How to Find Hidden &
Saved Passwords in
Windows
As you go about your day
logging into various websites
in your browser or accessing
protected file shares on the
network, Windows stealthy
works in the background and
may or may not store your
credentials in various
locations within the operating
system.
These usernames and
passwords may end up in the
registry, within credential
files, or within the Windows
Vault. The credentials are
stored in encrypted format,
but can easily be decrypted
using your Windows
password. In this article, I’m
going to show several tools
you can use to view these
hidden passwords on your
system.
Windows Credential
Manager
To get started, let’s talk
about the built-in tool called
Credential Manager that
is in Windows. Click on Start
and type in credential
manager to open the
program.
You’ll notice there are two
categories: Web
Credentials and Windows
Credentials. The web
credentials will have any
passwords from sites that
you saved while browsing in
Internet Explorer or
Microsoft Edge. Click on the
down arrow and then click on
the Show link.
You’ll have to type in your
Windows password in order
to decrypt the password. I
was surprised to see quite a
few passwords from various
accounts even though I use
a password manager and
turn off saving passwords in
the browser! Also, I had
several passwords from
other people who I had
allowed to use my computer
to check their email, etc., and
their passwords got saved.
So that’s something you
should know when you login
to an account while using
another person’s computer,
even if they are someone
you trust. You may not want
them to know your login
credentials.
If you click on Windows
Credentials, you’ll probably
see fewer credentials stored
here unless you work in a
corporate environment.
These are credentials when
connecting to network
shares, different computers
on the network, or network
devices such as a NAS.
In the same vein, I’ll also
mention how you can view
Google Chrome saved
passwords. Basically, each
browser has the same
feature, so you can do the
same thing for Firefox,
Safari, etc. In Chrome, click
on the three dots at the top
right and then click on
Settings. Scroll down and
then click on Show
advanced settings.
Under Passwords and
forms, click on the
Manage saved
passwords link next to
Offer to save your web
passwords .
Here you’ll see a list of all
the passwords that you
have stored in Chrome. The
list may be quite long if you
have the save password
feature enabled.
Third-Party Utilities
Even though you can find
quite a few passwords using
the methods above, there
are still more saved in other
locations on your system. To
get to these, you have to
use some third party tools.
My favorite site for free and
clean tools is Nirsoft. There
are basically three tools you
can use: EncryptedRegView,
CredentialsFileView, and
VaultPasswordView.
All of these tools can be
downloaded, extracted and
run without needing to install
them. This is great because
it doesn’t mess with your
system at all and once you
are done, you can just
delete the files.
EncryptedRegView
When you run the program,
you’ll see a dialog box
where the Run as
administrator box is
checked. You don’t have to
do anything, just click on OK.
The program will then scan
the registry and decrypt any
passwords it finds in the
registry.
Just arrow through the list
and you’ll probably find a
handful of gems. In my case,
I found two passwords that
were useful. Everything else
was encrypted text that
wasn’t a password.
CredentialsFileView
Instead of double-clicking on
this program, you should
right-click and choose Run
as Administrator.
On the main dialog that pops
up, you’ll need to type in
your Windows password at
the bottom before clicking OK.
Now you should see a list of
various credentials stored
on your system. If you’re on
a domain, you’ll see a lot
more entries.
VaultPasswordView
This one works the same
way as CredentialsFileView,
but instead looks inside the
Windows Vault. This tool is
especially useful for
Windows 8 and Windows 10
users because these two
operating systems store the
passwords for Windows Mail,
Edge, and IE in the Windows
Vault.
If you tho