The Credential Manager is a handy tool that stores your credentials for websites, apps, and networks. In some cases, however, you might want to remove all the credentials from your Credential Manager on Windows. Perhaps you’re handing over your Windows to someone else, or you’re just converting your PC into a shared workstation.
Whatever the reason, you must ensure you’ve wiped out all the credentials beforehand. In what follows, we’ll follow the exact steps you can implement to remove your credential from Credential Manager.
So let’s get started.
How to clear credentials from Credential Manager on Windows
First introduced with Windows 7, the Credential Manager has come a long way and comes in two forms: Web Credential or Windows Credential.
Regardless of the types of credentials you want to remove, the initial process is the same (until a few steps, at least). Here’s how:
- Head to the Start menu search bar, type in ‘control panel,’ and select the best match.
- From there, head to the “View by” dropdown from the top-right corner and select any option other than “Category”.
- Finally, click on Credential Manager.
- Choose from Web Credentials or Windows Credentials.
Now, if you’d chosen Web Credentials earlier, here’s what you need to do:
- Click on any saved credentials to see your stored information: password, username, website URL, etc.
- Now click on Show and verify your account.
- Select Remove to get rid of the credential.
Click on the specific credential you want to remove by expanding the arrow. Finally, click on Remove. Similarly, do this for the other credentials, and you’ll be set.
Alternatively, if you’d chosen Windows Credentials, you should be seeing something like this on your screen right now:
Now, just as you did above, click on Remove to get rid of your credentials. Confirm the removal by clicking on Yes.
Clearing your credentials from Credential Manager on Windows PC
If you’re planning to give away your PC, clearing your passwords from Credential Manager is the first thing you should be done with (maybe also remove your passwords from the browser if you have any).