Something deleted all passwords in history

[Chris]

Right now, I want to look for an old password of one entry (in history), then I found out that all password before around March 2018 are deleted. The entries of the histories are there (12 versions from 2015 to now), with different usernames and comments, but all completely without passwords.

What could caused this?

[Paul]

If the history item exists the password will also be there as the entire entry is moved to the history section.
Try exporting one problematic entry as XML, then open it in an editor and scroll down to the history section. The sample below shows what it should look like.

cheers, Paul

            <Entry>
                <UUID>4d09d82twUaFOEBih5834g==</UUID>
                <IconID>0</IconID>
                <ForegroundColor></ForegroundColor>
                <BackgroundColor></BackgroundColor>
                <OverrideURL></OverrideURL>
                <Tags></Tags>
                <Times>
                    <CreationTime>2011-08-09T16:06:35Z</CreationTime>
                    <LastModificationTime>2016-12-04T08:04:08Z</LastModificationTime>
                    <LastAccessTime>2016-12-04T08:04:08Z</LastAccessTime>
                    <ExpiryTime>2011-09-22T04:58:53Z</ExpiryTime>
                    <Expires>False</Expires>
                    <UsageCount>26</UsageCount>
                    <LocationChanged>2011-08-09T16:06:35Z</LocationChanged>
                </Times>
                <String>
                    <Key>Notes</Key>
                    <Value>Different note</Value>
                </String>
                <String>
                    <Key>Password</Key>
                    <Value ProtectInMemory="True">tEStAÄÖäöü</Value>
                </String>
                <String>
                    <Key>Title</Key>
                    <Value>Test</Value>
                </String>
                <String>
                    <Key>URL</Key>
                    <Value>cmd://%comspec% /k</Value>
                </String>
                <String>
                    <Key>UserName</Key>
                    <Value>testÄÖÜäöüQ</Value>
                </String>
                <Binary>
                    <Key>Document1.pdf</Key>
                    <Value Ref="0" />
                </Binary>
                <AutoType>
                    <Enabled>True</Enabled>
                    <DataTransferObfuscation>0</DataTransferObfuscation>
                    <Association>
                        <Window>Test*</Window>
                        <KeystrokeSequence>{C:Pick some characters}{PICKCHARS}</KeystrokeSequence>
                    </Association>
                </AutoType>
                <History>
                    <Entry>
                        <UUID>4d09d82twUaFOEBih5834g==</UUID>
                        <IconID>0</IconID>
                        <ForegroundColor></ForegroundColor>
                        <BackgroundColor></BackgroundColor>
                        <OverrideURL></OverrideURL>
                        <Tags></Tags>
                        <Times>
                            <CreationTime>2011-08-09T16:06:35Z</CreationTime>
                            <LastModificationTime>2011-09-22T04:58:55Z</LastModificationTime>
                            <LastAccessTime>2011-09-22T04:59:04Z</LastAccessTime>
                            <ExpiryTime>2011-09-22T04:58:53Z</ExpiryTime>
                            <Expires>True</Expires>
                            <UsageCount>6</UsageCount>
                            <LocationChanged>2011-08-09T16:06:35Z</LocationChanged>
                        </Times>
                        <String>
                            <Key>Notes</Key>
                            <Value></Value>
                        </String>
                        <String>
                            <Key>Password</Key>
                            <Value ProtectInMemory="True">KdTjM7OXUUVMa7go0QwP</Value>
                        </String>
                        <String>
                            <Key>Title</Key>
                            <Value>Test</Value>
                        </String>
                        <String>
                            <Key>URL</Key>
                            <Value>cmd://%comspec% /k</Value>
                        </String>
                        <String>
                            <Key>UserName</Key>
                            <Value></Value>
                        </String>
                        <Binary>
                            <Key>Document1.pdf</Key>
                            <Value Ref="0" />
                        </Binary>
                        <AutoType>
                            <Enabled>True</Enabled>
                            <DataTransferObfuscation>0</DataTransferObfuscation>
                        </AutoType>
                    </Entry>

[Chris]

Thanks for your quick respons, Paul!

All old history values look like this:

<String>
    <Key>Password</Key>
    <Value ProtectInMemory="True"></Value>
 </String>

Every password value is empty. And I'm 100% sure, there was a value in the past.

[Paul]

KeePass doesn't have an easy way to delete old passwords en masse, but you can do it with XML Replace.

Restore an old backup of your database to a different location and open that to check.

cheers, Paul

[Chris]

No, I don't want to delete old passwords in history, au contraire.
This happened and I don’t know why. I want to prevent, that this happens again.

In an old version of this key file are all history passwords.

[Paul]

Did you save your database in an app on your phone / tablet?
What did you do between the last good backup and the current copy?

cheers, Paul

[Dark Titan]

There is a feature that limits the number of historical versions that are stored for each individual record.

Check your settings... File > Database Settings > Advanced Tab to see if this isnt the case.