diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/json/config/GsonModule.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/json/config/GsonModule.java
index 1dd53dafd7..4c62be7df6 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/json/config/GsonModule.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/json/config/GsonModule.java
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ import javax.inject.Provider;
 import javax.inject.Singleton;
 
 import org.jclouds.date.DateService;
+import org.jclouds.domain.Credentials;
 import org.jclouds.domain.JsonBall;
+import org.jclouds.domain.LoginCredentials;
 import org.jclouds.json.Json;
 import org.jclouds.json.SerializedNames;
 import org.jclouds.json.internal.DeserializationConstructorAndReflectiveTypeAdapterFactory;
@@ -94,8 +96,9 @@ public class GsonModule extends AbstractModule {
    @Singleton
    Gson provideGson(TypeAdapter<JsonBall> jsonAdapter, DateAdapter adapter, ByteListAdapter byteListAdapter,
          ByteArrayAdapter byteArrayAdapter, PropertiesAdapter propertiesAdapter, JsonAdapterBindings bindings,
-         OptionalTypeAdapterFactory optional, SetTypeAdapterFactory set, ImmutableSetTypeAdapterFactory immutableSet,
-         MapTypeAdapterFactory map, MultimapTypeAdapterFactory multimap, IterableTypeAdapterFactory iterable,
+         CredentialsAdapterFactory credentialsAdapterFactory, OptionalTypeAdapterFactory optional,
+         SetTypeAdapterFactory set, ImmutableSetTypeAdapterFactory immutableSet, MapTypeAdapterFactory map,
+         MultimapTypeAdapterFactory multimap, IterableTypeAdapterFactory iterable,
          CollectionTypeAdapterFactory collection, ListTypeAdapterFactory list,
          ImmutableListTypeAdapterFactory immutableList, FluentIterableTypeAdapterFactory fluentIterable,
          ImmutableMapTypeAdapterFactory immutableMap, DefaultExclusionStrategy exclusionStrategy,
@@ -112,6 +115,7 @@ public class GsonModule extends AbstractModule {
       builder.registerTypeAdapter(Date.class, adapter.nullSafe());
       builder.registerTypeAdapter(byte[].class, byteArrayAdapter.nullSafe());
       builder.registerTypeAdapter(JsonBall.class, jsonAdapter.nullSafe());
+      builder.registerTypeAdapterFactory(credentialsAdapterFactory);
       builder.registerTypeAdapterFactory(optional);
       builder.registerTypeAdapterFactory(iterable);
       builder.registerTypeAdapterFactory(collection);
@@ -316,6 +320,68 @@ public class GsonModule extends AbstractModule {
       }
    }
 
+   /** Special cases serialization for {@linkplain LoginCredentials} and normalizes all others. */
+   public static class CredentialsAdapterFactory extends TypeAdapter<Credentials> implements TypeAdapterFactory {
+
+      @Override public void write(JsonWriter out, Credentials credentials) throws IOException {
+         out.beginObject();
+         if (credentials instanceof LoginCredentials) {
+            LoginCredentials login = (LoginCredentials) credentials;
+            out.name("user");
+            out.value(login.getUser());
+            out.name("password");
+            out.value(login.getOptionalPassword().orNull());
+            out.name("privateKey");
+            out.value(login.getOptionalPrivateKey().orNull());
+            if (login.shouldAuthenticateSudo()) {
+               out.name("authenticateSudo");
+               out.value(login.shouldAuthenticateSudo());
+            }
+         } else {
+            out.name("identity");
+            out.value(credentials.identity);
+            out.name("credential");
+            out.value(credentials.credential);
+         }
+         out.endObject();
+      }
+
+      @Override public Credentials read(JsonReader in) throws IOException {
+         LoginCredentials.Builder builder = LoginCredentials.builder();
+         String identity = null;
+         String credential = null;
+         in.beginObject();
+         while (in.hasNext()) {
+            String name = in.nextName();
+            if (name.equals("identity")) {
+               identity = in.nextString();
+            } else if (name.equals("credential")) {
+               credential = in.nextString();
+            } else if (name.equals("user")) {
+               builder.user(in.nextString());
+            } else if (name.equals("password")) {
+               builder.password(in.nextString());
+            } else if (name.equals("privateKey")) {
+               builder.privateKey(in.nextString());
+            } else if (name.equals("authenticateSudo")) {
+               builder.authenticateSudo(in.nextBoolean());
+            } else {
+               in.skipValue();
+            }
+         }
+         in.endObject();
+         LoginCredentials result = builder.build();
+         return result != null ? result : new Credentials(identity, credential);
+      }
+
+      @Override public <T> TypeAdapter<T> create(Gson gson, TypeToken<T> typeToken) {
+         if (!(Credentials.class.isAssignableFrom(typeToken.getRawType()))) {
+            return null;
+         }
+         return (TypeAdapter<T>) this;
+      }
+   }
+
    @Singleton
    public static class JsonAdapterBindings {
       private final Map<Type, Object> bindings = Maps.newHashMap();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/config/CredentialStoreModule.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/config/CredentialStoreModule.java
index 8e7e5087a0..180d89d3ba 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/config/CredentialStoreModule.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/config/CredentialStoreModule.java
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import javax.inject.Singleton;
 
