Reset forgotten Windows 10 password
If you forgot your Windows 10 password and need to get into your computer, you can reset your password without having to reinstall Windows. In this tutorial, we will be going through resetting your Windows 10 local password. Resetting a local password is more involved than resetting an online Microsoft password. If you have an online password, you can go to Microsoft password reset website to reset it. If you have a local account, you will need a Windows 10 installation media on DVD or USB. You can download the Windows 10 installation media from Microsoft's software download page and following the instruction on the page.
Set bios
Once we have the installation media, we will have to change the boot order so our computer boots from the optical drive first ( use USB drive if the installation media is on a thumb drive ). Entering the bios will depend on the computer manufacturer, it is usually the del key, a function key or a combination of keys. Refer to your user's manual if you aren't sure. Once in the bios, go to the boot device priority section and choose the appropriate device for the first boot device.
Replace the Utility manager
Boot computer up using the Windows installation media and hit the Shift and F10 key to bring up the the command prompt. Once the command prompt comes up, we will type the following to replace the Utility Manger with a command prompt.
move d:windowssystem32utilman.exe d:windowssystem32utilman.exe.bak
copy d:windowssystem32cmd.exe d:windowssystem32utilman.exe
Once the Utility manager has been replaced, type wpeutil reboot in the command prompt to reboot the computer until you get to the login screen. At the login screen, click on the ease of access button to bring up the command prompt.
Create new administrative account
In the command prompt window, we will now create a new administrative account to be able to reset your current password. We will create a temporary administrator account with the following syntax, where we will create a new user called USERNAME with administrative rights.
net user USERNAME /add
net localgroup administrators USERNAME /add
Reset current password
After we add a new administrator, we will close the command prompt by clicking on the X on the top, right corner and will reboot the computer. If everything was done correctly, when we reboot, we will see the new user in the bottom, left corner of the screen. Click on the new user and login to the new user account. Once the desktop loads, right click on the start menu and select Computer Management. Go to Local Users and Groups, scroll down to the affected account, and right-click. Choose the Set Password option, and choose a new set of credentials to regain access to your locked account.
