Systemwide password amnesia (v2004 build 19041.173)

Question

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!

Answer 1

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).

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

For my computer, there's an incompatibility with my printer's HP Customer participation utility task , as mentioned in some previous posts, and the fix was very easy - 

Here are the steps that worked on my PC to disable the HP Customer participationapp:

Search for Task Scheduler in the Start Menu, and open the program. The window will take a few seconds to populate.

In the Task Scheduler Library folder, 
Scroll down and locate the task in the Window: HPCustParticipation....
Right-click the task and choose Disable.
Restart your PC.

I did this for 2 PCs, and has been working perfectly for 6 weeks now. Not only did it stop the passwords from disappearing regularly from Chrome, Edge & CCleaner browsers, but all the passwords I had lost reappeared in my browsers. Also, I no longer have to log in every day to OneDrive, Office, and other pc programs. 

Good luck everyone, my hair has started to grow back, lol!

and I'm SOO glad a permanent fix is expected in February!

Nancy

We have a total of 3 PC's "fixed" now, and working well. It sounds like the Feb update hasn't solved this issue. Since it's difficult to search this post with 450 replies, I will reply to this again, with a solution above from Sumit. I do see posts where this solution hasn't worked for them, but hopefully this will help someone out there... with no hair left...

Nancy

Answer 4

Please, solve this problem! I have the last version of the OS, and every time I closed Chrome, all password disappearing and all sites are logouted. It's impossibile to work in this state!

I've a Microsoft Account insted af a local account, there isn't any S4U task on my PC, and my Event Viewer is full of "DPAPI Unprotect failed . Status:0x8009000B ReasonForFailure:Could not get the master key"!

I've installed all updates without any success... I can't work with the fear of knowing that as soon as I reopen the browser all my passwords will be gone and I will be thrown out of all the sites where I had logged out!