Windows 10

After installing the Windows 10 feature update v2004, your computer may fail to remember the stored passwords in Outlook, Edge, Chrome browser, and various other programs. This is a system-wide issue rather than an application-specific problem. Here are some of the symptoms you may experience in Windows 10 v2004:

• Windows 10 prompts for your Microsoft account password every now and then.
• Accessing a network resource or NAS drive causes the password prompt to appear every time even though the credentials were saved earlier.
• Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Chrome browsers keep asking to enter the password to access a resource for which you’ve previously saved the password.
• Forms and password autocomplete don’t work in Google Chrome and other apps.
• Passwords stored by your web browser (e.g. Chrome) on the local computer are wiped off.
• The synchronization is paused in the Chrome web browser.
• Chrome web browser’s chrome://signin-internals/ page denotes the error “Load credentials failed with decrypt errors”.
• You’re forced to sign to OneDrive every time you log in.
• Outlook keeps asking you to log into Office 365 every few hours.
• Passwords for email accounts in your mail client are not saved, and you need to type them every time.
• Adobe Acrobat keeps asking for your Adobe credentials whenever you open a PDF file.
• The Windows 10 Settings periodically wants to fix your account configuration by re-authenticating with Windows Hello.
• Mapped Network Drives not working in Windows 10 v2004.
• Windows Credentials (in Credentials Manager) are wiped out at every restart.
  
• In the Event Viewer, these two errors are recorded in the Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → Crypto-DPAPI → Operational log.

  Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Crypto-DPAPI/Operational
  Source: Microsoft-Windows-Crypto-DPAPI
  Date: 
  Event ID: 8196
  Task Category: Master Key Operation
  Level: Error
  Keywords: Master Key Operation
  User: SYSTEM
  Computer: Vostro-3470
  Description:
  Master key decryption in memory failed
  
  
  Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Crypto-DPAPI/Operational
  Source: Microsoft-Windows-Crypto-DPAPI
  Date: 
  Event ID: 8198
  Task Category: Data Protection Operation
  Level: Error
  Keywords: Data Protection Operation
  User: SYSTEM
  Computer: Vostro-3470
  Description:
  DPAPI Unprotect failed .
  
  Status: 0x8009000B
  ReasonForFailure: Could not get the master key

The above symptoms denote that this is a system-wide bug in Windows 10 version 2004 that prevents the stored credentials from loading correctly.Read more

Windows 10 2004 adds the Share with Skype context menu option for all files. If you’re a person who likes to clean up the clutter and removes unused context menu items, this article is for you.

Note that third-party tools like ShellExView (v2.01) don’t seem to list this context menu item, as it’s added by a modern or UWP Microsoft Store app. Let’s see how to remove the Share with Skype right-click menu option manually in Windows 10.Read more

After installing the Windows 10 Feature Update 1903 or higher, you may have noticed that the accent color checkbox Start, taskbar, and action center is grayed out. The recent Windows 10 versions come with a new Light Theme (“Light” color mode) that displays the Taskbar, Start menu, action center, notification area pop-ups, etc., in light grey color.

When the light color mode is enabled for Windows, the Taskbar, Start menu, and the action center can’t be colorized, which is why those settings are dimmed out. This is by design. You’ll be able to show an accent color for window title bars and borders, though.

Here is how to enable the dark color mode for Taskbar, Start Menu, and the Action Center. The current version of Windows 10 is 20H2 as of this post, and the instructions apply to version 20H2 as well.

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