Resetting Lost Administrator Password in Windows 10?

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A neighbour has forgotten the password he used to set up his upgrade to Win 10 whilst enabling his Microsoft Account for the first time. He now sits with a Microsoft Account password that he remembers, but a local admin logon password that he has forgotten!

I have previously successfully used “Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor” from here:

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

to assist someone in recovering an Admin password in Win 7. Anyone know if it will work with Win 10?

:huh:

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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It’s a good question, one which the software author has not yet addressed.

Have a look at this How-To Geek article, to see if it’s likely to be of any use to you in the meantime.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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BATcher,

That’s an interesting article. I had not seen that method before. :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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@BATcher: Interesting, thanks. Before I venture into trying it (and potentially making an enemy of my neighbour!!) , please confirm this is a method to re-set the Administrator password (the instructions at the link are not clear on this)? And, of course, the other test will be to see if it works with Win 10.

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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Update: I have found the steps required for Windows 10 here (but once again, it is not clear if this works for the Administrator password):

http://www.howtogeek.com/222262/how-to-reset-your-forgotten-password-in-windows-10/

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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Update: I have found the steps required for Windows 10 here (but once again, it is not clear if this works for the Administrator password):

http://www.howtogeek.com/222262/how-to-reset-your-forgotten-password-in-windows-10/

Rather than risk screwing things up, why not contact MS for advice. http://support2.microsoft.com/gp/customer-service-phone-numbers/en-za?mstlocpickshow=true

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Or make an image backup and then go for it!

cheers, Paul

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…Anyone know if it will work with Win 10?…

Not sure about Win10 but I have helped several customers who had forgotten their MS account password for Win8. I tried using “Offline NT Password & Registry Editor” without success, because apparently the MS account password is not accessible to “Offline NT Password & Registry Editor”.

However “Offline NT Password & Registry Editor” might be able to blank the local account password. It is tricky to use and might say after you tell it to blank the password that the attempt failed but if it asks to “write files back to disc” then it has usually succeeded.

The latest version available on the “Offline NT Password & Registry Editor” website is 140201 2014-02-01, so it might not work with Win10.

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@Paul: Yes, image backup and then go for it is the plan (now that I “know” it should work with Win 10; and if it can’t re-set Admin password, then I will give MS a call)

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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