 import org.jclouds.collect.TransformingMap;
 import org.jclouds.domain.Credentials;
-import org.jclouds.domain.LoginCredentials;
 import org.jclouds.json.Json;
 import org.jclouds.logging.Logger;
 import org.jclouds.rest.ConfiguresCredentialStore;
@@ -69,62 +68,33 @@ public class CredentialStoreModule extends AbstractModule {
       }
    }
 
-   @Singleton
    public static class CredentialsToJsonByteSource implements Function<Credentials, ByteSource> {
       private final Json json;
 
-      @Inject
-      CredentialsToJsonByteSource(Json json) {
+      @Inject CredentialsToJsonByteSource(Json json) {
          this.json = json;
       }
 
-      @Override
-      public ByteSource apply(Credentials from) {
+      @Override public ByteSource apply(Credentials from) {
          checkNotNull(from, "inputCredentials");
-         if (from instanceof LoginCredentials) {
-            LoginCredentials login = LoginCredentials.class.cast(from);
-            JsonLoginCredentials val = new JsonLoginCredentials();
-            val.user = login.getUser();
-            val.password = login.getOptionalPassword().orNull();
-            val.privateKey = login.getOptionalPrivateKey().orNull();
-            if (login.shouldAuthenticateSudo())
-               val.authenticateSudo = login.shouldAuthenticateSudo();
-            return ByteSource.wrap(json.toJson(val).getBytes(Charsets.UTF_8));
-         }
          return ByteSource.wrap(json.toJson(from).getBytes(Charsets.UTF_8));
       }
    }
 
-   static class JsonLoginCredentials {
-      private String user;
-      private String password;
-      private String privateKey;
-      private Boolean authenticateSudo;
-   }
-
-   @Singleton
    public static class CredentialsFromJsonByteSource implements Function<ByteSource, Credentials> {
       @Resource
       protected Logger logger = Logger.NULL;
 
       private final Json json;
 
-      @Inject
-      CredentialsFromJsonByteSource(Json json) {
+      @Inject CredentialsFromJsonByteSource(Json json) {
          this.json = json;
       }
 
-      @Override
-      public Credentials apply(ByteSource from) {
+      @Override public Credentials apply(ByteSource from) {
          try {
             String creds = (checkNotNull(from)).asCharSource(Charsets.UTF_8).read();
-            if (creds.indexOf("\"user\":") == -1) {
-               return json.fromJson(creds, Credentials.class);
-            } else {
-               JsonLoginCredentials val = json.fromJson(creds, JsonLoginCredentials.class);
-               return LoginCredentials.builder().user(val.user).password(val.password).privateKey(val.privateKey)
-                     .authenticateSudo(Boolean.TRUE.equals(val.authenticateSudo)).build();
-            }
+            return json.fromJson(creds, Credentials.class);
          } catch (Exception e) {
             logger.warn(e, "ignoring problem retrieving credentials");
             return null;