Windows Credential Manager Keeps Old Office Password: Fix

When you update your Microsoft 365 or Office password, Windows Credential Manager may still store the old password. This causes repeated login prompts, authentication failures, or errors like “Your credentials did not work” when opening Outlook, Word, or Teams. The issue occurs because Credential Manager caches the old password and does not automatically sync with the new one. This article explains how to delete the stale Office credential and replace it with the correct password so your apps connect without interruption.

Why Credential Manager Holds the Old Office Password

Windows Credential Manager stores sign-in information for websites, connected apps, and network resources. When you sign in to Microsoft 365 or Office on a Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC, the system saves your email and password in a special section called Windows Credentials. This allows apps like Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive to authenticate silently in the background.

The problem arises when you change your Microsoft 365 account password outside of Windows — for example, through the Microsoft account website or your organization’s identity management portal. Credential Manager does not receive a notification about the password change. It continues to store the old password and passes it to Office apps each time they try to connect to the server. The server rejects the old password, triggering a login prompt or an error message.

This behavior is by design. Credential Manager is a local credential vault, not a live synchronization service. It does not query the identity provider for password updates. The only way to fix the mismatch is to manually delete the stored credential and let the system capture the new password the next time you sign in.

Steps to Remove the Old Office Credential and Add the New Password

Follow these steps to clear the stale Office credential from Credential Manager and re-authenticate with your current password. These instructions apply to Windows 11 and Windows 10.

1. Open Credential Manager
   Press the Windows key, type credential manager, and select Credential Manager from the search results. The Control Panel applet opens.
2. Switch to Windows Credentials
   Click Windows Credentials at the top of the window. This section contains all saved credentials for Microsoft services, network shares, and remote desktop connections.
3. Locate the Office credential
   Scroll through the list under Generic Credentials. Look for entries that contain:

   – MicrosoftOffice followed by a number (for example, MicrosoftOffice15_Data:ADAL:<your-email>)
   – MicrosoftOffice followed by LiveId or OrganizationalId
   – WindowsLiveID or MSACredentials

   If you use Microsoft 365 with a work or school account, you may see entries with your company domain name.

4. Expand and delete the old credential
   Click the arrow to the right of the credential entry to expand its details. Click Remove and confirm the deletion when prompted. Repeat for any additional Office-related entries you find.
5. Close Credential Manager
   Exit the Control Panel window. No restart is required at this stage.
6. Open an Office app and sign in again
   Launch Outlook, Teams, Word, or any Microsoft 365 app. The app will detect that no cached credential exists and display a sign-in prompt. Enter your full email address and your current password. If your organization uses multi-factor authentication, complete the second verification step.
7. Verify the new credential is saved
   After a successful sign-in, open Credential Manager again and check under Windows Credentials. A new entry for MicrosoftOffice should appear with the updated timestamp. This confirms the system has stored the correct password.

If the Old Office Credential Returns or the Problem Persists

Office Credential Reappears After Deletion

If you delete the credential but it reappears with the old password, a background sync service or a roaming profile may be restoring it. In Windows 11, the Sync your settings feature can replicate credentials across devices. Turn this off temporarily:

Go to Settings > Accounts > Windows backup. Under Remember my preferences, toggle Passwords to Off. Delete the credential again and restart the Office app.

Multiple Office Credentials Cause Conflicts

Some users see several MicrosoftOffice credentials for the same email address. This can happen when different Office versions or apps store separate tokens. Delete all entries that match your email address. After signing in again, only one credential should be created.

Credential Manager Does Not Show Office Entries

If you cannot find any Office-related credentials, the password may be stored in the Web Credentials tab instead. Click Web Credentials at the top of Credential Manager and look for entries containing login.microsoftonline.com or office.com. Remove those entries as well and sign in again from the Office app.

Outlook Still Prompts for Password After Credential Change

Outlook may have an additional saved password in its own account settings. Open Outlook, go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings, select your email account, and click Change. Under Logon Information, clear the password field and re-enter the current password. Click Next and complete the test.

Manual Credential Deletion vs Credential Manager Reset

Item	Delete Specific Credential	Reset All Credentials
Scope	Removes only the selected Office entry	Removes all stored credentials including network drives, remote desktop, and browser logins
Time required	1-2 minutes	5-10 minutes plus re-authentication for every service
Risk	Low — only Office apps need re-authentication	High — you must re-enter passwords for all saved connections
Recommended for	Single Office password update	General credential corruption or after a security incident

To reset all credentials, open Credential Manager, click Windows Credentials, and remove every entry individually. Alternatively, use the command rundll32.exe keymgr.dll, KRShowKeyMgr in a Run dialog to open the Stored User Names and Passwords manager, then delete all entries.

After a full reset, every application and mapped drive that previously used saved credentials will prompt you to sign in again. This method should only be used when targeted deletion does not resolve the issue.

After completing the credential removal and re-authentication, your Office apps should connect without prompting for the password again. To avoid this issue in the future, change your Microsoft 365 password directly from the Office app’s account settings when possible. In Outlook, go to File > Account > Manage Account and use the Change password link. This updates the credential in Credential Manager automatically on some configurations.