restarts it is remembering the password. However, I think time will tell; if it remains working after a week, I would say that is great evidence of a solution. I will check back.

To recap, the solution was to remove C:\Users\userName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\18.0\UserSettings.xml and restart SSMS, and re-enter connection info in the new version.
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Jay Imerman 21 Reputation points

2021-01-20T16:41:12.2+00:00

Safari sogoodi, it is still working, so I would say that is a good solution.

Jay Imerman 21 Reputation points

2021-02-25T15:48:14.887+00:00

No luck, it took a few weeks, but SSMS has forgotten the password again. I don't know the conditions under which it forgets the password, that I think is the problem with identifying the root cause or a solution.

Kandarp Gautam 6 Reputation points

2022-10-13T10:54:35.397+00:00

Don't you think it's a workaround and not a solution? Microsoft needs to fix this asap.

Kandarp Gautam 6 Reputation points

2022-10-13T10:57:17.047+00:00

For a developer who developed that functionality, it cannot be hard. As he knows how the information flows. But if there's some tester who doesn't know the development and is just hit and tries to recreate the issue, I don't think it's possible to identify the real issue.
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Michael Küfner 1 Reputation point

2021-01-07T11:39:55.91+00:00

It seems, that when updating from the previous version of SSMS, if you accept to import the old configuration, that passwords are not stored, even if the checkbo is set.

Removing the userSettings file as @Cris Zhan-MSFT suggested and re-creating the connections then works with saving the password.
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Leo Muller 46 Reputation points

2021-01-20T08:56:42.063+00:00

I installed the new SSMS 18.8, did NOT import settings from old.

Provided my new connection, username and password, checked save password. The next time I go in it remembers, next day also fine, but later that second day it opens up without the password.

It is hard to comprehend the incompetence of Microsoft to make such a basic feature work in such a mission critical piece of software.

Maybe soon when all their developers are using Linux to develop and they won't be able to use Windows Authentication anymore they will finally see the problem themselves and fix it.
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Gabriel Gtz 1 Reputation point

2020-09-28T05:53:35.48+00:00

Well... this is not an answer, sorry, it's a complaint because this problem persists for years and versions, I really can't believe it, the randomness drives me crazy, well, in fact, now I can "feel it", when SSMS will forget the password, I think that sometimes is better than nothing and we have to take it that way...
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SQL Server Management Studio 18 remember password not working?

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