How To Create A Credential Manager Shortcut

During your online navigation, there's no doubt that you'll have the need to login to various accounts every now and then. The same applies If you're part of a network, and you want to access a shared folder or a mapped drive. To make life easier, Windows stores your login details In a hidden utility named Credential Manager. For ease of access, In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a Credential Manager shortcut on your computer's desktop.


So what exactly Is Credential Manager, and what's Its purpose? Well, I'm glad you've asked! In simple terms and without the tech jargon, It stores your login credentials when signing Into websites (when using Microsoft Edge), and the same with usernames & passwords for network locations. It also allows you to add, delete, backup and restore your login details.

Here's a visual of what I'm referring to. The traditional way to access Credential Manager, Is to navigate to Control Panel > User Accounts > Credential Manager. It will then launch as per the Image below.

Wouldn't It be great, If you could access Credential Manager with a simple double-click of the mouse? I will demonstrate how to do this with Incredible ease, by creating a shortcut on your PC's desktop. So without further delay, let's get this tutorial started.

Step One:

Firstly, navigate to your computer's desktop, right-click on a blank area and select New > Shortcut as shown below.

Step Two:

Next, In the Type the location of the Item field, enter the following command.

control /name Microsoft.CredentialManager

Then hit Next to move forward.

Step Three:

Now you need to give your shortcut a name. It can be anything you like. For the purpose of this tutorial, I've named mine Windows 10 Tips Credential Manager. When you've applied yours, click Finish to finalize the process.

Step Four:

I've now navigated to my computer's desktop, and as you can see, the Credential Manager shortcut has been successfully created. Let's make sure It's functional, by double-clicking It.

Last Step:

As expected, the Credential Manager utility has executed, thereby I can manage my login details as needed.

Final Thoughts:

Although It's not a difficult process to access the Credential Manager utility via Control Panel or similar means, nothing beats a simple double-click of the mouse. Moreover, the desktop shortcut can be copied & pasted to just about any directory you like, thus have It readily available at all times.