Our PC contains many important files. It has our confidential documents, photos, videos, running projects and many important things. So, for the sake of protecting all the data, we put login password in Windows. If someone wants to access your user account, he should have the password else, he can login as different user in Windows which protects the personal files and data available in your user account.
Windows also considers password protection an important feature which is why with every new version of Windows, it made the login more secure. While this feature is essential, it becomes troublesome if you happen to forget your Windows password. Without Windows login password, you are blocked at the login screen, you can’t access your hard-disk or run any program like Google Chrome, Calculator, Microsoft Word, etc.
And, if you want to recover your Windows password, there is no easy way. All the ways to recover or reset your Windows password are tricky. If you mess up here, you might end up in losing important data which resides in your Windows PC. So, to help you out, I am telling you 6 methods to recover/reset Windows password.
These methods are tested in Windows 10 operating system. So, if you’ve forgotten password of your Windows 10 PC, you’ll be definitely able to recover it using any of the below methods but if you’ve lost password of any other Windows OS, only few of below methods will work. However, the #4 method provided below which uses PCUnlocker to reset lost or forgotten Windows password is sure to work with Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP / 2016 / 2012 / 2008 / 2003 / 2000 and Active Directory (AD) servers.
Methods to Recover/Reset Windows Password
When it comes to Windows 10, there are various methods to reset or recover forgotten Windows password. Windows has not only made the login more secure but it has also made it easy for authenticated users to login to their user account even if they’ve forgotten their Windows password. Follow any of the methods provided below to recover your lost Windows 10 password.
Method #1 – The Guessing Attempt
Ok, you were away from your home for a long time and hence forgotten the exact password which you’ve set for your Windows 10 OS but you knew the password once so you can guess it.
- Try to remember the length, starting characters, symbols, etc. of the password.
- Try to remember if the password referenced something like your brother’s phone number, your favorite color, a place, a TV show, your favorite character or any other thing.
- Try to remember if you’ve ever shared the password with someone else via Email, WhatsApp or told them directly.
Take some time to guess your Windows 10 PC password because if you can guess it, there is no need to follow any of the tricky methods I’ve provided below to recover lost Windows 10 password. If you’ve guessed enough but still haven’t remember your Windows 10 password, scroll down to move to the next method.
Method #2 – Recover Password Online
In Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 operating system, your user account is linked with your Microsoft live online account which helps to access many of the Windows apps & services like Windows store, Skype, Hotmail, etc. without signing in to them separately. It also works as a contingency method because in case if you’ve ever lost your Windows 10 password, you can reset it anytime by visiting account.live.com/password/reset
This method requires you to have access to Microsoft account and phone number that you’ve connected with your Windows 10 user account. So, if you remember it, you can simply reset your Windows 10 user account online but if you don’t scroll down and read alternative methods to recover your Windows 10 user account.
Method #3 – Recover Windows 10 Login Password using other User Accounts
You are in luck if your system has other user accounts because they can help you to reset your Windows 10 password. If your Windows 10 user account was a Guest account then you can ask system administrator to reset your Windows password because Admin users of Windows have the rights to change guest users’ account password.
However, if your Windows 10 account is an admin level Windows account then only other admin user of the PC can help you to reset its password. If the Windows 10 PC has any other admin user account, login through it to the system and follow below steps to reset your Windows 10 user account’s password:
- Search command prompt or cmd in Windows (Cortana) search box. When command prompt appears in search result, right click on it and choose “Run as Administrator” to open command prompt in Administrator mode.
- Now, to reset your user account’s password, you have to type this in command prompt and hit ENTER : net user user_name new_password. For example, if you’ve forgotten password of a user account with name admin and you want to set its new password Win123#@! then you need to type this in command prompt: net user admin Win123#@!
After doing this, you can now login your Windows 10 user account with the new password that you’ve just set using command prompt.
