diff --git a/news/6795.bugfix b/news/6795.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5fb39c49e28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/6795.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Allow access to an index using a URL embedded token
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/download.py b/src/pip/_internal/download.py
index 8715eb5b19d..6da6830b1a9 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/download.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/download.py
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ def _get_new_credentials(self, original_url, allow_netrc=True,
                 logger.debug("Found credentials in keyring for %s", netloc)
                 return kr_auth
 
-        return None, None
+        return username, password
 
     def _get_url_and_credentials(self, original_url):
         """Return the credentials to use for the provided URL.
@@ -314,11 +314,11 @@ def _get_url_and_credentials(self, original_url):
 
         # If nothing cached, acquire new credentials without prompting
         # the user (e.g. from netrc, keyring, or similar).
-        if username is None or password is None:
+        if username is None and password is None:
             username, password = self._get_new_credentials(original_url)
 
-        if username is not None and password is not None:
-            # Store the username and password
+        if username is not None or password is not None:
+            # Store any acquired credentials
             self.passwords[netloc] = (username, password)
 
         return url, username, password
@@ -330,9 +330,9 @@ def __call__(self, req):
         # Set the url of the request to the url without any credentials
         req.url = url
 
-        if username is not None and password is not None:
+        if username is not None or password is not None:
             # Send the basic auth with this request
-            req = HTTPBasicAuth(username, password)(req)
+            req = HTTPBasicAuth(username or "", password or "")(req)
 
         # Attach a hook to handle 401 responses
         req.register_hook("response", self.handle_401)