Ive got myself into a bit of a pickle and could really use your collective wisdom. I've been locked out of my Windows 10 computer (yeah, I know, should've written down the password) and I'm scratching my head on how to get back in. Has anyone here been through this and managed to reset their password without being able to log in?
I've seen a few methods online involving bootable USB drives and using command prompts, but I'm not super tech-savvy and a bit hesitant to dive into something that seems so complex. I'm looking for a more straightforward, beginner-friendly way to reset my password and get back to my files.
[Edit] A few folks asked me if the problem was solved? Yes. The password was reset with the help of Passcue Windows Password Recovery software. Thanks Jack888 for the recommendation!
Once, I also encountered a situation where I forgot Windows 10 password of local account. I was really a little panicked at that time. After all, all the important files were in that account. I remember that I really didn't want to use those complicated technical means at that time, and wondered if there was a simple way to solve it.
So, I saw a "Reset Password" link on the login screen. Although I hadn't noticed it before, I decided to click it this time. After clicking it, the system prompted me to answer the security questions I had set before. I was quite glad that I didn't fill in some random answers at that time. The question was the name of my elementary school. I remembered that I set the name of my alma mater and answered it without hesitation. Then the system actually let me enter the interface for setting a new password.
After entering and confirming the new password, I was able to log in smoothly. This experience made me realize that setting security questions is really useful, especially when you forget Windows 10 password.
@zcbadeedee Ophcrack is not recommended if the password was strong enough. Ophcrack relies on rainbow tables to recover the forgotten Windows 10 passwords. These tables are precomputed lists of possible passwords and their corresponding hashes. If a password is complex (long, uses special characters, or is otherwise not common), it may not be included in the available rainbow tables.
In addition, Ophcrack has not been actively updated to handle newer hashing algorithms or security measures implemented in Windows 10 and 11. Newer versions of Windows have strengthened password security. So it is no longer a good choice to reset Windows 10 password when the computer is locked due to forgotten password.
Once, I also encountered a situation where I forgot my Windows 10 password. I was really anxious at the time, after all, all my important documents and work data were on that computer. I tried various possible password combinations, but none of them worked. At this time, I remembered that I had a backup consciousness before and made a Windows 10 password reset disk.
I quickly rummaged through the boxes and found the USB drive and inserted it into the computer. I restarted the computer and went to the login screen. I saw a link to "Reset Password" and clicked it without hesitation. The system recognized my password reset disk and began to guide me step by step.
A Windows 10 password reset disk is a special type of disk that allows you to reset Windows 10 user account password if you forget it. This disk is created while you still have access to your account and can be used in case you get locked out. The below tutorial shows you how to reset Windows 10 password without logging in:
Once, I forgot Windows 10 password and it felt like the end of the world. I tried all possible passwords but none of them worked, and I became more and more anxious. However, I suddenly remembered that a friend once told me about a way to reset Windows 10 password using the command prompt. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time because it seemed too complicated, but now it has become a lifesaver.
So, I decided to give this method a try. First, I needed a Windows installation disk or a bootable USB drive. Fortunately, I had an old Windows installation disk at home, so I immediately found it, inserted it into the computer, and restarted to enter the installation interface.
Step 5. Open the Command Prompt: At the login screen, click the "Accessibility" icon (usually a small circle icon) in the lower right corner. Now, the Command Prompt should open instead of Accessibility.
Although this method sounds a bit complicated, it is actually quite smooth to follow the steps. After the operation, I successfully logged in to the computer with the new password, and the big stone in my heart finally fell. I really recommend that if you are also locked out, you can try this method, but you must be careful in operation, after all, it involves modifying system files.
You can still use the rename cmd to utilman. Although I also just enable the built-in administrator with net user and then boot and login. I actually just tried this on my machine to confirm and it still works. I am on 20H2.
I have used this trick before when users have forgotten their passwords. There are even ways to reset Microsoft account passwords by using this method. This is why we enable encryption on all our drives. (I suspended it while I tried this bypass.)
If they are not on the domain, and its purely a local machine basis the way it was done. Does anyone have a recommendation for an easy to use password reset utility? This needs to be able to reset windows 7, 10, and server 2019 if possible since there was a few servers he installed near the end of his term here.
A bootable USB drive with Hirens USB Booting Hiren's BootCD PE is a must-have anyway. It can help you solve lots of various problems, including most Windows OS local administrator account enable and password reset.
Insert the disc into the system you trying to unlock/reset the password and boot the disc. After the disc unpacks and loads you will be at a Ultimate Boot CD screen. Select the Parted Magic item and hit enter.
The next screen you have to select your graphic settings. If on a physical system you should take the default settings option. If on a virtual system you should run on the alternate graphical server option.
Once parted magic loads go to start > System Tools >PC login now. Click next to continue. Select the OS you are running and click next. You will now be a user selection screen. Select the user you are trying to reset, then below select the check box that password is empty, this will blank the password. Click next. You now have to manually reboot by going to Start >logout>reboot. When your system boots to windows you will be prompted to type in a new password for the user you just blanked.
There is another easy-to-use thirty-party tool to reset your password. It is Windows Password Key. You can follow the steps below:
Step 1: Download Windows Password Key in another accessible PC.
Step 2: Run the downloaded file and install it.
Step 3: Burn a reset disk with Windows Password Key.
Step 4: Reset your password with created disk above.
Hence, we would like to tune the alert in such a way that service account password reset should only get triggered if the same user account hasn't been created within last hour of the password reset event.
You're on the right track there. The issue I see with that is that if you were looking over a 1hr period for recent account creations, the password reset events at the beginning of your window might cause false positives due to account creations possibly being outside your search time range. You could address this by specifying a different time range inside your subsearch.
One way to address this is to have a lookup table of your service accounts (or ideally for security monitoring, all accounts) that has the user account creation date available. When the lookup matches the account id, the event will be enriched with the account creation date. Then you can do a simple eval to get the time difference for filtering. This should work as long as that lookup table is being updated more frequently than your alert's scheduled search interval.
The Splunk add-on for active directory has an ldapsearch command that can help you build this table -LdapSearch/2.1.7/User/Theldapsearchcommand#Examples
The example given is formatted for ingestion into Splunk Enterprise Security's Identity Management, but you could tweak it to your needs.
If you're working with tighter tolerances than the lookup option allows (like a real-time search) or insist on having it done in a single search, you could include the account creation events in your base search. Then use eventstats split by account to get your account creation info fields into the password reset events. The downside of this approach is that depending on the amount of events you're dealing with and how big the time window is, it could take a long time to run and maybe even hit time and resource limits.
It it too late to make a password reset disk as this should be done before the time you forgot the password. There are other tools available for this such as UUkeys Windows Password or Ubuntu Live CD. However, the later method is a bit trickly as it involves linux commands during the process.
It seems a good option. I just made a password reset disk with the program and tested it on my Windows 10. It works great. I suggest you give it a try. Here is the tutotorial: -windows-7-password.html
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