Clear credentials grayed out

[humblebragdotorg]

I'm trying to change my lock screen effects and it's grayed out. Everything I've read said to tap clear credentials in the security section. Only problem is this is grayed out too. Has anyone encountered this? I haven't found a fix to this. Any help is appreciated.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! What do you mean by lock screen effects? Are you trying to change the wallpaper? Or the unlock method?

 

[Howzy64]

I have the same problem. I'm simply trying to enable quick access to camera without entering a PIN or pattern. All lock screen options are greyed out no matter which setting, eg. swipe, PIN, pattern. I read that I should clear credentials but that option is greyed out too. Any advice very welcome.

 

[Rob Welch]

has anyone found a solution for this

 

[Uncreative Name]

it's the unlock method. I use a Galaxy Note 3, the problem I am having here is all of my Encrypt device options are grayed out besides "password", including "none" so there is no way to take off the password either. Anywhere else that this issue is posted it all comes back to pressing "clear credentials" which works for everybody else but for some of us the "clear credentials" option is grayed out as well, it's maddening.

ANY HELP you could offer on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Uncreative Name]

MADDENING.

 

[zeakie]

Having same problem on Note2 anyone found a solution for this?

 

[xoaubree]

Bumping this back up...
I'm having the exact same problem. I don't even have the option to not have one, just password. Wish I could find a solution!!

 

[Curt Owens]

After removing the Exchange account all options were still grayed out. I had to go through the Password Security setup wizard to create a device password. I then had to go into "Encrypt external SD card", even though I had no external SD card inserted, and turn that off. I could then, finally, change my screen lock types (I chose pattern lock). Took an hour of sleuthing, but this thread finally gave me the clues needed. Thanks all.

 

[ashniss]

You are a life saver. Removing the encryption on my SD card that I didnt have, worked. I thought I was going to have to reset to factory settings. Thank you!

 

[Bob Stein]

I have no "Encrypt external SD card" option. I still have a grayed-out "Clear credentials". But repowering my Moto X Gen 2 seemed to bring back the None option under Settings | Security | Screen lock. (It was gone, there were only four options, Swipe, Pattern, PIN, Password. Now there are five again, starting with None.)

My original problem seemed to happen after a but-dialing [sic] mishap. (Or what do you call it when you forget to turn the phone off before it does in the pocket, and all kinds of random things happen?) All of a sudden the screen needed a swipe every time I turned it on. Under Security | Screen lock there was no None option. There are suggestions online to clear credentials and I had (still have) a clear credentials option grayed out. That's how I got here.

 

[Amr Morsy]

i am trying to use a vpn software like surfeasy, but when i tring to login it gives an error sms saying check your credentials > then tried to clear credentials but it seems off > cant make the action ??
how could i login to surfeasy or how could i clear credentials ??

 

[Treece B]

I have no "Encrypt external SD card" option. I still have a grayed-out "Clear credentials". But repowering my Moto X Gen 2 seemed to bring back the None option under Settings | Security | Screen lock. (It was gone, there were only four options, Swipe, Pattern, PIN, Password. Now there are five again, starting with None.)

My original problem seemed to happen after a but-dialing [sic] mishap. (Or what do you call it when you forget to turn the phone off before it does in the pocket, and all kinds of random things happen?) All of a sudden the screen needed a swipe every time I turned it on. Under Security | Screen lock there was no None option. There are suggestions online to clear credentials and I had (still have) a clear credentials option grayed out. That's how I got here.

I too, know that this post is very old. I had set my android Samsung to lock pattern but wanted to change it to pin. I didn't want to set my phone to the factory settings because my clear credentials were grayed out, so I went to set to settings, locked screen, put in my locked pattern and yes, I was able to go back to swipe or pin. Hope this helps.

 

[NITHIN Somasundar]

I think I have a solution for the issue. I'm currently using Sony Xperia z1. I used a pattern lock on my phone, I was also facing the same problem with the greyed out stuff in security settings and also in clear credentials.
So, here is what I did. I went to settings>security>device administrators> remove ticks in every feature.
Now try with the unlock methods, u must be able to use other methods.
Thank you..

 

[dhina200]

lock scree problem, clear credential greyed out, could encrypt External SD card,,,,, but this above answer solved my problem

 

[Dru T]

thank you! you are a genious

 

[Woody9911]

All of a sudden my phone, which had never had a lock screen password, had one and I had no idea what it was. Luckily I finally figured out it was my gmail password.
Turns out:
Our group was required to migrate to cloud for email and on our devices via IBM Verse. It required a screen lock password and the administrator privileges of some sort but in the setup this was never a step in the process. Rather, it somehow auto selected my gmail pw as my lockscreen pw. How stupid is that. Could not remove the lock screen pw- switching to swipe, clear credentials and everything else everyone has suggested was greyed out, etc. When I removed the IBM Verse application, everything is good again. What a cluster... thanks IBM

 

[sujith222]

You are simply awesome, thanks for the solution. It resolved the issue.

 

[farhan0011]

I'm trying to change my lock screen effects and it's grayed out. Everything I've read said to tap clear credentials in the security section. Only problem is this is grayed out too. Has anyone encountered this? I haven't found a fix to this. Any help is appreciated

 

[hamiwill]

I found this video on YouTube today and it fixed the issue for me. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x_E9VFgWjas" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
give it a shot.