Method #4 – Using Password Reset Disk
Using password reset disk is an official offline method provided by Microsoft to allow users to reset their Windows 10 password but the problem with this method is that you need to create password reset disk before your password is lost.
In most of the cases, people aren’t preemptive enough to create password reset disk for their Windows before they’ve lost their password so even if this method successfully unlocks PC, it is not widely used. If its the same case with you then you need to scroll down and check other methods to reset Windows 10 password and once you’ve recovered, use this tool to create password reset disk of your Windows 10 to unlock the PC anytime you are locked out of it.
Method #5 – Recover Windows 10 Password with MSDaRT
DaRT (Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset) is a toolset from Microsoft that helps IT professionals recover the computers that have become unusable. Boot your computer with DaRT Recovery CD and then launch the built-in Locksmith Wizard tool, it allows you to reset Windows 10 password of any local account.
However, the tool is not free. Only if you are Microsoft volume customer or have paid TechNet Plus or MSDN subscription then you can download this tool. So, if you are not planning to pay the handsome price to obtain MsDaRT tool, you should check out the next method which guarantees you to recover your Windows 10 password at an affordable cost.
Method #6 – Reset Windows 10 Password with PCUnlocker
PCUnlocker (by Top-Password) is an easy-to-use tool which allows users to easily reset lost/forgotten password of Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP / 2016 / 2012 / 2008 / 2003 / 2000 and Active Directory (AD) servers like Windows server 2003, 2008, 2008 r2, 2012, 2012 r2, etc.
Download PCUnlocker bootable disk image (ISO) and burn downloaded ISO to either CD/DVD or USB Flash Drive. Now, boot your system using PCUnlocker CD or Flash Drive. It will run PCUnlocker tool which guides you to reset your Windows local account password by following some simple steps.
The steps are very simple and obvious to allow users to easily reset their forgotten Windows password but if you are still unsure and need a guide in your hand then check this article which tells the exact ways on how to reset lost Windows password with PCUnlocker.
PCUnlocker lets your perform simple tasks and handles all the complex tasks required to crack Windows password. After following all the steps, enter new password for your Windows user account, sit back & wait. In few minutes, PCUnlocker will set the new provided password with the desired Windows user account.
PCUnlocker is a powerful tool which allows you to:
- Bypass, reset or remove Windows local administrators and users passwords
- Reset forgotten domain administrator and user passwords for Windows server 2000, 2003, 2008, 2012 and 2016 AD (Active Directory) domain controller.
- Reset passwords to DSRM (Directory Services Restore Mode) accounts.
- Unlock / enable any Windows local account or Active Directory account that is locked out, disabled or expired.
- Promote any standard or limited Windows user account to administrator.
- Reset passwords for Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, NT, Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition (64-bit), Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Server 2008 / 2012 / 2016.
- Reset Windows passwords with a bootable CD, USB drive or network over PXE.
It support Windows 10 / 8 computers with UEFI Secure Boot, including Microsoft Surface Pro, Apple Mac, ThinkPad Tablet 2, Dell Venue 8/11 Pro, Toshiba Encore. Users will able to reset password with losing any data and the bypass mode will not even remove/change the password it will simply allow you to login without password.
So, with all the features and specifications the software provides, I say it is an essential software that you should have to reset Windows password of any Windows OS version.
Method #7 – Recover from Restore Point
If you don’t want to use any software, you can restore your computer to its previous state using Windows most recent restore point. The method will restore your Windows to an old state and allows you to login your Windows using an old password but it may cost you the loss of some data, software and settings which you’ve saved in your Windows after the restore point.
Method #8 – Reinstall Windows
If you don’t have any system restore point or you can’t access it, if you don’t care about data and just want access to your computer without using any of the above method then you can reinstall Windows 10 OS in your PC. You can download Windows 10 disk for free from here legally, burn it in CD/DVD or Flash Drive and boot your PC using it to reinstall Windows 10 in your computer.
