“I have lost my Windows 10 password. I have no reset disc and I’m the only account? How can I recover the password? Please help!” What to do...
“I have lost my Windows 10 password. I have no reset disc and I’m the only account? How can I recover the password? Please help!”
What to do if you forgot Windows login password? If you haven’t got a clue what it is, you need to use password recovery utilities to break into your Windows account. In this tutorial we’ll introduce 2 simplest softwares for novice users to recover / reset lost Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP password in just a few clicks.
Option 1: Recover Windows Password with Ophcrack
Ophcrack is a free Linux boot CD that can recover your forgotten Windows password instead of resetting it. It uses rainbow table to crack the passwords, while still be able to use brute-force to do the job. Here are simple steps to use Ophcrack to start the recovery of Windows password:
Step 1: Go to the Ophcrack home page and download the Ophcrack ISO image and burn it to CD.
Step 2: Using the Live CD you’ve prepared, boot your computer from it. Upon booting, choose the “Ophcrack graphic mode – automatic” option.
Step 3: Ophcrack will automatically launch and start cracking the password it found on the hard drive. You don’t need to type or click anything
Step 4: It would take quite a while for Ophcrack to finish cracking the passwords. After your passwords are recovered, write them down
Step 5: Remove the CD, and reboot your machine. You can then log on to Windows with your recovered password!
Method 2: Reset Windows Password with PCUnlocker
Ophcrack won’t find every password. If Ophcrack didn’t do the trick just try the Windows password reset utility – PCUnlocker. Pretty easy to use and it comes with intuitive graphical interface. Even computer novices can use PCUnlocker to reset forgotten Windows password in minutes.
Step 1: To begin, click this link to download PCUnlocker (.zip archive) and save it to your desktop. Extract the ISO image from .zip and then burn it to CD (or USB thumb drive) using your CD/DVD burning program (or ISO2Disc).
Step 2: Just boot your locked PC from CD (You might need to change the boot sequence in the BIOS/UEFI). Once the CD boots, PCUnlocker automatically loads and shows you a list of user accounts found on your Windows installation.
Step 3: Choose your target account and click on “Reset Password” button to clear your Windows password. Remove the disc and then restart your computer. You can then log in to Windows account without a password!
Conclusion
These two tools are the most popular password recovery tools for Windows. Just follow this tutorial and even a complete beginner can recover / reset forgotten Windows password on their own. No need to spend time doing a clean reinstallation and run the risk of losing files.
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