How to Unlock Laptop When You Forgot the Password

As it is essential to protect every single account with a password, it has become a difficult task to remember the password for each one. People forget or lose their passwords now and then and tend to discover it by online methods given by the provider. But what if you get locked out of your Windows and now wondering how to unlock your laptop when you forgot the password? The big question is, how to unlock laptop or PC with or without accessing the Windows Utilities or apps?

Stuck out of your Windows can get annoying but there is no need to worry as Microsoft offers multiple methods to recover the Windows Account by online method but apart from setting Windows Microsoft account, Windows let User protect their Windows account with local/private and administrator accounts as well. What if you lost or forgot your User, local/admin Windows account and probably wondering is no other way around then to clean install your Windows again. Well, hold it right there, as there are multiple methods to recover your local/domain or private administrator account no matter which Windows version you are using.

You are in safe hands as we are going to show you 6 best ways on how to unlock laptop password in Windows 10/8/7/ Vista and XP. These Windows account passwords are recovered, reset or removed by either the Windows password recovery tool or by installation disk, we will show you all the best methods in this stepwise article. The steps below will show you the best and some alternative methods that will help you to unlock your Windows account password.

Method 1. Best Way to Unlock Laptop When You Forgot the Password Using Windows Password Recovery

There are many ways to unlock laptop password but the best way is by using tools that are available online for the users. There are many Windows Password reset tools available online for the user to unlock their Windows account but the most reliable, efficient and secure for the users is the Windows Password Recovery which is, in fact, the best method yet to unlock your Windows account in no time.

Windows Password Recovery not only unlocks Windows 10 account password but also unlocks account passwords for Windows 8/7/Vista and XP. It is a Windows Password reset tool that is available online for downloadable access to start with the free trial version before choosing from the 4 paid editions of the tool. It can be accessed and downloaded from any unlocked PC to make a bootable live USB or CD/DVD device. Then the locked-out Windows PC can be booted from the Live CD/USB to run the software.

The Windows Password Recovery can be run on multiple platforms and has a comprehensive graphical interface for the users with minimum computer understanding. Most of the tools available online can harm User’s private data and could have dangerous viruses that can corrupt the Windows itself. Windows Password Recovery is highly rated and most reviewed utility available online to unlock laptop or desktop forgotten password. This password recovering utility cracks the password in minimum time as it has the fastest recovery rate than other Windows recovery tools. Before walking you through the stepwise guide to recover the Windows account password, we would like to show you some key features.

Key Features of Windows Password Recovery

• It can easily crack administrator and domain accounts for the users using different Windows versions.
• It can also create a new Windows administrator account
• It safely cracks Windows passwords
• It can also reset the Windows Microsoft account password
• It supports Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP/2000 and NT along with Windows Server 2016/2012/2011/2008/2003(R2)/2000 and NT
• It supports SATA/SCSI/IDE hard disk and RAID
• It is 100% secure and safe from any type of viruses
• It has a user-friendly graphical interface for easy to use functionality
• High password Recover rate and recover time

Steps to Crack Windows Password

Firstly, you can do the download and burning process from any accessible PC. After the download is complete follow these simple steps below on how to unlock laptop without password.

Step 1: Create a Bootable USB device with Windows Password Recovery

After installing to any accessible PC, you have to choose a media type to burn the image files onto it from the software. Take the USB device as an example. Simply click on the USB device button to proceed.

Open up the drop-down menu and select your USB device. Now click on the “Begin burning” button as shown on the screen below. This will start the burning process in which the software will make your USB device a bootable device so you can boot your locked laptop to reset password with the software.  Note that your USB device will be formatted in this burning password reset disk process.

Wait for the Burning Successfully pop up to appear after the burning process is completed. Simply click on the OK button to proceed.

Step 2: Booting Locked Windows from the USB device

Take out the USB device from the PC and plug it in on the PC you wish to crack Windows password of. Make sure that the USB device is connected properly and turn on your PC. Now enter the Boot Menu of your PC by pressing the Boot key.

Find your locked laptop or computer’s Boot key:

When the Boot Menu of your PC appears, select the USB device to boot from.

Step 3: Unlock your Windows Password

When you successfully boot up from the USB device you will be directed to the Windows Password Recovery Screen as shown above. There are 4 easy steps that can crack the password in no time.

1. In step 1 select the installed Windows. You might be shown a single Windows in the list but it can also be detected if the user has installed multiple Windows on the PC or laptop, so make sure you select the right Windows which you want to unlock in your laptop or computer.
2. In step 2  all the User accounts created on the Windows will be detected and shown, select the account that you want to unlock the password for.
3. In step 3 click on the “Reset Password” button which will reset the Windows password. This will remove or reset the Windows password.
4. In step 4 click on the “Reboot” button to restart your PC. Make sure to unplug the USB from your PC as the PC restarts.

After the Windows successfully starts, the User can see the User account is unlocked and can access the Windows as the password has been removed. In the Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016 and NT, the password will be set to default.

