How to Reset the Administrator Password in Windows 10

Sep. 10, 2021

If you haveforgotten the password of your Windows 10local account and that happens to be your administrator account as well, resetting the password becomes a tough task. In such scenarios,you need to use a live USB stickand access the computer from outside the system. This way, you can modify the system files with ease and get inside the PC without much trouble. To make things simple for you, we have pieced together a detailed guide on how to reset the Windows 10 administrator password. So without any delay, let’s jump to the steps right away.

Before we begin this tutorial, let me clarify that none of your files or programs will be affected during this process. You can reset the Windows 10 administrator password without any loss to your valuable files. So with that out of the way, let’s move to the instructions.

1. First of all, you need tocreate a Windows 10 USBinstallation media. You can either useRufusor Microsoft’sMedia Creation Toolto create a bootable Windows USB.

2. Next, plug a USB thumb drive into the computer, and restart your PC. As your PC boots up,start pressing the boot keycontinuously.

Note: On HP laptops, pressing the “Esc” key during startup brings up the Startup menu. For other laptops and desktops, you will have to look for the boot key on the Internet. It should be one of these: F12, F9, F10, etc.

3. Now,select the USB driveon which you flashed Windows 10 and hit Enter to kick off the administrator password reset process.

4. Once you are on the Windows 10 installer page, press “Shift + F10” to open Command Prompt.

5. In the Command Prompt window, typediskpartand hit Enter. Next, typelist volumeand hit Enter. From the list of volumes,identify your C driveand note down whatever is mentioned under “Ltr”. This will be your partition name. For example, mine isD.

6. Now, typeexitand hit Enter to leave Diskpart.

7. After that, enter the partition name in this fashion –d:and press Enter. This willmove you to the C driveof your computer. Note that the partition name can be different for your computer.

8. After that, enter these commands one by one to move to the “System32” folder under your computer’s C drive.

9. Once you are here, enter the below commands one by one. This willrenameutilman.exetocmd.exe. By the way, utilman.exe is responsible for handling Accessibility features on the lock screen and will enable us to reset the administrator password on your Windows 10 PC.

10. Now, close the Command Prompt window, cancel the Windows 10 installer process, unplug the USB thumb drive, and restart your PC. You will normally boot into the lock screen. Here, click on the “Accessibility” icon at the bottom-right corner.

11. A command prompt window will open up. Here,type the below commandand hit Enter. It will allow you to reset the Windows 10 administrator password with ease.

12. Now, a new password recovery window will pop up. Here,click on the “Reset Password” button.

12.Set a new passwordand click the “OK” button. You have successfully reset the administrator password on your Windows 10 PC.

13. Now, log in to your account with thenew admin passwordfrom the lock screen. And voila, you can sign in to your Windows 10 PC without any issues.

Forgot Windows 10 Administrator Password? Reset the Admin Password

So that is how you can easily reset the Windows 10 admin password without deleting any of your files or programs. You don’t even have to reinstall Windows 10 to access other partitions. Just follow our tutorial and it will work like a charm. Anyway, that is pretty much it. If you want toconvert MBR to GPT disk without data loss on Windows 10, follow our detailed tutorial linked here. And if you have any questions about this guide, comment them down below.

Passionate about Windows, ChromeOS, Android, security and privacy issues. Have a penchant to solve everyday computing problems.