After getting a computer with the Windows operating system, you need to create a user account. Microsoft allows you to create multiple charges, including funds for work or school and reports for family members and other users. All these options are available in user account settings.
To secure the user account, Microsoft offers various login features, including Windows Hello face recognition, Windows Hello fingerprint, Recognition, Windows Hello PIN, password, picture password, and a security key. You can also use multiple login options for a specific account. After setting the login method, choose a password because every time you turn on your computer, Windows will ask you to enter it; But what if you forget your password? Is there a way to log in if you forget your password? In this article, we will help you to answer this question.
What if I forgot my computer password?
Due to this problem, users of Windows systems who have locked it cannot enter it. The only solution to this problem is bypassing the login page or resetting the password. This article will show how you can avoid this page to enter your computer.
According to users who have experienced this problem, this page appears after entering a password for a specific user account and prevents them from logging in. If you forget your password or don’t see your account when you want to log in to your Windows PC, here are some tricks to help you recover or reset your password.
You forgot your password, or you don’t see your account
If you forget your password, log in to your computer using the following methods.
1- Change your account password.
2- Reset your local account password using Installation Media.
3- Create a new user account.
4- Restart or reset your computer.
Well, let’s examine all these methods in detail.
1- Change your account password
Try to change your contact password. Since you are stuck outside of Windows, you need to do this by entering the Windows Recovery Environment to start your computer in the Windows Recovery Environment, press and hold the Shift key and restart your system. If that doesn’t work, press and hold the power button until your system shuts down completely. Now turn on your computer and before the login screen appears, press and hold the power button. This will shut down your computer again. Repeat this process thrice or until the “Preparing Automatic Repair” message appears.
Now go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt. Command Prompt will appear on your screen. Directly you can change the password of your local user account. To do this, follow the instructions below:
Type the following command and press Enter.
net user
The above command will list all the user accounts in your system. Now the next step is to select a user account and change its password. To do this, type the following command and press Enter.
net user “username” *
Note that in the above command, you must replace the word username under the quotes with the username whose password you want to change. For example, if you want to change the password of Test User 3, the command will be as follows:
Net user “Test User 3” *
Now you will be asked to enter the new password of your desired account. Type the new password. Command Prompt will not show you the entered password for security reasons. After typing the new password, press Enter; now Windows will ask you to organize your password again. Type the same password again and press Enter. If you see the message “The command completed successfully,” your password will be changed.
Now restart your computer. You should be able to log into your account by entering a new password. If that doesn’t work, try the following method.
2- Reset your local account password using Installation Media
Windows 10 and 11 still allow users to reset their local account password using Installation Media. If you have created an Installation Media, you can use it to reset your local account password. If not, you need to build it first. Since you’re stuck outside your computer, you must enter the Windows Recovery Environment to create an installation media. After making the installation media, you can easily reset your local account password.
3- Create a new user account
If the above method does not help you, you must create a new user account by activating the hidden administrator account. To do this, type the following command and press Enter.
Net user administrator / active: yes
The above command will enable the hidden administrator account. Now restart your computer and select the Administrator account to log in. This new administrator account does not require a password. So you can easily log into your computer. After entering the secret administrator account, you can create a new account. Open your Windows 10 or 11 settings and then the Accounts page to create a new user account. You should now be able to log into your new account.
Now add your Microsoft account to the new Local Administrator account. With this, all your settings and preferences will be restored on the new user account. Note that you must use the same Microsoft account you added to your old account.
After creating a new Local Administrator account, you can disable the hidden administrator account. To do this, open Command Prompt as administrator and type the following command.
Net user administrator /active: no
4- Restart your computer
If the above methods do not solve your problem, restart or reset your computer from Windows Recovery Environment. Boot your computer into recovery mode by following the process described above. Now go to “Troubleshoot> Reset this PC.” After that, Windows will show you the following two options:
Keep my files
Remove everything
Select the Keep my files option if you don’t want your data to be deleted. If you wish to all your data deleted when you restart your computer, choose Remove everything.
How do I reset my Windows password without logging in?
If you forgot your password, you could reset it without logging in. Click the I forgot my password link on the login page to do this. After that, you will see the Verify your Identity page. On that page, you have to give your registered email id. Enter your registered email ID and click on the Get code button. The code will be sent to your registered email. Now if you enter that code, you can reset your password. Note that this method only works if you have added your Microsoft account in Windows 10 or 11 to your user profile.
If you have a Local Administrator account and want to reset its password without logging into Windows, you can do so by booting your computer into the Recovery Environment. After that, run Command Prompt and change your user profile password.
If I forgot my password, how can I log in to Windows?
If you have forgotten your password, you can enter Windows using one of the following methods:
1- Using the Forgot Password link
2- Using other log in options
3- Reset the password by entering Windows RE
4- By activating the secret administrator account
5- By resetting the computer
In the following, we will discuss how to perform the above methods.
1- Log in to your computer using the forgot password link
If you have forgotten your Windows password, you can still log in to your system using the Forgot Password link. If you have added your Microsoft account to your Windows 10 or 11 profile, Windows will help you reset your Microsoft account password directly from the sign-in screen. After clicking the Forgot Password link, you will be asked to confirm your identity by entering your registered email address. If the email address you entered is correct, you will receive a code in that email. You can reset your Microsoft account password using this code. After resetting your Microsoft account password, you can log in to your computer using the new password.
If you have problems with the above method, you can reset your Microsoft account password on another device. For this purpose, you can use your friend’s smartphone or computer. After you reset your Microsoft account password, you can use that password to sign in to your computer.
If you haven’t added your Microsoft account to your Windows 10 or 11 profile, your account will be a Local Administrator account. When you create an administrator account without using a Microsoft account, Windows will ask you several security questions. These security questions and answers are used to reset your Windows password from the login page on the Local Administrator account. If you don’t remember your Local Administrator account password, you can reset it by following the steps below:
1- Enter the wrong password on the login screen and press Enter.
2- You will see a message: “The password is incorrect. “Try again.” Click OK.
3- Now, you will see the Reset Password link on the login page. Click on that link.
4- On the next page, Windows will ask you to enter the answers to your security questions.
5- If all the answers entered by you are correct, Windows will allow you to reset your password directly from the login screen.
Now you can log in to your system using the new password.
2- Log in to your computer using other log in options
Microsoft also allows users to set up multiple sign-in options for a particular account. To set multiple sign-in options for your account, go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options. If you have set up multiple options to log into your account, you can log into your system using any of them.
On the login page, click the Login Options link. After that, Windows will show you all the sign-in options you’ve set up for your account, such as your Windows Hello PIN, Microsoft account password, and more. You can use any of the options to log in to your system.
3- To reset your password, login by entering Windows RE
If the above methods do not work, you can reset your computer’s password using Command Prompt. You need to enter Windows Recovery Environment and run Command Prompt from there.
4- Log in to your system by activating the administrator’s secret user account
All Windows computers have an admin account that is disabled by default and is commonly known as the hidden administrator account. You can manage all user accounts on your device by activating this account. If your Windows access is still blocked, you can enable the hidden administrator account from Command Prompt by entering Windows Recovery Environment.
By default, the hidden administrator account does not require any password to log in. You can assign a password to it, but we do not suggest you do this because if you have forgotten the password of other user accounts, you can use it. After activating the secret administrator account, you can easily log into your computer. Now you can manage other accounts or create a new account.
5- Reset your computer
If none of the above methods help you, restarting the computer is the last option. You can reset your computer from Windows Recovery Environment. If you don’t want your data lost, select the Keep my Files option; otherwise, select the Remove Everything option and proceed with your work.