This article was previously published under Q290684
This article is a consolidation of the following previously available articles: 836664, 264672, 235865, 235681, and 216382
Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/) Description of the Microsoft Windows registry
When you connect to your Internet service provider (ISP) to retrieve messages from a Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) server, your password is not retained even though you chose to save the password. Attempts to reenter the correct password fail to resolve the behavior.
The following resolution should not be used unless all other relevant password troubleshooting has been tried.
To resolve this behavior, remove the user account information from the Protected Storage System Provider subkey. Then, reenter your password options. To do this, follow the steps for your operating system. Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
How to remove the user account information in the registry
Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition (Me)
Important Do not remove the main Protected Storage System Provider key. This key is not automatically regenerated. If you are not having password retention problems and you do not remember your password, deleting the user subkey may cause you to not be able to retrieve your mail.
1.
Quit all programs.
2.
Click Start, and then click Run.
3.
In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
4.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider
5.
Expand the Protected Storage System Provider key, right-click the Default subkey, and then click Delete.
Note If user profiles are enabled on the computer, you will see subfolders for each user underneath the main Protected Storage System Provider key. If all users are experiencing the same difficulty, you should delete the subkey for each user. Then, follow the remaining steps for each user account definition.
6.
On the File menu, click Exit, and then restart the computer.
Windows NT 4.0
Important Do not remove the main Protected Storage System Provider key. This key is not automatically regenerated. If you are not having password retention problems and you do not remember your password, deleting the user subkey may cause you to not be able to retrieve your mail.
Note If you are a Windows NT 4.0 user, you must have administrator permissions to edit the system registry.
1.
Quit all programs.
2.
Click Start, and then click Run.
3.
In the Open box, type regedit32, and then click OK.
4.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider
5.
On the Security menu, click Permissions.
6.
In Registry Key Permissions, click to select the Replace Permission on Existing Sub keys check box.
7.
In the Name list, make sure that the user who is currently logged on has Full Control access, click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:
Do you want to replace the permission on all existing subkeys within Protected Storage System Provider?
8.
Double-click the Protected Storage System Provider key to expand the key, click the user subkey folder that is directly underneath the Protected Storage System Provider key, click Delete on the Edit menu, and then click Yes in the warning message dialog box.
The user subkey folder looks similar to the following example:
S-1-5-21-124525095-708259637-1543119021-16701
Note If other Windows NT users are experiencing the same password retention difficulty, you must delete the subkey folder for each user and follow the remaining steps for each NT user account definition.
Microsoft Windows 2000
Important Do not remove the main Protected Storage System Provider key. This key is not automatically regenerated. If you are not having password retention problems and you do not remember your password, deleting the user subkey may cause you to not be able to retrieve your mail.
Note If you are a Windows 2000 user, you must have administrator permissions to edit the system registry.
1.
Quit all programs.
2.
Click Start, and then click Run.
3.
In the Open box, type regedit32, and then click OK.
4.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider
5.
On the Security menu, click Permissions.
6.
Click the registry key for the user who is currently logged on and make sure that both the Read and Full Control are set to Allow.
7.
Click Advanced. Then, verify that the user who is currently logged on is selected, that Full Control is listed in the Permissions column, and that This Key and Subkeys is listed in the Apply to column.
8.
Click to select the Reset permissions on all child objects and enable propagation of inheritable permissions check box.
9.
Click Apply, and then click Yes when you are prompted to continue.
10.
Click OK two times.
11.
Double-click the Protected Storage System Provider key to expand the key, click the user subkey folder that is directly underneath the Protected Storage System Provider key, click Delete on the Edit menu, and then click Yes in the warning message dialog box.
The user subkey folder looks similar to the following example:
S-1-5-21-124525095-708259637-1543119021-16701
Note For every identity that you have, there will be a subkey under the Protected Storage System Provider key. To resolve this problem in all your identities, you must delete all the user subkeys folders under the Protected Storage System Provider key.
12.
On the Registry menu, click Exit, and then restart the computer.
Windows XP
Important Do not remove the main Protected Storage System Provider key. This key is not automatically regenerated. If you are not having password retention problems and you do not remember your password, deleting the user subkey may cause you to not be able to retrieve your mail.
Note If you are a Windows XP user, you must have administrator permissions to edit the system registry.
1.
Quit all programs.
2.
Click Start, click Run, type regedt32 in the Open box, and then click OK.
3.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider
4.
On the Edit menu, click Permissions.
5.
Click the registry key for the user who is currently logged on. Then, make sure that the Read and Full Control permissions are both set to Allow.
6.
Click Advanced. Then, verify that the user who is currently logged on is selected, that Full Control is listed in the Permissions column, and that This Key and Subkeys is listed in the Apply to column.
7.
Click to select the Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects check box.
8.
Click Apply, and then click Yes when you receive a prompt to continue.
9.
Click OK two times.
10.
Double-click the Protected Storage System Provider key to expand the key. Click the user subkey folder that is directly underneath the Protected Storage System Provider key, click Delete on the Edit menu, and then click Yes in the warning message dialog box.
The user subkey folder looks similar to the following example:
S-1-5-21-124525095-708259637-1543119021-16701
Note For every identity that you have, there may be a subkey under the Protected Storage System Provider key. To resolve this issue in all your identities, you must delete all the user subkeys folders that are under the Protected Storage System Provider key.
11.
On the Registry menu, click Exit. Then, restart the computer.
This procedure is the same for Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP:
1.
Start Outlook Express.
Note If you receive a logon error, close the dialog box and continue.
2.
Click Tools, and then click Accounts.
3.
Click the Mail tab in the Internet Accounts window.
4.
In the Account column, click to select the Internet e-mail account that you want to change, and then click Properties.
5.
On the Server tab, type your password in the Password box, and then click to select the Remember password check box.
6.
Click OK, and then click Close.
7.
Quit and then restart Outlook Express.
8.
On the Tools menu, click Send and Receive to determine whether your password is retained.
Note If other Windows 2000 users or Windows XP users have password-retention problems, reenter the password, and then click to select the Remember Password check box for those profiles. Each user may have to log on for his or her password to be retained.