Method 2. Unlock Laptop When You Forgot the Password with Installation Disk

“How to unlock my laptop?” Windows allows users to unlock the laptop Windows User account password using the installation disk. It is an effective method to crack the Windows laptop. To unlock the Windows password, the User has to a bootable device from any accessible PC. The user then can use the bootable device on the system he wants to unlock Windows of. Unlocking laptop Windows password from the installation disk is a little complicated method but it works fine. The Installation disk can only unlock Windows local and domain passwords and cannot be used for the Windows Microsoft account password. Below is a stepwise guide that will walk you through each step on how to unlock laptop password Windows 10 with an installation disk.

Step 1: Boot Installation Disk from the Laptop

Make sure you have the Windows 10 or the preferred Windows version installation disk with you. Insert the installation disk into the locked device and start the system. You have to boot the system from the installation disk so after you start the laptop/PC press the boot setup key to enter the boot menu. Now simply select the Installation Disk from boot menu to boot the system with the installation disk.

Step 2: Replace important files using the Installation disk

After your system boots up from the Windows Installation disk you will be directed to the Windows Setup as shown above. Simply press the Shift + F10 Key simultaneously on the keyboard, this will open up a command prompt window (CMD).

Now in the command prompt (cmd.exe) type in the following commands:

“C:” and press enter, you can replace the letter “C” with the drive letter of your Windows destination.

“cd windows\system32” and press enter, cd command is used to enter the system32 folder of Windows.

Now you can see that you are into the System32 folder of your Windows. You have to enter following commands in the same order as given below, this will replace the files in the System32 folder:

“ren utilman.exe utilman.exe.bak”, press enter to commit.

“ren cmd.exe utilman.exe ”, press enter to commit.

Now you have to remove the installation disk from your computer as you are now ready to restart your computer using the command given below.

Type in “wpeutil reboot”, press enter to commit as shown above on the screen.

Step 3: Unlock or reset your Windows Password

Before rebooting the system make sure that you have taken off the installation disk. You will be then directed to the Sign-in screen once Windows has loaded up.

On the Windows Sign-in screen you can see the Ease-of-Access icon to get into the utilman.exe. Simply, click on the icon to proceed.

After you are directed to the utilman.exe windows as shown above. Now, the Windows account password can be replaced using the following command in the utilamn.exe windows.

Net user [Username] [New password], Here, [User name] will be replaced with your current Windows account name and [New password], can be replaced with the new password you want to set, as shown above, then press enter to proceed.

After you see the message indicating that the process is completed successfully. Now you have to restart your locked laptop or computer using the installation disk again. Insert the installation disk and boot your computer with it.

Open up a command prompt using SHIFT + F10 keys and type in the following commands:

“C:” and press enter to enter the Windows drive.

“cd windows\system32”, press enter to enter the system32 folder of Windows

Once you get into Windows System/32 folder you have to type in following commands:

“ren utilman.exe cmd.exe”, then press enter to commit

“ren utilman.exe.bak utilman.exe”, then press enter to commit. This will change back the settings. You can now simply exit the process and take out the installation disk. You can now reboot your computer and sign-in the unlocked Windows account with the new password.

Method 3. Unlock Laptop When You Forgot the Password with Reset Disk

Every Windows version allows its user to reset the forgotten or lost Windows account password with the Reset Disk. Windows has a utility that allows the user to create a password disk which allows the user to override Windows password if the user is locked out of the Windows. Unlocking the laptop with the Reset Disk is the easiest method but only if you have already made a reset disk of your Windows password before you got locked out of the Windows. So before starting with the stepwise guide, let’s hope that you have already made a reset disk of your Windows account.

Step 1: Reset Password from Windows Sign in

When you see the Windows Sign-in Windows for the first time you will not see the Reset password option below the password field. Try to enter the password and on the failed attempt you can now see a Reset Password button below the Password field as shown above. Simply click it to open up the Password Reset Wizard.

Step 2: Unlock laptop password from the Wizard

Now once the Password Reset Wizard is opened, click on the Next button.

When you created the reset disk you would remember where you stored it. Select the right drive from the dropdown menu where the password reset key is stored. The reset password disk is of a user key.psw file. Click on the Next button to proceed.

When the Wizard finds the “userkey.psw” file on the selected device you will be directed to screen above. On this screen, you have to type a new password, confirm new password and type in a hint for the new password. Simply click on the Next button once you are done.

Now you can successfully reset the password for the Windows account. Click on the Finish button to exit the wizard and go to the Windows Sign-in screen. The user now will be able to sign in to his Windows account with the new password.

Method 4. Unlock Laptop When You Forgot the Password with Factory Setting

One way to unlock your laptop when you forgot the password is by resetting the Windows Factory Settings which can be done by accessing the Windows Settings. But since you are locked out of your Windows account there is another way of doing it. Unlocking your Windows by using the Windows Factory settings is not the most preferred method as it wipes off the data as well. So if you are okay with losing the data then this method might help you. The other way to access the Windows factory settings is from the Windows Sign-in screen. Below are the steps that will walk you through the procedure to unlock laptop with the factory settings.

