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

None of these helped. They seemed to help when attempted at the end of the day, but next morning users were required to enter OneDrive, Office Account password, and Outlook password.

Thanks. Try the following:

• Right-click Start>Windows Powershell(admin). Copy and paste below command
  • Get-ScheduledTask | foreach { If ((xml).GetElementsByTagName("LogonType").'#text' -eq "S4U") { $_.TaskName } }

Note the app names you get as an output.

Disable the apps you noted by running the command in the task scheduler. (For example, HP Customer participation utility task, Carbonite, etc). Explanation below:

• Search for Task Scheduler in the start menu.
• Locate the task in the Window(HP Customer participation/Carbonite).
• Right-click the task and choose Disable.

Restart your PC and your logins would be retained.

Background: These steps disables the tasks which use S4U, which is the reason for this unexpected logout behavior. In case you need those tasks, make them non-S4U, i.e. enable the "Do not Store password" in the task scheduler. Disabling the tasks would not affect anything on your computer, though.

The issue would be likely fixed in a future update. Appreciate your patience.

Edit:16/10/2020. Answer explained in detail.

Edit:08/11/2020: Edited to Improve clarity.

Source: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1069383#c90

Answer 4

Might be a longshot, but check if you need to verify your account in Settings, Accounts.

Might also try running these, open an elevated command prompt. Type or copy-paste the following commands to check for any errors:

sfc /scannow

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Answer 5

i already fix this issue in 2 laptops by delete "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Vault" folder, restart pc to windows create new vault and add again credentials to outlook and other programs.

my guess is last windows update mess up desencryptions keys of vault