How to Remove Network Credentials in Windows 10

If the cached network username and password are causing issues, follow these steps to completely remove network credentials in Windows 10.

When you first log into a network share, Windows can store those login credentials in the Credential Manager. This is called caching network credentials. Since the login credentials are already available in the Credential Manager, Windows will not prompt you again for the network share password or username. This makes the administrator or network user’s life easy as they don’t have to enter the username and password each and every time to access the network folder.

However, if the network share password is changed or if the initial username and password are wrong then the cached network credential can be a problem. In those cases, you can remove the network username and password from the credential manager.

In this quick guide, let me show the procedure to remove cached network credentials using Credential Manager and Command Prompt.

Remove Network Credentials from Credential Manager

Windows saves all the usernames and passwords in the Credential Manager. To remove the cached network password and username, you have to remove the network share entry from the Credential Manager.

Follow these steps to remove network credentials from the Credential Manager.

1. Open Start.
2. Search and open “Control Panel“.
3. Set “View by” on top right corner to “Large icons” to see all control panel items.
4. Click on the “Credential Manager” option.
5. After opening the Credential Manager, select the “Windows Credentials” tab within it.
6. Here, click on the Network Share password you want to delete.
7. From the credential options, click the “Remove” link.
   
8. Click “Yes” in the confirmation/warning window to confirm that you would like to remove the cached network password from the credential manager.
   

That is it. As soon as you click yes and confirm the action, Windows will remove network credentials. When you try to log into the network share, you will be again prompted for the username and password. If you select the Remember option, Windows will store the network share login details in the Credential Manager.

Use Command Prompt to Remove Cached Network Share Password & Username

To remove cached network share credentials, this is the command you should use. Once you execute the below command, Windows will delete all network share passwords.

net use * /DELETE

Follow the steps below to see how to use the command delete network share password in Windows.

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Search for “Command Prompt“.
3. Right-click on Command Prompt and select the “Run as administrator” option.
   
4. In the admin Command Prompt window, execute the “net use \\ServerName /del” command to delete a specific network share credentials. Replace “ServerName” with the actual network share computer name.
5. To remove all cached network credentials use the “net use * /DELETE” command.
6. Close the Command Prompt.

As soon as you execute the command, Windows will delete all network share passwords and usernames or a specific network share depending on the command you executed. If there are no cached network credentials, the Command Prompt will show the “There are no entries in the list” message.

I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.

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If you like this article, check out how to map FTP as a network drive in Windows 10 and how to create network connections shortcut in Windows 10.