Where are saved passwords in chrome? How to extract Google Chrome passwords from non-working Windows? How to protect saved passwords
Admin, tell me Where are passwords stored in Google Chrome? and how to get them out .
If you are faced with a situation in which you need to find out where passwords are stored in Google Chrome, then I suggest you read this article. In it I will try to talk in detail, but in an understandable language, not only about storage methods, but also about methods for encrypting passwords in the Google Chrome browser. By the way, we wrote about the same thing, but only in the Mozilla browser, in the article “”.
We've said more than once that storing passwords in your browser is not a good idea. You can read about how to do this better and more correctly in our publication “”.
Where does Chrome store passwords?
Below I will show all the possible locations of folders and Google Chrome password files in different operating systems.
Chrome passwords are stored in the folder:
Windows XP
C:\Documents And Settings\Spysoftnet\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\(if there is a User Data folder, then User Data\Default\
Windows Vista
C:\Users\Spysoftnet\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default
Windows 7
Windows 8
C:\Users\Spysoftnet\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\
Windows 10
Mac OS X
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default
Linux
~/.config/google-chrome/Default
Chrome OS
/home/chronos/
Everything described above applies only to the Google Chrome browser. In other browsers running on the Chromium engine, such as Comodo Dragon, Bromium, etc., the location of the folders may be different!
Chrome passwords are stored in the file:
Login Data
Where are the passwords in chrome? This file is a SQLite database. By opening this file you can see several columns:
- Origin_url — website address
- Username_value - login
- Password_value - password
- etc.
All data in this file is stored in clear text. Everything except the password column data “Password_value”. Chrome encrypts passwords using the AES encryption algorithm with an encryption length of 256 bits.
How to open a Login Data file?
The “Login Data” file can be opened using the DB Browser for SQLite utility.
Login data You can download DB Browser for SQLite for free using this link.
How to retrieve Google Chrome passwords?
If these are your passwords, on your operating system, you can view your saved passwords using Google Chrome's own password manager. We wrote how to do this in this article.
There is another way to extract passwords from Chrome - using a program from the developer Nirsoft. In addition, there are at least several more similar programs; to find them, use the search on the site using the word “Chrome”.
ChromePass An enabled antivirus may work against this utility. But this should not scare you, this is 100% a false positive.
I want to warn you. If you copy the "Login Data" file from another computer and try to open passwords on your computer using a browser password manager, you will be disappointed. The fields where passwords should be will be empty or a message will be displayed that this may not be your profile.
But there is also good news. These passwords are hidden from the user, but are entered on the sites you are trying to access. Now the only thing left is to look at the password under the asterisks. You can find how to do this in the article “”
How to protect Google Chrome passwords?
Now a few words about protection. The only and most important rule you should know is not to allow your browser to remember entered usernames and passwords. Use password managers instead. It’s even better to remember passwords using special cards; we wrote about this easy way to remember even difficult passwords in the article “”
Despite the fact that there are not so many truly convenient and functional browsers, so what, they can be counted on one hand, the developers of each browser are trying to make them even more perfect. Their actions are aimed at ensuring that users have the most comfortable experience in using the web browser, and that all its functions meet the user’s requirements.
Google Chrome is a shining example of what a good and user-friendly browser should look like; it is used by millions of users around the world. And everyone, at least once, has forgotten the password for one site or another. For such purposes, Chrome provides a special function for remembering the password: you only need to confirm your decision once, after which the browser remembers the password, and the next time you visit the web page you no longer need to enter it. But where are passwords stored in Google Chrome? Let's figure it out together.
Saved passwords in Chrome
So, you have a need to look up the password for a site that you saved earlier. The fact is that the user, due to the fact that he does not have to enter the password every time, forgets it over time, and this is normal. Difficulties begin when, say, he needs to access the same resource, but from a different browser or computer, and he can’t remember the right combination. And if you also did not find the necessary data in the letters.
So how to view passwords in Google Chrome? Let's move from theory to practice! First, go to your web browser settings by clicking on the button with three parallel lines to the right of the address bar. In the context menu that pops up, look for the “Settings” line and click on it. A new window will open in front of you, you need to go to the very bottom and click “Show additional settings”. Now look for the “Passwords” category, and in it – “Password Management”.
A new window will open again with two columns. On the left side are sites that you visited and agreed to save your password. On the right side the password itself will be indicated. Using the same method you can.
How to view your password
To view the required password, you need to click on the line with the site and password. They will become highlighted, and the word “Show” will appear in the field next to the password. Click on it and the encrypted dots will become the desired combination of letters and/or numbers.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated about looking where the password for a particular site is. Just follow the tips described above and you will succeed!
Video to help:
Hello!
Not long ago I had the idea of creating my own personal program for backing up Google Chrome passwords. Yes, there are a lot of similar programs on the Internet, but the result of paranoia (that passwords are leaked to someone’s server “in reserve”), and the desire to find out what your favorite browser is like, have tipped the scales.
I will talk based on Windows 7 OS.
I'll start with where the file with passwords is stored. This file is " Login Data" in folder " C:\Users\SomeUser\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\".
This is a SQLite database.
It has 14 columns. We are only interested in 3: origin_url(link to the site itself), username_value(login), password_value(password). Other columns include: authorization page, name of input element for login and password, and others. All data unencrypted(visible on the screenshot), except for the field password_value.
The password field contains a byte array. It looks like this.
The encryption method chosen is very convenient for developers. They used the Data Protection Application Programming Interface () which Windows uses.
More information is in the link, especially since this encryption system deserves a separate topic. Briefly, I will say that this system works in one of 2 modes.
- Using a machine key.
The key is unique to the current system. But it allows different programs to work with encrypted data without transferring the key to each other, but excluding data leakage outside the machine, or rather the user. - Using the user key.
