If you are facing the same problem and searching for “I forgot my laptop password”, then you are at the right place. In this article, we will discuss the lost laptop password scenario for every Windows. If you have ever faced the forgot password problem, then you should have an idea how much irritating it can be to reset your laptop password. For the first time, when I forgot my laptop password, I didn’t get panic and simply opened my browser and google for “I forgot my laptop password”, and in result, I found a whirlpool of various methods through which I was able to reset my laptop password easily.
What to Do If I Forgot My Laptop Password:
The terms of password protection have been changed, and now, you can connect your laptop with your Microsoft account or even with your phone to reset your laptop password. No matter which Windows you have installed on your laptop, the procedure of resting passwords is the same with a little change in the pattern. This article will discuss every single method to reset your laptop password, whether it is Windows 7/8/10.
Method 1. Reset Laptop Password with Password Reset Disk
The first easy and efficient method to recover your laptop forgotten password is using the password reset disk. This method is only valid for those who have taken extra precautions and created password reset disks before getting locked out. If you already have a password reset disk, then using this method to change your laptop password will be the easiest thing to do.
Let’s explore how password reset disk works for each type of Windows.
1.1. Reset Windows 7 Laptop password with Reset Disk
Start your Windows 7 laptop and connect your password reset disk with it. Type an incorrect password intentionally, and it will prompt as incorrect password. Simply click OK.
Then click on the Reset password link will take you to the Windows 7 password reset disk wizard. Here you will see the Next option to continue the password reset process; click on it.
A window will appear, requiring you to choose the reset disk you plugged in.
Simply click on Next. Type and confirm your password. The password hint is optional to recall the password just in case you have doubts about forgetting your password again. Click on Next to end the process.
There will appear a Finish up screen; click on it, and your Windows 7 laptop password will be changed successfully.
1.2. Reset Windows 8/10 password with Reset Disk
There is no rocket science in understanding how password reset disk works for Windows 8/10 laptops. There may be a little change in UI, but the process is the same as Windows 7. So if you forgot your laptop password on Windows 8, then this way can help you in an excellent way, but remember again, this method is feasible only if you have already created a password reset disk.
Follow these simple steps to unlock your Windows 8/10 laptop in seconds.
Whenever you start your laptop, simply enter a random password so that Windows can prompt a wrong password notification.
Click OK to get a password reset option.
Here you will see a Reset Password option; click on it to start Password Reset Wizard.
Click on Next to continue the process.
Insert your USB drive into the USB port and select it from the drop down.
Enter your new password.
Windows will automatically change the password as you click the Finish button.
Cong! you have successfully changed your Windows 10/8 laptop password.
Method 2. Reset Laptop Password with Guest Account
Here is another trick to reset your laptop password through another Guest Account. We will not discuss here how to create a guest account in your laptop because it is necessary that you should have created a guest account before getting locked out of the laptop. If you don’t have a guest account then this method is not for you. We will discuss the guest account method for each Windows 7/8/10.
2.1. Reset Windows 7 Password with Guest Account
In this session, we will discuss how you can easily recover your Windows 7 laptop password using the guest account.
By turning on your laptop, if you found that you have forgotten your laptop password, sign into your laptop using the Guest account and through this account, you can reset Windows 7 password without disk. After signing in click on the Windows 7 menu, Right-Click on Computer, you will see different options, choose the Manage option.
Clicking on Manage option will open a Computer Management window. If you see at the most left side of the window, you will find a System Tools option, double click on it and different other options will come up, find the Local Users and Groups option, double click again, more two options will appear, to change Windows 7 main account password we have to use Users option to make changes. It will show you the list of all users available on your system. Right-click on the actual main account for which you want to change password. The first option you will see will be a Set Password option.
As you click on the Set Password a warning notification will pop-up reminding you that are you sure you want to change the password of your main account, click Proceed option to continue.
After confirming that you want to change your Windows 7 password, a password reset screen will appear. Enter the new password that you want to use for future log in.
Press OK and your Windows 7 laptop password will be changed.
2.2. Reset Windows 10/8 Password with Guest Account
Now we will see how to change the password of Windows 10 using the same Guest Account technique. As you must know the password of your admin account can be reset through your other guest account but if it has administrator privileges. Before using the guest account you must have created it before getting locked out of the system.
So let’s suppose you have already created another account with admin privileges, now we will see how to reset your Windows 10 laptop password through this guest account.
Follow these steps to reset your current administrator password of Windows 10/8 laptop.
Login to your Windows 10 laptop while using another guest account.
You can find This PC option either on your home screen or else you can search it in Windows search box. Right-click on This PC option where you will see a list of different actions, Click on Manage.
