Reset Forgotten Windows 10 Password with Bootable USB

Want to know what to do if you forgot Windows login password of your Windows 10 PC? Learn how to reset forgotten Windows 10 password using bootable USB.

Losing and forgetting Windows login password are quite common things among Windows users.

Specially, if you aren’t using any specific device for a long time now then you might forget the Windows password of that device.

What to do if you forgot Windows 10 password and couldn’t log on to your PC? There are two main account types in Windows 10 operating system: Local account and Microsoft account.

Losing the Windows 10 local account password might be worse than forgetting a Microsoft account password because at least you can use another device to reset Microsoft account password online but if you’ve forgotten your local account Windows 10 password then there are only a few specific things can be done to reset it.

reset forgotten windows 10 password

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When you’re locked out of the local administrator account on your Windows computer, a handy bootable utility can come into rescue. PCUnlocker is a simple yet powerful password tool that can remove, reset, bypass Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP password in no time. It can also help you recover access to your computer if you forgot Microsoft account password on Windows 10 or Windows 8 operating system.

This Windows 10 password reset tutorial will walk you through every simple step in the process of resetting forgotten Windows 10 password with bootable USB drive. Let’s dive in:

Create a Bootable USB Drive

Download the PCUnlocker ZIP file from this link. Extract its content to your preferred location (such as your desktop). Within that location, you can find a disc image file named pcunlocker.iso, which needs to be burned onto a USB drive.

forgot windows 10 password

In order to make a bootable USB drive, download a program like ISO2Disc. Open up ISO2Disc, click the Browse button to choose the pcunlocker.iso file that was extracted, next select your USB drive and then click on Start Burn button.

reset windows login password

Boot Your Computer from USB

After creating a bootable USB drive with PCUnlocker, insert it into your locked computer. While turning it on, press a system-defined key (such as F12, F2, ESC, DEL) to access BIOS (or UEFI firmware). Use the arrow keys to select the BOOT tab and the give USB drive boot sequence priority over the hard drive.

windows 10 password reset usb

Reset Forgotten Windows 10 Password

After successfully booting from USB, PCUnlocker will load within minutes. On the screen, you can view a list of system accounts that were extracted from Windows 10 SAM database on your hard drive. Choose your locked local account and click on Reset Password button.

forgot windows 10 password local account

After a while, the Change Password window will open up. Type in a new password and click OK.

windows 10 password reset

Finally, unplug the USB device and reboot your computer normally. Windows 10 should now let you log in with your new password!

Thus, you can see how simple is to reset forgotten Windows 10 password with bootable USB method.

Conclusion

Addition to resetting Windows 10 local account password, we have also tested this procedure on Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows XP operating system, and it works just fine. So if you somehow forgot Windows login password, you can use PCUnlocker bootable utility to get back into your system quickly.

No need to spend hours reinstalling your Windows operating system, especially if you need to use your computer urgently.

Feel free to let us know, what you do if you forget your Windows 10 login password? Usually, how do you reset lost or forgotten Windows password on Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP?