Brave Browser deleated the password itself on its own. (all my years of saved password gone within one sec)

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Hi Brave team,

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I’m facing a serious issue with Brave on Windows and would really appreciate guidance.

Today, when I opened Brave, it appeared to reset itself. I was logged out of all websites and the Password Manager now shows no saved passwords. However, my bookmarks and full browsing history are still present.

Important details:

  • I was using Brave without signing in (no Brave account, no Sync).
  • I did not clear data, reset settings, or reinstall Brave.
  • On startup, Brave asked for a permission (which I allowed) and prompted to reopen tabs.
  • After that, all saved passwords disappeared from the UI.

I checked the local profile folder:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default

The following files are present and non-zero in size:

  • Login Data
  • Login Data For Account
  • trusted_vault.pb
  • Web Data

This suggests the passwords still exist locally, but Brave is unable to decrypt or load them.

Has anyone experienced this before?
Is this related to a broken Local State/encryption key issue?
What is the safest way to restore access to these saved passwords without risking data loss?

OS: Windows
Profile path: User Data\Default

Thanks in advance — these passwords are extremely important.

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@maddy.lofi

SOMETIMES: A BB user has recovered passwords by using the backed up Login Data file; and sometimes by doing that PLUS using the backed up Local State file; and sometimes by a combination of: Resetting the Brave Browser Settings, using the backed up Login Data file, plus, using the backed up Local State file.

Lots to study:

‘Brave deleted all my active tabs and favorites - #2 by 289wk’

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Hello @289wk Thank you for responding, Yes Login DATA file has Login username and password saved in it, but its encrypted with boxes and emojis. Could you tell me how to decrypt it ?

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@maddy.lofi you can’t. If the data is there but not being detected by the browser then that means your DPAPI was corrupted and a new key made. There’s no way to change back or get a new key. Brave very lightly touches on this at https://support.brave.app/hc/en-us/articles/29808985123085-Sensitive-data-storage

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