Forgot Your Windows 10 Password? 8 Ways You Can Reset Windows Password

The irony in creating a super-tough password is that they are easy to forget unless you have a strong photographic memory. So, if you have forgotten your Windows 10 Password and want to reset windows password, you are in the right place. I will be sharing my experience when I got locked out of my own PC and how did I reset my Forgotten Windows Password.

We have all been in a situation where we typed in the password we think is correct. We try different combinations of characters, letters, and numbers to see what will fit, and nothing works. What will you do now?

Resetting your forgotten Windows 10 password is a bit tricky as Microsoft does not makes it easy for you to reset your administrator password and Microsoft password for some security reasons. And losing a password to your user account in Windows 10 can become quite hectic. It means you are locked out of your windows, and you might lose access to all data stored on that specific computer.

So, today I have come up with several methods that you can use to recover or reset your forgotten Windows 10 password.

Before going into the main topic, let me give you some advice related to your signing into your Windows.

It is always recommended to use or set a password recovery hind, a feature provided by windows, when setting up your computer for the first time or when creating your password.

There is an option, Password Reset Disk in your Computers Control Panel. You should create a password reset disk as soon as you start using your computer for the first time. This way, you can reset your login password just by inserting the drive to your computer on your login screen.

Method 1: Using Password Reset Disk

Password Reset Disk is the Microsoft’s official method to reset a forgotten Windows 10 password. However, to use this feature, you need to have Created Password Reset Disk before your password is lost.

So, if you have created Password Reset Disk beforehand, you can easily set a new password for signing in to your Windows 10.

Here is how you can use the Windows 10 Password Reset Disk

1. Turn on your PC and attempt to log in to your account with the password you remember. After too many attempts, the login page will display the “Reset Password” link right below the password field.
2. Now, the Password Reset wizard will come up on your screen. Now, insert the Disk Drive that you used to create a password reset disk. And then select the Next Button.
3. In the next step, select the drive from the drop-down menu under “The password key disk is in the following drive.” And then click on the Next Button.
4. Next, Type in your New Password, followed by reentering the same password on the confirm password box. Finally, type the new password hint so that you will know what password you entered.
5. Finally, Click on Next Button and then Finish button to reset your forgotten Windows 10 Password.

Method 2: Using the Password Reset Tool for Microsoft Live Account

When you set up your account on your Windows, there are two options you can choose to create your profile on Windows 10. One is the Local Computer account, and another one is using your Microsoft Live account. So this section of the article is for those who created their profile on Windows 10 using Microsoft account.

1. Open the browser of the computer that you have access to and open the Microsoft’s password reset website.
2. Next, a recover your account box will appear on your screen. Here type in your email address or your skype username or your phone number associated with your Microsoft Live account. Then click the next button.
3. Next, you will need to verify your account. For this, you will be given two choices either by sending a text message to your registered phone number or by email to your recovery email address. Select one of the options and click on the Get Code button.
4. Now, open your email or your message box of your cellphone to get the code and enter the code to the Verify your identity dialogue box on the Microsoft password reset page. Then click the Next button.
5. After your account is verified, enter the New password follow by reentering the same password to confirm your new password. Then click the Next button once again.
6. There you go, you have successfully changed your Microsoft Login password.

Once you have successfully reset your Microsoft Live password, turn on your computer and enter the new password you just created to log in to your Windows 10. You have successfully recovered your Windows 10 user account password.

Method 3: By Accessing your Windows 10 Hidden Administrator

An administrator account is a built-in account on your PC. Most of the time, while creating a user account, you will be creating a normal user account as an administrator account. However, the built-in Administrator account will most of the time be untouched, and this account has no password set. In that’s the case, you will be able to retrieve your Local Account password very easily.

Just start your computer with this Administrator account and open the Control Panel to delete or change the password of any user account.

Here is what you need to do:

1. Turn on your computer / Laptop and press the F8 key repeatedly until your PC displays the boot menu.
2. Once the Boot Menu loads up, use your navigation key (arrow key) on your keyword and select Safe Mode and then press the Enter Key.
3. Now, your PC will boot on Safe Mode. Once you get to your home screen, click the Administrator. If your home screen is blank, type in Administration and leave the password field blank. Then press the Enter key.
4. Now, click on the Start menu from the bottom left corner of your windows and go to the Control Panel.
5. From the control panel, get into User Accounts, and you will be able to change any user’s password easily.

