Forgot Windows 10 password...

hat · Jun 22, 2016

So I fired up my laptop in order to use it to flash a router without mucking around with the rest of my networking... and I forgot the password to log in. Is there anything I can do short of reinstalling windows, or downloading a Linux LiveCD? (If I do have to download something, I'd prefer the file size to be as small as possible, because of evil data caps)

Solaris17 · Jun 22, 2016

if its a micosoft account you are boned. and ntpassword reset wont work because its an EFI partition. you will need to boot a tool or format.

FordGT90Concept · Jun 22, 2016

If it's a Microsoft account, you should be able to change the password via another computer at live.com and the password should also change to match on the computer (obviously make sure it has internet access first). The password is verified online during login.

hat · Jun 22, 2016

Well, ntpasswordreset actually did work. It's probably not an EFI partition because it's an old computer... no UEFI, it runs BIOS. That said, no, it's not a Microsoft account.

Solaris17 · Jun 23, 2016

hat said:
Well, ntpasswordreset actually did work. It's probably not an EFI partition because it's an old computer... no UEFI, it runs BIOS. That said, no, it's not a Microsoft account.

haha damn, cant win em all. I hadn't even thought that it might be in none UEFI mode. Thanks for informing us with an update.

newtekie1 · Jun 23, 2016

Just for future reference, you don't need ntpasswordreset to do this. You just have to boot off the Windows install media(it can even be a Win8 media). Then hit shift+f10 to get a command prompt. Use the command prompt to rename c:/windows/system32/utilman.exe to utilman.bak, then copy cmd.exe to utilman.exe. Reboot into Windows and hit the little easy of access button on the login screen. Enjoy your command prompt with admin level access. You can now use the net user command to reset your password.

This work on UEFI or legacy installs.

hat · Jun 23, 2016

Yeah that's a great trick, I read something similar but their method required using a Linux LiveCD, which I didn't want to download because of data caps...

Caring1 · Jun 24, 2016

Harkeeny said:
Why don't you just go to user accounts and create a new administrator account grab your files on flash drive log out the log back in under the new administrator account go back to user accounts and delete the old account?

You assume they can get past the initial log in screen.

P4-630 · Jun 24, 2016

Harkeeny said:
Why don't you just go to user accounts and create a new administrator account grab your files on flash drive log out the log back in under the new administrator account go back to user accounts and delete the old account?

Ahhzz · Oct 9, 2016

newtekie1 said:
Just for future reference, you don't need ntpasswordreset to do this. You just have to boot off the Windows install media(it can even be a Win8 media). Then hit shift+f10 to get a command prompt. Use the command prompt to rename c:/windows/system32/utilman.exe to utilman.bak, then copy cmd.exe to utilman.exe. Reboot into Windows and hit the little easy of access button on the login screen. Enjoy your command prompt with admin level access. You can now use the net user command to reset your password.

This work on UEFI or legacy installs.

For future reference, there have been reports that this was patched out several weeks back. I found an alternative method doing some registry diving.
http://winaero.com/blog/reset-windows-10-password-without-using-third-party-tools/

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Forgot Windows 10 password...

hat

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Solaris17

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FordGT90Concept

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hat

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hat

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Caring1

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