Saved Passwords on Windows: Two Places, Not One

You need a password your computer has been typing for you for two years, and the box that fills it in will not show you what it is putting there.

Good news: it is almost certainly still on the machine. It is just kept in two different places, and only one of them will show you the characters.

I counted what this machine is holding before writing, without opening a single entry, and the split between the two surprised me.

The two places, and why people search the wrong one

Start here, because it saves twenty minutes of hunting.

⭐ Website passwords live in your browser. In Edge that is Microsoft Password Manager, reached from Settings rather than from Windows.

⚡ Everything else lives in Credential Manager, a Control Panel page that most people have never opened.

⚠️ Network shares, mapped drives, some desktop apps and Remote Desktop all land in the second one. Not in the browser at all.

⛔ Looking in the wrong one is the commonest reason people conclude the password is gone. It usually is not.

What Microsoft says Credential Manager is

Its own description is short, and it is worth reading closely.

⭐ Microsoft states it in one sentence on its Credential Manager page: it "lets you view and delete your saved credentials for signing in to websites, connected applications, and networks".

⚡ The route is a search rather than a Settings page. Type credential manager into the search box on the taskbar and open the Control Panel result.

⚠️ Then you pick a side. Microsoft's instruction is to "Select Web Credentials or Windows Credentials to access the credentials you want to manage".

⛔ And that is where its page stops. It never explains what the difference between those two is, which is exactly what everybody wants to know.

What this machine is actually holding

Counted rather than guessed, nothing opened, and the reading is ours.

⭐ Thirty two entries sit under Windows Credentials here. All thirty two are the Generic type.

⚡ Four entries sit under Web Credentials. That is the whole website side, on a machine used every day.

⚠️ So the split is roughly eight to one, and the big pile is the one no Settings page ever mentions.

⛔ None of them was opened to write this. ⚠️ I counted the entries and read the type, and nothing else.

Which one will show you the characters?

This is the part that decides whether you are in luck.

⭐ Web Credentials will show a password. Expand the entry, choose Show, confirm who you are, and the characters appear.

⚡ Windows Credentials will not. That section stores tokens and encrypted blobs rather than readable text, and there is no Show button to press.

⚠️ So a mapped drive password you have forgotten is genuinely not recoverable from there. You can delete the entry and enter it again. You cannot read it.

⛔ Anything promising to reveal those is worth nothing but a virus scan. Run a proper one before you trust the machine again.

The Edge side, where the website passwords went

Different building, and it moved recently.

⭐ Microsoft's route is four steps: "Select Settings > Passwords and autofill > Microsoft Password Manager", from the three dots in the top right.

⚡ Then the entry itself: "Next to the password you want to view or change, select the right arrow", and "To view the existing password, select the eye icon".

⚠️ It will stop you first. Microsoft says plainly that "You may need to enter your device PIN or password".

⛔ That prompt is protection rather than an obstacle, and it is the same prompt anybody sitting at your desk would fail.

What replaced the old master password

Worth knowing, because the advice online is out of date.

⭐ Edge used to offer a Custom Primary Password. Microsoft's own page says it "is being retired".

⚡ In its place is your device sign in. Microsoft describes it as "Device-based authentication" using "Windows Hello, macOS Touch ID, Your device sign-in password".

⚠️ There is a switch worth turning on, named in Microsoft's wording: "Prompt for the device sign-in options before viewing or filling website password".

⛔ With that on, a stranger at an unlocked laptop cannot autofill your bank. Without it, they can.

⭐ If the password you cannot find is the Microsoft account one itself, this is a different job. The recovery form is the entire route.

Before you go hunting for one

Five minutes that usually beat the search.

⚡ Check whether you actually need the characters. If the machine still logs in, you need a reset elsewhere rather than the old text.

⭐ Try the reset link first on anything with an email attached. It is faster than any of this.

⚠️ And keep your recovery email and phone current. That is the thing that fails at the worst moment.

⛔ If a message pushed you into checking a password today, look at the message first. Urgency is the whole trick.

Status: credential counts read on this machine on 28 August 2026, Windows 11 Home, alongside Microsoft's own Credential Manager and Password Manager pages. ⛔ No credential, password, website, account name or share was opened, revealed or published, and only the entry counts and the type were read.

Where does Windows keep my saved passwords?

In two places. Website passwords used in Edge sit in Microsoft Password Manager, inside Edge settings. Everything else, including network shares, mapped drives and some desktop apps, sits in Credential Manager, which you open from the taskbar search rather than from Settings.

Can I see a saved password on Windows?

Sometimes. Web Credentials in Credential Manager will reveal one after you confirm your identity, and so will Microsoft Password Manager in Edge. Windows Credentials will not, because that section holds tokens rather than readable text, and no button exists to show them.

Why does it ask for my PIN before showing a password?

Because that is the only thing standing between a saved password and whoever is sitting at the machine. Microsoft's wording is that you may need to enter your device PIN or password. In Edge you can also require that prompt before any autofill, not just before viewing.

Is the Edge primary password gone?

Yes. Microsoft says the Custom Primary Password is being retired, replaced by device-based authentication such as Windows Hello or your device sign-in password. Advice telling you to set a separate master password in Edge is describing something that no longer exists.

The Short Version

• Saved passwords live in two places, not one.
• Website passwords are in Edge, under Microsoft Password Manager.
• Everything else is in Credential Manager, opened from taskbar search.
• Microsoft's own page never explains the difference between the two.
• This machine holds 32 Windows Credentials and 4 Web Credentials.
• Web Credentials can be revealed. Windows Credentials cannot.
• A forgotten mapped drive password is replaceable, not readable.
• Turn on the device sign-in prompt before autofill in Edge.

Where to Next

Decide which of the two you need before you open anything. That choice is most of the job.

If it is a website, go to Edge and Microsoft Password Manager. If it is anything else, go to Credential Manager.

Expect a PIN prompt, and be glad of it. A password manager that never asks is protecting nobody.

Turn on the prompt before autofill while you are in there. It takes one toggle and it closes the biggest hole.

And if you have ever recovered a password from Credential Manager that you thought was lost forever, say which kind in the comments. People give up on that one far too early.