At the most left side of the window, find Local Users and Groups option, expand it, and click on Users to change Windows 10 main account password. Choose your main admin account for which you want a new password, right-click on it, and click on Set Password.
A warning message will appear, nothing to worry, simply click on Proceed to continue the process.
Here you will see a Windows password reset screen asking to enter the new password, follow the instructions and enter the password whatever you want.
Click OK to end the password reset process. That’s it, your password for Windows 10 admin account has been changed.
Method 3. Reset Laptop Password with Command in Safe Mode
The best thing you can do to regain access to your locked laptop is using a Windows password reset disk, but most users don’t know the feature exists or not and might be you never thought you’d actually forget your laptop password. Luckily there are various Command Prompt methods that can help you reset forgotten laptop password easily.
As reset laptop password with command using safe mode is more likely liked by people so we will discuss here only this method.
3.1. Reset Windows 7 Password with Command in Safe Mode
By default, Windows 7 system has an administrator account that is created during Windows installation and disables by default, This account has no password in it. In case, If you forgot your Windows 7 laptop password, you can enter into Safe Mode with the built-in Administrator account to reset your password.
Note: This built-in administrator account will appear only when you have enabled it before getting locked out of Windows otherwise this scenario will not help you.
Follow below steps to reset your Windows 7 laptop password with command prompt using safe mode.
Start your laptop and press continuously F8 to enter Advanced Boot Options before the Windows 7 loading screen appears.
Here you will see different boot options available, choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt, and Press Enter. Your computer will starts in Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
Select the default Administrator account that appears on the screen and enters command prompt.
Run the following command: net user username new_password and press Enter, it will show you a note that “The command completed successfully”.
Please Restart on your laptop, log in your account with the password 123 and that’s it.
Bear in mind, this method doesn’t work if the hidden Administrator account is disabled.
3.2. Reset Windows 8/10 Password with Command in Safe Mode
In the previous section, we’ve covered the procedure to access the Safe Mode from the Windows 7 login screen. But that method won’t work in case your laptop is crashed or unable to start. Since Windows 8/10, the boot process is now so fast that it’s also impossible to access the Safe Mode by pressing the traditional F8 key. So here I’m going to explain another method to boot Windows 8/10 laptop in Safe Mode if your computer won’t start.
Here is how to boot into Command prompt with Safe Mode in Windows 8/8.1/10 laptop.
Turn on your laptop and wait until it boots into the Windows 8/8.1/10 login screen.
Hold down the SHIFT key and click on the Restart option. In a moment the recovery screen will appear. select the Troubleshoot option.
Now choose the Advanced Options.
In a second you’ll see the Advanced options screen, as shown below. Click on the Startup Settings option.
There will be a Restart button below given options, hit that button to continue.
Wait for a moment while your laptop restarts. After the restart, you will see the Startup Settings menu. Here you’ll find a number of ways to start Windows 8, all targeted at assisting you in solving a Windows 8 startup problem. According to the scenario you have to press F6 to Enable Safe Mode with Command prompt
Windows 8/10 will now reboot and you will be shown with the normal login prompt. Enter your default administrator account password, and you will be brought directly to a Windows 8/10 Command Prompt rather than the normal Windows desktop.
Here you can easily perform other tasks as well except password change, for example, Registry Editor (regedit.exe), Task Manager (taskmgr.exe), or the Windows Explorer by typing (Explorer.exe). To change the password of the locked account. You have to run the following command.
net user <locked_account_name> <new_password>
After you’re done with password change, you can press ALT+CTRL+DEL to reach the security screen and from there you can restart your laptop. After restarting you will be able to enter into your laptop by using this new password.
Method 4. Reset Laptop Password with Windows Password Recovery:
Windows Password recovery software is normally used to reset, recover or remove the password for Windows-based operating systems. They can greatly help you in case if you lost or forgotten your laptop password. These tools are often named as password ‘cracking’ utilities because they crack the password of Windows. They can also remove or reset password depending on their paid or free version functionality.
All above-discussed methods are those that we can find into our laptop and there is no need for an external tool to recover the password. But situations may occur when you can’t access to any of the above methods then what will you do?
For that kind of situations, there are many other methods or tools which can perform laptop password reset in easy steps. Some of them are paid made for commercial users and some of them are available with their trial versions for the ease of customers.
You can find a number of software tools committing that they can perform the password recovery operation in minutes, so in this part, we will guide you to on which one you should trust or use for your Windows password recovery rather it is Windows 7/8 or 10.
We will discuss some easiest, most effective and trusted Windows password recovery tools. In my point of view, the best one is iSunshare Windows Password Genius, hence we will cover other tools too but as a suggestion, I will recommend this tool. So let’s start how these Windows recovery tools work.
