Why has Chrome lost all my saved passwords?

Question

I'm using Google Chrome on Mac OSX (Snow Leopard.)

I had it set to "Offer to save passwords". I used to have a list (when I clicked "manage saved passwords") of various websites and logins.

Now that list is empty.

Where have all my passwords gone?

(I'd also be interested in useful search terms to help me find similar experiences on the web, for trouble-shooting.)

Solution 1

Normally, Chrome (also?) puts your passwords into the general password storage for OS X, which is the Keychain.

Open it from /Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access.app. You will probably find your passwords there. Here, look for the kind "Internet passwords".

Solution 2

I have encountered this problem yesterday (but only realized it today). I suspect it has to do with the sync feature in Chrome. In my case, I have been using Google Chrome for about 2 years, and it's even synced most recently with my iPod Touch and iPad 3. I've used a Win7 Laptop and Desktop, so that's 4 computers that share the synced data. It's a great feature.

I probably had close to 200 saved ids/passwords, with all the various stuff I used for home and work. On all of my Chrome instances, the data was gone (!). My girlfriend encountered the same problem, but she only has an HP Laptop.

There are more than a few complaints about this, but I haven't found anything from the Chrome team that explains how it happens. Edit It's a bug in Chrome with iOS.

There are two possibilities: 1) the data got wiped from the Google server where the syncs are stored in the cloud (although my Bookmarks are still good across all the Chrome versions), or 2) one of the n Chrome instances uploaded empty (or corrupted) sync data, causing it to propagate to all my other Chrome instances.

Comments

[slhck]

I've never used Chrome's password storing feature, but can you find some in Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access.app?