I didn’t clear them, i didn’t update and my sync is off. They were there one day and now they are not. I noticed when a site i usually go to is now asking me for my password and username. When i checked, there are only 2 passwords there, impossible. I believe the data is still there, I just can’t find it. When i click on clear browser history, autofill data shows 297 items.
@Kaifa42 Does “Passwords and other sign-in data” show a similar value there as well? You didn’t mention your OS & Brave version.
Do you have any other browser like Edge or Google Chrome, where you can try to import passwords from Brave? If Brave user data files has passwords it will show there. Also, make sure Clear Browsing data On Exit isn’t checked.
Clear browsing data isn’t check. I’m using windows x on a Dell XPS.
I have other browsers but importing isn’t an option because they would have outdated information.
Ever since I’ve started using brave I’ve only ever used brave so it held all my recent passwords.
I don’t understand how they can just disappear but yet my payment options remain.
Something definitely happened and I’m screwed if I don’t get back my passwords.
@Kaifa42 One more thing you can try. Navigate to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default. There will be a “Login data” file that contains your passwords. Sometimes there is an additional “Login data.bak” file also there. If you find one, you can open it using a text editor and see if your old passwords are there. The file will be encypted but you should be able to spot additional entries there.
I found that file, I think the passwords are in here because i’m seeing websites i visited and “password”. Its definitely encrypted because when i see passwords its a bunch of symbols and boxes. Is there any way to decrypt it? or is there anyway to upload it to my brave saved passwords.
I’m even looking to see if i recognise any string of letters as a password i remember, but nothing.
This typically only happens when you make changes to your system user name/password credentials. Typically, only a user with the same logon credential as the user who encrypted the data can decrypt the data.
If that information is gone, then the “key” to the encryption is gone. But you’re not saying you changed devices or anything like that on your device, are you?
Do you only have Brave on one device? In other words, have you ever done Sync between devices? If so, might just be easier for you to add your desktop to Sync with other device that has your updated passwords. You’d then have access to it all.
@Kaifa42 Good to hear that. Also, like Saoiray said, have you changed your system’s login credentials?
If not, I’m guessing it’s the “Login data.bak” file where you are seeing your old entries and not the “Login data” file. If so, the first thing would be to create a copy of both the files somewhere safe. And export your current saved passwords from brave://settings/passwords > Three dots > Export passwords (if you want to keep them).
Then remove/delete the “Login data” file in the Default folder and rename the “Login data.bak” file to just “Login data”. As this is the file that would be picked by Brave for passwords.
Make sure Brave remains closed while you’re doing this. And then you can launch Brave and see if old passwords are there. Thereafter, you can safely import your current passwords from brave://settings/passwords > Three dots > Import passwords.
Do post an update.
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Hi, I have the same problem.
the file logindata is still there and all passwords seem to be in there but are encrypted.
I did not change my system or anything else. in the morning passwords were still there, then during the day the battery died, and in the evening when i plugged it in again all password were gone.
As the file login data ist still available, all I need to do would be to tell Brave to use that file, but i have no idea how.
Do you have any backups of your system on an external HD?, in macos we use Time Machine Backups to restore deleted things or help restore corrupted files.
If you are using Windows and have System Restore or a similar system backup and have done the right thing and have setup an external HD for storing the backups, getting those passwords back again should be a simple process.
Your Brave Profile contains everything that it uses, this is stored on macos in my User Library>Application Support>Brave Software.
Delete your existing Brave Profile and use System Restore to restore a Brave Profile dating from a time you know the Passwords were all present and things were working well.
Hopefully this will fix this issue quickly.
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