4.1. Reset Laptop Password with iSunshare Windows Password Genius
iSunshare Windows Password Genius provides an effective way to recover/remove Windows local user and admin password here. It promises 100% password recovery no matter how complex the Windows password has been set. Read our iSunshare Windows Password Genius Review here.
iSunshare Windows password genius is a paid tool but a free trial version is also available for its users. You can Buy or Download and install it on your laptop. Both MAC and Windows version are available.
Features:
- Easily Recover Windows local administrator/domain administrator and other user/domain passwords.
- Instantly create a new administrator account.
- Remove or reset Windows password in an easy and safe manner.
- Effectively Reset Windows 7/8/8.1/10 Microsoft account password.
Supported Platform:
- Supported Windows are 10, 8.1, 8, Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000, NT, etc and Supported Windows Server are 2016, 2012, 2011, 2008, 2003(R2), 2000, NT, etc.
- Recover Windows password of all laptops such as Dell, HP, Acer, Toshiba, Samsung, Sony, Asus, IBM, Lenovo, and many more.
And if we talk about system requirements, don’t worry at all, Windows Password Genius meet almost every kind of OS having minimum specs.
There may be a little change in GUI for every window but it will be due to each Windows UI, so there is no need to worry if you see something change while creating a password reset disk through Windows password recovery tool. Just focus on every step, they are the same for every Windows.
Step to Reset Windows 7/8/10 Password with iSunshare Windows Password Genius:
Follow the steps below to create a password reset disk for your laptop of Windows 7/8/10.
Run Windows Password Genius into your computer, choose a USB device. You can also create a CD/ DVD reset password disk by choosing the CD/DVD option.
Insert the USB drive, and click on “Begin Burning” button to create a password reset disk.
After the password reset disk created successfully, a success message will be prompted, now we are able to boot the locked laptop with this USB Device.
Inset the USB password reset disk to the locked laptop and restart. When the Windows screen appears, press the BOOT Menu Key repeatedly to enter into Boot Menu, then choose USB device to boot from.
Choose a user account after Windows Password Genius starts, to reset a new password click the “Reset Password” button, and then click the “Reboot” button to restart your laptop. After restarting, you can easily log in Windows 7/8/10 with a new password.
If you want to add a new user, instead of resetting the password, you can simply click on Add User and Reboot.
That’s how you can use iSunshare Windows password Genius for your laptop password reset.
4.2. Reset Laptop Password with Ophcrack
Ophcrack is an outstanding free software in order to recover Windows passwords. Ophcrack is available for different platforms (MAC/Windows/Linux). You can download its program or in the form of CD/DVD to reset your laptop forgotten password.
To create a bootable password reset USB or CD/DVD, you must have access to another laptop because at this stage you can’t enter into your laptop and the other laptop must have access to the internet.
Features:
- Completely free utility to recover passwords
- Very easy to understand and use, No need to do anything, the password will be recovered automatically.
- Software installation is not necessary.
- There are 99.9% chances that ophcrack can recover your Windows password without knowing the previous password.
Supported Windows Platform:
The latest version of Ophcrack supports all versions of Windows like Windows Vista/XP/7/8/8.1/10.
Go to the Ophcrack official website to download its latest version which is 3.8.0. choose the Download ophcrack LiveCD option for Windows.
After downloading the .iso file you can install it into a USB device using ISO2Disc. Download ISO2Disc and launch the program. Drag the .iso file into ISO2Disc and from the list select your USB device. Choose MBR as partition style and click on the start button. you can also perform this through burning CD drive.
Insert your Ophcrack Live USB into the locked laptop and reboot your laptop. The first screen will display a GUI with a list of options on the screen. Press Enter to choose the default automatic mode.
Your laptop will load the Linux Live image into memory. If your password is long then it will take some time to recover your password, may take half an hour. In this while, you have to do nothing except waiting.
After the process is finished, restart your laptop without Ophcrack Live USB/CD. Now you can easily log in to your laptop with the recovered password.
4.3. Reset Windows 7/8/10 Password with Cain & Abel
Cain and Abel is another reliable and effective password recovery tool for use on the Windows platform. Not only for password recovery additionally it allows network administrators to maintain network security or home users to recover a number of saved network passwords. It is one of the best password recovery software designed for Windows 7/2000/XP/Vista. Cain and Abel recovery tool enables you to recover passwords in the local cache, wireless network keys, and other passwords on your system.
Cain and Abel is not supported by the latest version of Windows like Windows 8/10. So you can try it for resetting laptop password on Windows 7 but unfortunately it won’t work for Windows 8/10.
Steps to Reset Laptop Password with Cain & Abel:
To reset laptop password with Cain & Abel method download and install the latest version of it for free from here.
