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

I think you're right. I suspect I'd never get that thing functioning right again. Fortunately, I have a daily backup to a windows server so I just restored my system to a few days back prior to updating windows or having driver issues and now everything seems to be working properly again. I'll see if I can update without issues when the next version is officially released. Otherwise, I guess it'll need a clean install.

Thanks!

Answer 4

Most Insiders either dual boot, Hyper-V or have a spare computer to use, Microsoft say not to use your every day or work computer incase you loose data, it's good to hear you have a good backup system.