Hi, BW for Windows, logged as $1 without reason, impossible to logout !
I don’t know exactly why you are experiencing this issue, but I have on occasion seen reports of this type of glitch, in which a “$1” variable is being shown on the login screen (for example, see this old thread). It is highly unlikely that here is anything nefarious going on.
Can you clarify which Bitwarden app you are using? You have selected the app:desktop tag (and it looks like your screenshot is from the desktop app), but your post mentions problems with the Chrome browser extension.
I would suggest doing the following to deal with the Desktop app: Close the desktop app, and open the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) to ensure that the Bitwarden app is no longer running. Then type %AppData%\Bitwarden into the address bar of Windows File Explorer (or navigate to C:\Users\YourAccount\AppData\Roaming\Bitwarden), and delete the contents of that folder. Finally, launch the desktop app and log back in. If you’re still nervous that you may have been hacked, it wouldn’t hurt to run a malware scan of your system before you log back in to your vault.
I suspect that whatever issue you may be experiencing with the browser extension is a separate problem (since the browser extension and desktop app are completely independent, unless you use biometric unlocking). If you are still having problems with the browser extension after fixing the Desktop app, perhaps you can start a separate topic and provide additional detail about the problem.
I have done absolutely nothing special. That’s what I find very frightening.
I am using BW for Windows and BW for Chrome extension in my Chrome browser. As I wrote in my 1st post, I am aware that the point in only BW for Windows. What happens in BW for Chrome is just the consequence. I am using biometric recognition for info.
Technical glitches happen. It could be due to a Windows update, an app update, or any number of changes in the state of your computer. Did you follow my instructions for fixing the problem?
Sorry but I really don’t want to delete all that stuff :
It is like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly.
I neither want to reconfigure of my Bitwarden for Windows application, nor reconfigure Windows Hello due to this.
How to force BW for Windows to log out ?
The problem is most likely that your Bitwarden Desktop app is in fact logged out, but that it believes it is still logged in and locked. That is why it seems to you like you can’t log out.
If you don’t want to follow my previous suggestion, then the only other option would be to completely uninstall the Bitwarden Desktop app, and then re-install it.
Uninstalling is a sledgehammer to kill a fly as well.
The above suggestion, is also throwing to the bin all the settings of the user, that’s not an acceptable solution.
How to just stop Bitwarden for Windows Desktop to think I am logged in ?
In a software there is normally status information files. Deleting just such file should solve the issue I suppose
Some (but not all) of the user settings are stored together with the cloud vault, and would be automatically restored after you log back in. If I had to guess, the remaining settings are stored in the file %AppData%\Bitwarden\Preferences, so you could make a copy of that file to restore after your reinstall the app.
Alternatively, if you want to experiment, you could selectively delete some of the contents of the %AppData%\Bitwarden\ folder, to check if it fixes your problem. For example, I would try deleting the data.json and Local State files, and perhaps the contents of the folders %AppData%\Bitwarden\Session Storage and %AppData%\Bitwarden\Local Storage.
Perhaps you can also try to type in the wrong master password on the unlock screen and repeatedly try to unlock with the wrong password — I believe that after a certain number of failed unlock attempts, it may revert to the login screen.
Other than that, I’m not sure what else to suggest. I think there are less than a dozen settings in the app preferences, and personally I think that manually reconfiguring the app preferences (in case restoring the Preferences file does not do the trick) would be less of a problem than not being able to use the app at all.
I had no choice but to reinstall all Bitwarden for Desktop.
Furthermore none of my BW for Desktop application settings came back after that, even Windows Hello did not come back. I had to config all the application settings again.
So not only is Bitwarden uninstable, but even the settings needs to be manually re-entered.
I appreciate BW and the work done by developers. But we need to consider this: nowadays, most of us have more than 150 apps/applications installed in pc and mobile, if each of them behave like this every 6 month and you need 1h to be reconfigured, because you need to figure out what you had entered. How many hours are an average human user has to lose every month.
I recommend creating regular backup images of your system as insurance against loss of data or software configurations.
It turns out that the settings are stored in the data.json file. If you happen to have a backup copy of your original installation, then you can just copy the data.json file into the %AppData%\Bitwarden folder.
I actually encountered this issue myself as well today
Didn’t want to reinstall, especially after reading it would clear all config.
What I did after messing about extensively, was simply to go to the top right, click on my account name and select Add Account.
I added my account “again” and I could access my vault again without any loss of config 
Well done. 2nd person reporting this, so it confirms there is a serious issue in BW for desktop.
Not even speaking about the fact that the message given by this BW bug is frightening: someone else has logged on your vault !
Since this bug and needing to reinstall BW for desktop, I can no longer login into BW for Chrome via Windows Hello, despite it being configured:
and Windows Hello properly working on BW for desktop.
When I want to open BW for Chrome, Windows Hello prompt shows up, but after validating (correctly), nothing happens on BW for Chrome, it is staying in this stage endlessly :
Is your Desktop app running?
It is now working, after restarting 2 times. I think it is because as you say, BW desktop was not running in background.
FYI, there is a setting in the Desktop app to make it start up automatically anytime the operating system starts.
I also have recently been dealing with this issue and re-adding my account was sufficient for me
I encounter this issue regularly, too. Filed a bug report here: "Logged in as __$1__ on bitwarden.com." · Issue #6611 · bitwarden/clients · GitHub
I have also had the this happen to me on two occasions with Bitwarden using Mac OS. Support on both times said that it’s an encryption glitch and to just reinstall. Make of it what you will i guess.
The GitHub issue was just closed with no resolution because it’s just a “visual bug” 
