Reset Windows 10 Administrator Password

It so happened that I work in an organization where there are a huge number of people with brain dysfunction. They are not able to keep any information in their heads for a long time. And even if they write down a password, they constantly forget where they wrote it down. Every Monday, after a wild weekend, usually begins with someone forgetting their password again. AD often helps out in this case, but if the PC is not on the general network and is not connected to AD, then problems begin. I myself have such cases, since there is a lot of equipment and it is difficult to remember everything.

You can reset your password in Windows 10 in different ways, but this is the most effective and definitely working one. It has been working since version 7 for sure, it was just done a little differently, but the principle is the same.

Reset Windows 10 Password

There are several ways. On the Internet, it is often advised to replace the file with the program for the disabled with cmd.exe. And there is another option with a built-in administrative account. But these methods may not work in the latest versions of Win 10. Therefore, I will immediately describe a 100% working option for resetting the Windows 10 password without any third-party programs (suitable only for a local account). To do this, you will need a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10, not necessarily with the same version of the system that is installed on your computer. In general, any USB flash drive with the Win 10 installer.

List of sequential steps to change the Windows 10 administrator password:

1) Boot from a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive (You can see how to make a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive here), then press the keys in the installation program Shift+F10 (Shift + Fn + F10 (on some laptops). The command prompt will open.

2) In the command line, enter regedit and press Enter.

open-cmd-windows-10-setup

3) The registry editor will open. In it, in the left panel, select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEand then select from the menu “File” – “Load Bush”.

4) Specify the path to the file C:\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM (in some cases, the letter of the system disk may differ from the usual C, we need exactly the disk where the Windows folder is located, which we are trying to access).

5) You can choose any section name for the loaded bush.

set-hive-name-registry

6) Open the downloaded registry section (it will be located under the specified name in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE), and in it – a subsection Setup.

7) In the right part of the registry editor, double-click on the parameter CmdLine and set the value cmd.exe

8) Change the parameter value in the same way SetupType on 2.

9) In the left part of the registry editor, select the section whose name you specified in step 5, then select “File” – “Unload Bush”confirm the upload.

10) Close the registry editor, command prompt, setup program and reboot the computer from the hard drive.

11) When the system boots, the command line will open automatically. Enter the command in it net user to view the list of users.

12) Enter the command

net user ИМЯ_ПОЛЬЗОВАТЕЛЯ  НОВЫЙ_ПАРОЛЬ

This is necessary to set a new password for the selected user. If the username contains spaces, put it in quotation marks. If you need to delete a password, instead of a new password, enter two quotation marks in a row (without a space between them). Do not make a password in Cyrillic!

13) In the command line, enter regedit and go to the registry section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Setup

14) Remove the value from the parameter CmdLine and establish meaning SetupType equal 0.

revert-registry-changes-win-10

15) Close the registry editor and command prompt.

Everything is ready to use the system. After rebooting, you will be taken to the login screen, and the user password will be changed to the one you specified.

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