Windows quietly saves passwords for network drives, some websites accessed through Internet Explorer legacy compatibility, Microsoft services, and various desktop apps, separately from whatever password manager or browser you actually think you're using. Credential Manager is where all of that lives, and most people never open it until they need to recover a password they forgot they'd ever saved.
Opening Credential Manager
Type "Credential Manager" into the Start menu search, or reach it through Control Panel → User Accounts → Credential Manager. It splits into two sections:
- Web Credentials — passwords saved through Microsoft Edge or other apps that use Windows' credential storage for web logins, tied to your Microsoft account if you're signed in.
- Windows Credentials — logins for network resources like shared drives, VPN connections, and some desktop applications that store credentials through the Windows credential API rather than managing their own.
Viewing a Saved Password
Click any entry to expand it, then click "Show" next to the password field. Windows requires your account password (or PIN/biometric confirmation) at this point — this is a genuine security check, not a formality, since it prevents someone with brief physical access to an unlocked but unattended PC from casually viewing every saved credential.
Removing or Editing an Entry
- Find the entry for the site, drive, or app in question.
- Click "Remove" to delete it entirely — useful when a saved password is outdated, or when a shared or public computer shouldn't retain it at all.
- Click "Edit" instead if you only need to update the stored password without removing the whole entry, such as after changing a network drive's login.
Why This Isn't a Full Password Manager
Credential Manager only stores what Windows itself or a small number of apps choose to save through it — it doesn't capture passwords saved inside Chrome, Firefox, or a dedicated password manager app, which each maintain their own separate, usually encrypted storage. It also doesn't sync passwords across devices the way a proper password manager does, doesn't generate strong passwords, and doesn't warn you about reused or breached passwords. Treat it as a narrow utility for Windows-specific and network credentials, not a place to intentionally store passwords going forward.
Backing Up Credentials Before a Reinstall
Credential Manager includes a "Back up Credentials" option that exports Windows Credentials (not Web Credentials) to an encrypted file you can restore on the same or a new installation. This is worth doing before a clean Windows reinstall if you have several network drives or VPN connections configured, since manually re-entering each one afterward is tedious — though for anything genuinely important, a proper password manager remains the safer long-term home regardless.
A Note on Shared and Work Computers
On a shared family computer, Web Credentials tied to a Microsoft account can carry saved logins between people using the same Windows account, which is easy to overlook — checking Credential Manager occasionally on shared machines, and removing anything that shouldn't be accessible to other users of the same login, is worth the few minutes it takes.
Credential Manager isn't something to check often, but it's useful to know it exists — for tracking down a mysteriously failing network login, recovering a password you forgot was ever saved, or making sure nothing sensitive is sitting there on a computer more than one person uses.
Generic Credentials vs Certificate-Based Credentials
Windows Credentials actually splits further into a few types you'll notice while browsing entries: generic credentials (a straightforward username and password pair, most common for network drives and older apps), Windows credentials (used specifically for domain and Windows-native authentication, common on work machines joined to a company network), and certificate-based credentials (used for authentication methods relying on a digital certificate rather than a typed password, often tied to VPNs or corporate remote access tools). You don't need to memorize the distinction to use Credential Manager day to day, but it explains why some entries show a password field you can reveal while others show certificate details instead with no password to display at all.
Command-Line Access for Advanced Cases
Beyond the graphical Credential Manager window, Windows includes a command-line tool called cmdkey that can list, add, and delete credentials from a terminal — useful mainly for scripting a fix across several machines at once, or for troubleshooting on a system where the graphical Settings app is misbehaving. Running cmdkey /list from Command Prompt shows the same Windows Credentials entries visible in the graphical tool, in a plainer text format. This is a niche option most people never need, but it's worth knowing it exists if you're ever following IT support instructions that reference it directly instead of walking through the Settings interface.
What Happens to Credentials During a Windows Reset
A full Windows reset or clean reinstall wipes Credential Manager's stored entries along with everything else on the system drive, which is exactly why the backup option mentioned earlier is worth using beforehand if you're about to reinstall and have several network drives or VPN connections configured manually. Restoring from that backup file after the reinstall brings Windows Credentials back without needing to type in every network path and login again from memory — a small step that saves a genuinely annoying bit of reconfiguration on a freshly set up PC.