Method 4: Reset Windows 10 Password with MSDaRT

MSDaRT (Microsoft Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset) is a tool from Microsoft that helps IT professionals to recover unstable PC. One downside of using this tool is that it is a paid tool. However, if you have important files that you need to recover or you need to log in to your PC, then spending some buck to retrieve your data is not much.

To retrace or reset password with the DaRT, boot up your computer with DaRT recovery CD and launch a built-in Locksmith Wizard tool. This tool will help you to reset the Windows 10 password of any local account.

Method 5: Creating a New User to Save Account Files

In this method, you will need to boot your computer with an image disk (ISO file) of Windows 10. Now boot your computer with Windows 10 installation media.

1. Once the set up begins, press keyword shortcut key “Shift+F10.”
2. This will open up the command prompt on your screen. From here, we will be using the command prompt to replace the Utility Manager at the login screen with cmd.exe with the following command: (let’s assume your C: drive is the Windows installation drive)
   

   move c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe.bak
   copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe

3. Next, enter the command “wpeutil reboot” to reboot your PC.
4. Once you are at the login screen, click the Utility Manager. This will launch cmd.exe.
5. Now, use the following command replacing <username> with the name you would like to assign to your new account.
   

   net user <username> /add
   net localgroup administrators <username> /add

6. Now close the command prompt and restart your PC.
7. Once your PC restarts, you should see your new user on the login screen.
8. Login to your windows 10 with a new user, and go to C:\Users\<oldusername>.
9. From here, retrieve your locked documents.

Method 6: Make A Clean Installation of Windows 10

If you cannot retrieve your Windows 10 password using any of the above methods, try to re-install your Windows 10.

When installing your new windows, don’t delete the previous file but create a different file to install your new windows. This way, your data will not erase and will store on “windows.old” folder on your C: drive where you install your operating system.

First Burn windows ISO file on a USB flash drive. You can see our previous article to burn your windows on your flash drive.

To boot your computer properly for installing new windows 10, you may need to change the boot sequence in BIOS or UEFI.

Now, make sure you don’t format, delete or reallocate disc while installing the new Windows 10 else; all your data will get lost.

Follow the in screen steps to install your new windows. Once your Windows is installed, go to the drive where you installed your windows and search for Windows.old folder and retrieve the file to another drive.

Method 7: Restore Windows 10 to the Previous State

This method is for those whose hard drive is encrypted with BitLocker tool and who do not want to use the password reset software. Using the Restore features on Windows 10, your computer will restore your computer to a most recent restore point that includes an old password that you do remember. However, you will lose all the data that has been installed since the restore point.

Method 8: Reset Windows Password Using Password Reset Software (Passcue)

This method is for those who are looking at how to reset windows login or admin passwords without reinstalling the system. There are various free and paid tools to recover your windows admin password. However, in this guide, I am guiding you with the Passcue tool to recover the window’s admin password, which I personally used to recover my login password.

Passcue Windows 10 Password Reset is an excellent program that is designed to remove any lost administrator password, domain, or server password from any version of windows without you having to re-install the system.

“Main Feature of PassCue for Windows:

1. Reset Windows Administrator and user password instantly
2. Two ways to create Windows password reset disk: USB and DVD/CD
3. Support Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008/2010/2012/2016
4. Compatible with UEFI-based computer
5. Support all brands like Dell, HP, Acer, IBM, Sony, Lenovo, ASUS, etc.”

Steps to reset your Windows login password with PassCue

1. Download the PassCue Windows Password Recovery Tool from its official website to another working computer.
2. Now, insert a flash drive and make a bootable reset disk. Here is how you can burn ISO file to a Flash drive.
3. Now insert the drive to your locked PC and change your boot order to boot from USB or DVD. To do this, dress keys like Del, F2, F8, F20, or other to enter the setup window. Now the boot order can be changed using the + and – key. Move the USB drive or DVD to the top position.
4. Now, once you boot up your computer, the PassCue program will automatically load and display all windows and users in it.
5. Next, select the user account you want to recover and trigger the Windows password reset process with “Reset Password” and followed by the “Reboot” button.
6. Now, your computer will reboot just like it used to, and you will be able to access your windows without entering your password.

Conclusion

There is always a way to prevent yourself from being locked out of your windows device. May it be creating a password reset disk or using the new Windows PIN features.

Have you recovered the user password? Leave your feedback and ask questions in your comments.