1. What is the Windows Credential Manager?

Windows Vista onwards has shipped with an built-in utility called the Windows Credential Manager. This is a central point from which you can manage different kinds of credentials used by the Windows system.

2. Managing credentials Using the Windows Credential Manager

You can interact with the Windows Credential Manager in two ways - through the GUI, or through the CLI. We will now look at some of the more common operations you will need to perform to use Moonshot, and explain how to do them both ways.

2.1. Loading the Credential Manager

1. The simplest way to load the Credential Manager is to click Start, then in the search bar type "cred". "Credential Manager" should be one of the search results in the Control Panel section.
2. Simply click on "Credential Manager" to load it. Assuming your credential vault is currently unpopulated, you would see a screen that lists your stored credentials for automatic login, including Windows credentials, certificate-based credentials, Generic credentials, and possibly other.  (Example screenshot below; the look and feel might differ depending on the version of Windows you're using - this is from Windows 7).
   

2.2. Adding credentials for a particular service

2.2.1. Using the GUI

1. In Credential Manager, click on the "Add a Windows Credential" link.
2. In the dialogue that appears are the following fields to fill out:
   • Internet or network address: this is the FQDN of the service you are trying to authenticate to using Moonshot (e.g., an Exchange Server located at moonshot-exch.insrv.cf.uk)
   • User name: this should be your username, scoped with a realm - e.g. rhys@dev.ja.net
   • Password: the password associated with that username@realm.
     
3. Fill these out and click "OK". The new credential should now show up in the list.
   

2.2.2. Using the CLI

Open a command prompt and type:

cmdkey /add:[fqdn of server] /user:[username@realm] /password:[password]

2.3. Modifying credentials

You may wish to change the credentials you use with a particular service if you wish to log in with a different username/password combination, or if the password associated with the account you are using has changed.

2.3.1.1. Using the GUI

1. In the main Credential Manager interface, locate the credential you wish to modify by reference to its service name. To the right of the name, click on the icon and you should see the detail of the credential. At the bottom, click on the "edit" link. A dialogue should now appear allowing you to change the username or password to use for that service.
    
2. Make the necessary changes and click on "save".

2.3.2. Using the CLI

You cannot directly edit a credential through the CLI; instead delete the existing instance and add the modified version as a new credential.

2.4. Removing credentials for a particular service

2.4.1. Using the GUI

1. In the main Credential Manger interface, locate the credential you wish to remove by reference to its service name. To the right of the name, click on the icon and you should see the detail of the credential. At the bottom, click on the "remove from vault" link.
    
2. A confirmation dialogue will appear. If you are sure, then click on "yes".
    

2.4.2. Using the CLI

1. Open a command prompt and type:

   cmdkey /delete:[fqdn of server]

2. This will remove the entry in the Credential Manager that corresponds the service identified in the command.
   

3. Further Information

A good starting point for finding out further information about the Windows Credential Manager is Microsoft's documentation.