Where Does the Windows iSCSI Initiator Store Targets?
The iSCSI initiator keeps target portals and favorites in the registry plus persistent login bindings.
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The Windows iSCSI initiator stores discovered portals, favorite targets, and persistent logins in the registry under the legacy iSCSI key. Multipath and CHAP secrets live alongside.
That registry state is why initiator behavior survives reinstalls of nothing and confuses fresh troubleshooting. Stale favorites point at dead portals long after DNS moved on. Clear favorites and rediscover when targets migrate, rather than adding duplicates.
Where Windows stores this, by platform
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\iSCSI
Discovered portals, favorites, and persistent logins in the registry. Clear stale favorites after target moves; duplicates cause silent reconnect failures.
Frequently asked questions
A target stopped reconnecting after maintenance. Why?
Check the favorites list and persistent targets in the initiator first. Stale portals after a target move cause exactly this silent failure to reconnect.
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