No comments.
At the end of the article there is the source code of the program. We will now analyze its main points.
So, let's begin!
We will need to read the bytes of the password field, since the password is stored in a byte array. For this I used System.Data.SQLite Interop Library version 1.0.65.0(available in the archive).The class used in the project DPAPI, which was found on the Internet. At the time of the creation of the project, there was no purpose for writing an article, so the author of the class is lost, but I take my hat off to him - serious work has been done.
Let's declare the objects and variables we need:
Now all that remains is to extract the necessary information from it and write it to a file. At this stage, the file is no longer used - work is carried out only with the DataTable object:
As a result, we have an HTML document with our logins and passwords, which we can store on our mobile phone, or print out and put in an envelope... If you wish, you can write down more fields, but personally, the three mentioned above are enough for me.
If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer. Thank you very much for your attention!
P.S. If you have a 64-bit operating system, then you should replace the library file with the one located in the root folder of the archive. I do not guarantee that this program will work on Windows XP or other operating systems. Since it was only tested on Windows 7.
Modern Internet users have to visit dozens of resources every day, each with its own authorization system. Most web browsers, including Chrome, offer to save logins and passwords to make the user experience easier. The information is securely encrypted, and unauthorized people are unlikely to be able to use it. However, it happens that the owner himself needs to know the password, for example, for authentication on another computer. This article describes where passwords are stored in the Google Chrome browser.
How to view saved passwords
Suppose you don't remember the password for some resource, relying on Chrome's autofill. But it so happened that you need to log in to this resource from another browser or device. In this case, it is necessary to somehow remember or find out personal data. Logins and passwords are stored locally on your computer, as well as on the Google server.
To view them, you need to go to the Chrome settings section:
This way you can see the passwords that are stored in the Chrome browser or on the Google server.
If you need to pull information from the server, you will need a Google account. Create a gmail.com mailbox and log in to Chrome. The browser will automatically load all settings, bookmarks and saved data. To create an email, visit the service “accounts.google.com” and follow the instructions. First, you will need to log in from your main browser to read and remember the data.
Storage
If for some reason you need to find the file itself in which encrypted information is recorded, follow this guide:
Internet users visit dozens or even hundreds of different sites every day.
Most resources require registration, so it becomes very difficult for us to remember all the previously invented logins and passwords for accounts.
To organize the information necessary for authorization on sites, browser developers have created special systems for storing user passwords.
Let's take a closer look at how to view saved passwords in Chrome, the most popular browser from Google.
Password Location
There are several ways to access the window with all passwords.
The easiest option is to enter the text chrome://settings/passwords into the address bar of your browser - this is the address of the local settings page, which contains automatic login data for sites.
As a result, you should end up on a page like this:
Rice. 1 – page of saved logins and passwords in Chrome
Important! This method of enabling the preferences window may not work in older versions of the browser.
You can use another way to enter the passwords tab:
- launch the browser and on the home page find the menu key (upper right corner of the toolbar);
- click on the “Settings” item;
Rice. 2 – Chrome browser menu
- Scroll down the window that opens and click on the “Advanced settings” button;
- now, among all the new parameters, find the “Passwords and Forms” group;
- In the “Save passwords” item, click on the “Show” button and a page will open in front of you, as in Figure 1.
In addition to browser settings, data on saved passwords can be viewed on the PC itself.
Chrome writes user data to a system file located on the computer’s hard drive.
The file address may differ depending on the operating system used.
The figure below shows a list of the most popular operating systems and the addresses of the directories in which the file called Login Data is stored:
Go to the desired folder on your hard drive and find the Login Data file. It does not have an extension, so it cannot be opened just like that.
How can I see the login and password for the site?
Once you have found the location of the autosave settings or the local file that contains them, you can begin viewing the necessary passwords and logins for sites.
To see passwords in the browser itself, select the site you need and click on the show button.
Only after entering this data correctly will you have the right to view personal information in the browser:
Rice. 7 – viewing passwords in the Chrome browser
If, for some reason, you are unable to access the data in the browser itself, you can try to “pull” the information from the Login Data file.
In fact, the contents of this file do not have a specific format, but it is a component of the local MS MySQL database and stores organized information for browser users (list of sites, logins, passwords, installed extensions, etc.).
How to open a file? Since Login Data was created mainly for developers, it can be opened using special development programs.
Eg, SQL Management Studio 2014– using this software you can create local and server databases and use them in the applications you create.
To open the Login Data file, launch the studio, then connect to the local database that is installed on your PC:
After a successful connection, click on the “File” tab, and then on “Open”. In the computer explorer window that opens, find Login Data and run it.
The following table will appear in the studio window:
The username_value and password_value fields contain the values of logins and passwords, respectively.
Reference: If you do not have the opportunity to install a separate studio for database development on your PC, you can use the DB Browser SQL utility. With its help, you can view the contents of the file itself, but without the right to edit database fields.
Removing a password
To remove the login-password combination from the autosave window, you need to select the desired site and click on the cross, as shown in the figure below.
After this, the login information for the resource will be erased.
Likewise, users can edit saved data. Enter new information in the login or password field and save the changes.
Disable the option to save passwords in your browser
If you want Chrome to never save new passwords for websites again, you need to disable the automatic data saving feature.
To do this, in the “Passwords and Forms” settings, uncheck the box next to “Automatic login”, as shown in the figure below:
Now the browser will not save entered logins and passwords for new sites.
To prevent automatic login for previously used resources, delete all saved passwords and logins manually.
Then you must restart your computer for the new Login Data file settings to take effect.
How to protect saved passwords?
The new Chrome privacy policy immediately after its release did not include a clause on the separate protection of saved user passwords.
This incident in early 2014 attracted quite a lot of attention and outrage from browser users.
Thematic video:
