Microsoft Edge can autofill Passwords on websites so that you don’t need to type passwords each time you visit. Microsoft introduced Device authentication aka Primary Password for the same in Edge, useful if you share your device with others. Edge has one more step covered to improve Privacy for saved Passwords, it now lets you create a custom Primary Password like Firefox.
Microsoft Edge saves time and effort with autofill. Whenever you navigate to a website and save Password, Edge can autofill it next time without you needing to type on accounts.
Edge securely stores Passwords to the hard disk in encrypted form and it auto-fills them automatically whenever you visit respective websites.
If you’re using the same device with multiple people, then they can sign into accounts using saved passwords with autofill.
Edge offers a setting to authenticate yourself with device credentials before you use to autofill Password on the website.
This has some drawbacks or privacy concerns as well:
If you share your device with more people, they likely knew your device password, hence a new Privacy feature is necessary to guard your stored Passwords, that’s where custom Password comes into play.
Here is how you can create a custom Primary Password if needed in Microsoft Edge
Create a custom Primary Password in Edge
- Launch Edge browser
- Click on the 3-dot icon and select Settings
- Click Profiles and select Passwords
- Under the sign in:
- Select “Prompt for the custom Password before filling website password”
- Enter your device password when asked
- In the “Create Primary Password” dialog that pops up, type new Password and confirm and click create.
- From the dropdown, select “Ask Permission once per browsing session” or “Always ask permission”.
Points to ponder:
Password should contain a min of 4 characters. Create a short password different from the device credential that you can remember. This saves time to type fast when you require to authenticate multiple times in a day.
You should remember this or note it down elsewhere. If you forget it, no way of getting back other than deleting the profile. You’ve to create a separate password for each profile or device you’re running.
How the custom Primary Password works
After the above step, every time you visit a website that has your Password stored, you’ll be asked to authenticate with the custom password you created above prior to the password being auto filled.
Here is what the dialog looks like and what it says
“Primary Password required. Please authenticate yourself with your Primary Password.”
What this means, is others won’t be able to use your stored passwords to autofill unless they use the custom Primary Password which you only know.
You can anytime change or remove custom Password by visiting Password management Page or edge://settings/Passwords in Edge browser
Note: The feature is currently available in Edge 100 Canary and dev channels. According to the official release schedule, Edge 100 is expected to hit the stable branch in the “week of 31-March 2022”.
What’s your take on Edge getting the Primary Password feature? Do you welcome this? Let us know in the comments below.
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