Disable any running antivirus software and turn off Windows firewall because it will try to enter in the troughs of the Windows and accomplish tasks that “normal” tool wouldn’t do, it will get the notice of antivirus software and the Windows firewall, and they stop it from doing its thing.
Follow the below steps to turn off the Windows firewall.
- Type Control Panel in the Windows search box and go for it.
- Select the “System and Security” option.
- Choose the “Windows Firewall” option.
- Find the “Turn Windows Firewall On or Off” option located on the left side of the screen and click on it.
- Uncheck all the radio button.
Run Cain and Abel software.
Here you will see a Cracker tab, click on it.
Select the “LM & NTLM Hashes” from the categories listed under cracker option in the left pane then click on the “Plus” button in the upper toolbox.
A screen will appear with radio button options, choose the “Hashes from Local System” from them and click on Next.
Clicking on Next will now display the list of all Windows 7 user accounts.
Right-click on the account for which you want to recover the password.
You will see a list of actions by right-clicking on username, move your cursor towards “Brute-Force Attack” option and again a dropdown will appear, find the “NT Password” column.
Select a charset to extract the password from. if you know the exact length of password then you can mention the length of the password to save time. Click on start to begin the password recovery method.
Wait for the process to finish because password recovery time depends on the length and the character variations in the password to be recovered. Definitely, less complicated passwords will be recovered faster.
The recovered password will be shown to you when the recovery process has successfully completed.
That’s how you can use Cain and Abel method for laptop password recovery. If you forget your Windows 8 or 10 passwords then you should some other way to sort out the password recovery problem.
4.4 Reset Laptop Password with Chntpw
If you are a Windows user then you can see we have discussed nearly every possible method for each type of Windows whether it is a win 7, win 8 or win 10. But bad things may happen. In case you can’t access to your administrator account or you don’t have a pre-created reset disk, What will you do or what should you do?
As we all know that you can’t do any kind of administration at all or able to install any kind of software once the Windows administrator account has been locked or disabled. But don’t worry, if you don’t have a pre-created password reset disk, Ubuntu Live media disc may help you to get rid of forgotten laptop password problem. You might know that Ubuntu Live CD is typically used for troubleshooting PC issues, but you can also use it to reset Windows laptop password as well.
The point to remember here is that this method is totally free to use and without any cost, you can unlock your locked laptop in minutes just running some simple commands. It will also help Linux users as well.
Steps to Reset Laptop Password with Guest Chntpw:
So in our last section, we’ll see how easily you can reset your laptop password with the free Linux bootable disk/Live USB – chntpw (Offline NT Password & Registry Editor).
To go with us, here are some things that you will need.
- A Bootable CD image of chntpw
- A USB thumb drive (512 MB or can be bigger)
- Another computer with the ability to burn a disk and Internet access.
Let’ see how does this method work for laptop pasword reset. Follow the steps below.
The first thing you need to do is to visit the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor website and download the cd140201.zip file – it will be described as “Bootable CD image”. You can quickly download it because it only contains 18 Mb of size. It will look like:
Once the downloading has finished, extract the downloaded ISO file (cd140201.iso) from the ZIP file.
Burn the ISO file into your USB thumb drive using the freeware ISO2Disc. Note that there is nothing more to do just copy the files directly to your USB drive and it won’t work. If you don’t have a USB device, then your only option is putting chntpw on a CD drive.
Plugin this USB into your locked laptop when you have created it. Turn your laptop on and get it to boot from your USB drive. If your laptop still boots to Windows login screen then you have to change the boot order in the BIOS. If you don’t know how to change boot menu order, you can google it yourself.
After entering the chntpw startup menu, a screen will appear showing you the copyright information and driver option information. Nothing to do here except pressing Enter to continue.
Chntpw will display all Windows installed on your laptop along with the number of partitions. Choose the partition that contains the Windows installation from which you want to remove the password.
Now the program will inquire which part of the registry it should load. We’re resetting our Windows password, By pressing Enter it will accept the default option: Password reset [sam].
Type1 When you see the chntpw Main Menu and hit Enter to accept the default choice: Edit user data and passwords.
It will then show user information and password status. Identify the user account for which you want to reset the password by typing the user account name and press Enter.
Again type 1 to remove user password. press Enter.
You will see a “Password cleared” message. Type ! to quit the user password process and hit Enter.
Enter q and press Enter to close chntpw tool.
Type y to confirm password reset changes and press Enter.
Finally, you’ve just completed the process of resetting laptoppassword with the chntpw tool. Restart your laptop but before this take out the chntpw Live USB. You can now login to Windows without a password!
Conclusion:
That’s it! Hope this article helped you to reset your forgotten laptop password for Windows 7/8/10.