Bizarre Skype automatic logout issue

I am having this problem since a few months:

on my home PC (windows 8.1) when I start the Skype desktop app, it logins into my Skype account, but after a second it logs out and shows the starting dialog (see screenshot below), where I must enter my account name and password again to log in. Then everything works until the next time I start Skype when the same problem happens again.

The showed login dialog:

At that time, the Skype credentials disappear from Control Panel / Credential Manager (where they are usually stored and visible, when the Skype login works - see below an example):

I use the same Skype account on my iPhone and iPad and work PC (Windows 7) and there is never an issue.

I tried:

• reinstalling Skype
• clearing all saved state, including the Skype login credentials in Windows Credential Manager
• updating the Skype app (several updates were released in that time)

Nothing helps.

The only thing I found was a workaround:

• start Windows
• login to Windows
• open Control Panel / Credential Manager
• start Skype

I am doing this since a month, and it never fails. Today I started Skype without opening Credential Manager first, and bam, it logged me out again.

Currently I have Skype version 8.55

For reference, this is how Credential Manager looks when my Skype login is remembered:

There is a reddit discussion about this here and there a discussion on Microsoft Skype community forum is linked, with some users having the same problem, but no solution.

3 Answers

Try the old fix of running Skype once as Administrator, entering fully the credentials, then exiting and passing on to normal running.

This trick allows the program to update some parameter that it is stuck on trying to update, but cannot manage to do because of some snarl-up of permissions, and this may also reset those permissions.

This trick has worked for me, although for other products, and may also work for Skype.

Skype for Desktop MSA/david.balazic

• username
• password

Skype for Desktop/david.balazic

• username
• password

david.balazic

• username
• password

now enter also another with just the username

• username
• password

This helped me out:

1. Uninstall Skype
2. Go to ...\AppData\Roaming directory (press Windows + R and type %appdata% then enter)
3. Delete (or rename) 2 folders: Skype and Microsoft\Skype for Desktop
4. Reinstall Skype

I found out that the size of old Microsoft\Skype for Desktop\Cache folder was too big, which could be a core reason.