Even though Google Chrome and Firefox browsers are popular among tech savvy users, a substantial number of PC users use Internet Explorer as their primary web browser.
Just like Google Chrome and Firefox, all recent versions of Internet Explorer browser also offers you save web passwords in the browser so that you can log-in to web services without having to enter your passwords every time you open the URL.
Users who’re not using Microsoft account in Windows 8/8.1 to sync IE settings and passwords might want to backup all saved usernames and passwords before resetting the browser or re-installing Windows operating system. So, how to view saved passwords and back them up?
While one can easily view all usernames and passwords saved in Internet Explorer with ease, backing them up isn’t a straight-forward job. In this guide, we will show you how to view and backup passwords saved in Internet Explorer in Windows 8.1.
To view passwords saved in Internet Explorer:
Step 1: Launch Internet Explorer browser. Click on the small Gear icon (see the below picture) that appears at the upper-right of the browser window (just below caption buttons) and then click Internet Options to open the same.
Step 2: Here, switch to the Content tab.
Step 3: Under AutoComplete tab, click Settings button to open AutoComplete Settings dialog where you need to click Manage Passwords button to open Credential Manager window.
As an alternative, one can open Credential Manager by typing Credential Manager in the Start screen, changing the search filter to Settings, and then pressing the enter key.
Step 4: Once Credentials Manager is launched, select Web Credentials to view all saved usernames and passwords in Internet Explorer browser. Just click the down-arrow button next to an URL to view the saved username for that URL.
As you can see in the picture, Credential Manager hides the password behind asterisks. In order to view the password hidden under asterisks, click on the Show button next to the Password, and then type your Windows account password. Click the remove password button to remove the selected URL, username, and password.
Even though Credential Manager allows you backup saved Windows log-in credentials, it doesn’t offer an option to backup web passwords. We need to use a third-party tool called IE PassView to backup passwords saved in IE.
To backup saved passwords:
Step 1: Download NirSoft’s IE PassView from here, a free software to view and backup passwords saved in Internet Explorer browser.
Step 2: Extract the downloaded zip file to get IE PassView executable and then double-click on the same to run it.
Step 3: Upon running IE PassView, it will scan the browser for saved passwords and displays URLs, usernames and their passwords.
Step 4: To backup all passwords, select all entries, right-click on them and then click Save selected passwords to save all usernames and passwords in a text file.
NOTE: When you download and run IE PassView, Windows Defender in Windows 8/8.1 might alert you that a potentially dangerous program has been detected. You can safely ignore the warning and run the tool, as IE PassView is a popular software from the trusted NirSoft.
papageno says
I had the same problem. I could not read the passwords stored in IE11 with windows 7. And the company antivirus detected IE passview as a virus…. So the solution I found:
1 – Install chrome
2 – From chrome import bookmarks and settings ( tick saved passwords – from Internet Explorer )
3 – The IE11 passwords can now be seen from Chrome.
It worked for me, strange workaround…
uv says
same here. no way to find the passwords on windows 7
NetWorxT says
IEPassView will display plain text and MD5 hashed passwords from IE11. The Manage Passwords option does not always exist, so IEPassView may be the only option for some.
You can ‘decrypt’ MD5 hashes and obtain the plain text password.
calico jack says
There is absolutely NO Manage Passwords button available. Not sure why every set of instructions is telling me to do it this way when this is obviously not the correct way to access this manage passwords button.
Pedro says
in my case “manage passwords” button is missing form “autocomplete settings”. Also if I type “Web Credentials” my computer only shows me Windows Credentials. Very odd considering that my browser does remember my site logins. On my other computer everything happens as shown in this article. Why not on this computer?
Rama says
Wrong!
There is no “Manage Passwords” feature.
Richard says
Pre Windows 8, there is not built-in way to do this.
But there is a tool from NirSoft called IE Passview, which is really small and good.
There are limitations to this however – from IE7 forward, user/passwords cannot be found unless the exact website address of the login-form is known. Passview will search through your browse history and use that, and you can supply addresses yourself. So if you clear your history, it gets hard (it’s not enough to know the website, you must know that i.e. Google logs in at “https://accounts.google.com/servicelogin”).
Anna says
Thank you SO much! This literally saved my life, as I had just spent nearly half an hour looking for how to find my password!
Brian says
Guys, I think this issue is that you are using a corporately managed computer and that you IT Admin has disabled this functionality. I think the instructions are right if someone hadn’t disabled those options as a security measure. At the moment I have no idea how to get around that. You could try Nirsoft’s BulletsPassview or IE Pass View but they were both blocked on my machine as well as security risks.
Steve says
Russ’s comment is correct. I am a moderately experienced user (though no expert) and I simply cannot locate the passwords for IE11 in Windows 7. The forums are hopeless and the guides repeatedly give instructions to select options which are simply not available. I have checked all the obvious possibilities (User account settings, Credential Manager, Internet options etc. and there is NO option available to manage passwords or credentials. The upshot is that I have passwords stored which I cannot access to read and so cannot write down to take with me when I use another computer.
Russ says
There is no “Manage Passwords” button in “AutoComplete Settings” for IE11 on Windows 7. Only button is “Delete AutoComplete History…” that takes you to the normal delete browser history dialog.