Windows 10 May 2020 Update has a new bug which messes with passwords stored by the operating system, which as you can imagine, is pretty annoying for those affected.
As spotted by Windows Latest, there are a number of reports online complaining that the May 2020 Update causes Windows 10 to forget stored passwords with web browsers, VPN services and various apps.
Specifically, this is an issue with Windows Credential Manager, which is the operating system’s central hub where all your usernames and passwords (as well as network credentials) are stored.
Think of it as Windows 10’s built-in password manager, but sadly it’s a piece of functionality which has gone seriously wonky – at least for some folks – after the latest upgrade Microsoft deployed, with passwords not being remembered, and users being logged out of apps or services in web browsers.
As Windows Latest highlights, there’s plenty of evidence of this in threads on Microsoft’s own Answers.com support forum, as well as complaints delivered via Microsoft’s feedback hub.
These include problems logging into all manner of services as mentioned – including Outlook and OneDrive, Chrome and Edge – but with particularly niggly issues in some cases, like Adobe Acrobat demanding the user logs in every time a PDF is loaded if a couple of hours have passed since the last PDF was opened.
Some VPN users are also affected, being prompted for a login when they hadn’t previous to installing the May 2020 Update, although apparently in some cases, you don’t even need to use the correct password when that login is requested (anything can be typed in).
The VPN issue was reported a few weeks back now, and Microsoft is currently investigating this – and presumably the other ramifications of this bug – but there’s no resolution as yet.
Possible workarounds
A number of potential workarounds have been floated, though, in the above discussion threads, including changing the login to your Microsoft account to a PIN, or reconnecting the account to Windows 10.
To do the latter, follow these steps:
- In the Windows search box (next to the Start button), type ‘your info’ and click on ‘your account info’ which pops up in the panel above
- Click on ‘Sign-in with a local account instead’
- Sign in locally, then restart your PC
- Return to the ‘your account info’ section of Settings, and sign in again with your Microsoft account
Hopefully that should cure the issue, but there’s no guarantee. For the moment, the only cast-iron workaround you can use to be sure of ridding yourself of this issue is to roll back the installation of the May 2020 Update (which obviously isn’t ideal if you want the new features brought in by the upgrade).
Fingers crossed that we hear from Microsoft with a solution sooner rather than later, although the whispers in the above threads (which are nothing official) suggest there may be a solution coming in Windows 10’s August or September patches (the former is set to arrive later today, incidentally).
