Edge Password Recovery – Universal Interactive Guide

1 Problem Summary

Microsoft Edge stores saved passwords in a SQLite database file called Login Data, located inside your Edge profile folder. When this file becomes corrupted or falls out of sync with Windows' encrypted credential store, Edge's password manager displays zero saved entries — even though the underlying data may still exist in older file snapshots on your filesystem.

This guide walks through the complete recovery workflow: locating a healthy Login Data snapshot, safely backing up your current profile state, swapping in the recovery file, and verifying that passwords are restored — using only built-in Windows commands. No third-party decryption tools are required.

2 Locate Candidate Login Data Files

The Login Data file lives inside your Edge profile folder. Before you can replace it, you need to find all copies on your system to identify the healthiest candidate. Open Windows PowerShell (search "PowerShell" in Start) and run:

Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Users\" -Recurse -Filter "Login Data" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object FullName, Length, LastWriteTime | Sort-Object Length -Descending

How to Evaluate Candidates

After identifying your candidate, note its full path and filename and enter it in the Recovery Candidate Filename field above.

3 Back Up Your Active Profile

Before replacing any files, preserve the current state of your Edge profile — even if it appears broken. Open Command Prompt as Administrator (right-click Start → "Windows Terminal (Admin)" or "Command Prompt (Admin)").

xcopy "C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\" "\" /E /I /H /Y

Copies your full Edge profile directory including subfolders (/E), hidden files (/H), creates the destination if missing (/I), and overwrites without prompting (/Y).

copy "C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\\Login Data" "\Login Data.corrupted.bak"

Saves the corrupted file with a .bak extension so you can restore the original state if the recovery attempt doesn't work as expected.

4 Replace Login Data with Recovery Candidate

copy /Y "C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\\" "C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\\Login Data"

The /Y flag suppresses the overwrite confirmation prompt. If the command reports "1 file(s) copied," the replacement succeeded. If your candidate is in a different folder, provide its full path instead.

5 Verify Password Restoration

1. Launch Microsoft Edge.
2. In the address bar, type edge://settings/passwords and press Enter.
3. Check the Saved Passwords section — your credentials should now be listed.
4. Spot-check several entries: confirm usernames are visible and passwords display as masked dots (●●●●●).
5. Navigate to a site you have saved credentials for and verify autofill works correctly.

6 Export Your Passwords

1. In Edge, navigate to edge://settings/passwords.
2. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) next to the "Saved Passwords" heading.
3. Select Export passwords from the dropdown.
4. Complete the Windows security prompt — enter your Windows account PIN or password when prompted.
5. In the Save dialog, navigate to your preferred location and name the file: <ExportFilename>.csv
6. Click Save.

7 Encrypt the Export with 7-Zip (AES-256)

1. Right-click the file <ExportFilename>.csv on your Desktop or chosen location.
2. Select 7-Zip → Add to archive…
3. In the dialog, set Archive format to 7z.
4. Set Encryption method to AES-256.
5. Enter and confirm a strong passphrase. Do not store this passphrase in any digital file — memorize it or use a physical notepad kept securely.
6. Check the box: Encrypt file names.
7. Click OK and wait for the archive to complete.
8. Confirm that <ExportFilename>.7z appears in the same folder.
9. Delete the original plaintext file: right-click <ExportFilename>.csv → Delete, then empty the Recycle Bin (right-click Recycle Bin → Empty Recycle Bin).

8 Final File Locations

9 Future-Proof Checklist