Step 1: Restart to enter the Windows Factory Settings

From the Windows Sign-in screen, click on the power button to open up the power options. Now, hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard and click on the Restart option from the power options as shown above.

After restarting the Windows you will be directed to the Windows Utility Manager Settings and you can see a Choose an option screen as shown above. Click on the “Troubleshoot” option from where you can reset your PC.

In the Troubleshoot screen, click on the “Reset this PC” option.

In the “Reset this PC” screen below choose an option, click on the Remove everything option as the Keep my files option will not be able to unlock laptop if forgot laptop password.

On the screen above, click on the “Fully clean the drive” option which will help you to completely reset the Windows and will allow you to access Windows again.

In the Screen above click on the Reset button. Finally, this will start removing the files and will reset all the Windows accounts on the laptop/PC. This process will take several minutes depending on the size of the data you have on your PC. After the process is done, the user can start the system and enter the Windows without the need for the password.

Method 5. Unlock Windows Password using the Utility Manager

If you do not want to lose your data. Windows can efficiently unlock laptop Windows password with the help of Windows Utility Manager. This is not so very comprehensive method as it will require some command lines to change the password on laptop Windows which might not be a user-friendly method. Below are the steps which will use the Windows Utility Manager to Unlock Windows account Password.

Step 1: Restart Windows into Utility Manager

To enter into the Utility Manager of your Windows Shut down your laptop/PC and turn it ON holding the “SHIFT” key.

Step 2: Open Command Prompt from Utility Manager

Click on the “Troubleshoot” option from where you can crack your laptop password.

In Advanced Startup, options click on the “Command Prompt” option from the list.

Now type in the following commands in the cmd.exe (command prompt), then press enter to commit. From the commands, replace drive letter “f” according to the drive letter of your installed Windows:

“move f:\windows\system32\utilman.exe f:\windows\system32\utilman.exe.bak\”

Now type in the following command in the command then press enter to commit. From the command, remember to replace the drive letter “f” according to your installed Windows drive:

“copy f:\windows\system32\cmd.exe f:\windows\system32\utilman.exe”

After entering the command you can see a message saying: “1 file(s) copied”. This means you have copied and moved new files to your Windows and now it’s time to reboot your computer.

Type in the following command to restart the computer through command prompt:

“wpeutil reboot”, and press enter.

Step 3: Reset using Windows Utility Manager

After rebooting your computer, wait for the Windows Sign-in screen to appear.

From the Windows Sign-in screen, click on the Ease-of-Access icon to enter the utilman.exe window.

Entering the Ease-of-access will open up the utilman.exe command prompt windows. Now in the utilman.exe windows type in the following command, which will replace password of your Windows account:

Net User [Your New Username] [Your New password], and press enter to commit. Note: Replace [Your User name] field with your Windows account name and in the [Your New password] field, enter a new password you want to set for your Windows account.

When the password is reset you will see a message “The command completed successfully”. You can now exit the utilman.exe and enter your Windows account using the new password.

Method 6. Unlock Laptop When You Forgot the Password with Microsoft account (Only Windows 10/8.1)

Microsoft allows users to set Windows account password using the user’s Microsoft account credentials in Windows 10/8.1. This Microsoft account can be reset in Windows through Microsoft website’s online method but you have to do it on some accessible PC. The process is similar for Windows 8/8.1 and 10 users. Below are the steps to reset the password of your Microsoft account to unlock laptop password which is linked with your Microsoft account. We hope that you have linked your Microsoft account with your phone number or the alternative email account.

Step 1: Go to Microsoft Website to recover password

Open up Microsoft Live Website to reset your account password on an accessible Windows. In the screen above type in your Microsoft account and click “Next”.

Step 2: Verify your Identity

Select the appropriate option you wish to get the security code on. Complete the hidden parts on the email address or phone number in the field and click on the “send code” button. Microsoft will send a security code for verification purposes.

Copy the verification code you received and paste it on the next dialogue box as shown above. Click on the “Next” button to proceed.

Step 3: Reset your Microsoft account password

After the successful matching of the security code, you will see a “Reset your password” dialogue box. Simply put on the new password in both the fields and click “Next”. This will reset your old password to a new password. The User can now access his Windows using the New Microsoft account password.

Conclusion:

In this article, we have shown you 6 ways on how to unlock laptop when you forgot or lost your account password in Windows 10/8/7/Vista and XP. From all the methods above we have seen that Windows Password Recovery is the best utility available online to unlock the Windows whether it’s for the domain, local or for the administrator account. We learned that it unlocks the Windows without any data loss and is faster than any other methods. We hope this has helped you to unlock laptop password in Windows.