Forgot your password? Here's to get back into your Windows PC

Forgetting the password to your Windows laptop is an incredibly frustrating and worrying experience. The fear that you may be losing all your data is not something anyone wants to experience. Thankfully, Windows 11 allows you to recover your password or sign-in information if you've forgotten it. Before we start, you need to know which account type you're locked out of. Microsoft accounts are cloud-based and reset via the web. Local accounts store credentials on the device and use security hints. Work/School accounts are managed by your organization's IT department. Trying to reset a Microsoft account using local methods will fail, and vice versa. Resetting a Microsoft account from the lock screen Use the Web sign-in option for the fastest recovery Most Windows users are using a Microsoft account. If you forgot your PIN or password, you don't need to find another device. Windows 11 has a built-in web sign-in option. At the sign-in screen, click Sign-in options and select the globe icon labeled Web sign-in. This opens a secure browser window. Enter your Microsoft account email and click I forgot my password. Follow the prompts to verify your identity with your recovery email or authenticator app. A reset link will be sent to your verified contact methods. Unlocking a local account with security hints Offline reset works if you set up hints during creation If you set up your PC using a local account on Windows 11, you can reset the password through the password hints and prompts you used when you first set up your PC. Here's what to do: Click the Reset Password link under the login screen. Answer the security questions (these should have been created by you when creating the account). Once you fill out the prompts, you'll be prompted to set a new password. Make sure it's memorable but not easily predictable. Using the Windows Recovery Environment as the official fallback Reset this PC keeps your files when all other methods fail If standard methods fail, the Windows Recovery Environment (WRE) is your best official option. Microsoft's "Reset this PC" feature is safer than third-party unlockers because it preserves your personal files while reinstalling Windows. Force WRE by restarting your computer and holding the power button during the Windows logo to force a shutdown. Repeat twice. On the third boot, automatic repair initiates. Click Advanced options, then Troubleshoot, and Reset this PC. Choose Keep my files. This reinstalls Windows and creates a new local admin account. Warning: You will need your 48-digit BitLocker recovery key to access the drive if encryption is enabled. Swapping utilman.exe with Command Prompt in WRE The accessibility hack requires precise commands to work on modern builds Forcing a password reset by replacing the accessibility utility with Command Prompt is a known trick, but the old `ren` commands fail on modern Windows 11 builds due to stricter file locking. You must use `move` or `copy` to bypass the lock. From the WRE menu, choose Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt. If prompted, enter your BitLocker recovery key. You can find it at account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey. Type the drive letter for Windows (usually C:) and press Enter. Type cd windows and press Enter. Type cd system32 and press Enter. Move the accessibility utility: move utilman.exe utilman.exe.bak Copy Command Prompt to the accessibility slot: copy cmd.exe utilman.exe Close Command Prompt and click Continue to reboot. At the login screen, click the Accessibility icon. Command Prompt opens. Type net user [username] [newpassword] and press Enter. Replace `[username]` with your account name and `[newpassword]` with your new password. Restart and log in with the new password. Once you fill out the prompts, you'll be prompted to set a new password. Make sure it's memorable but not easily predictable. How to unlock a computer without the password in the Windows Recovery Environment Thanks to a weird quirk on Windows, you can use the Accessibility feature on Windows and change it to Command Prompt on the lock screen to force a password reset. It's a pretty technical process, but we have you covered. This method only works if you're not using a Microsoft account. We're not responsible for any legal issues, troubles, or damage to a PC. Restart your computer and when you see the Windows logo, press and hold the power button to force it to shut down. Turn the computer back on and repeat this process. When you turn on the computer again, automatic repair will initiate, giving you some troubleshooting options. Click Advanced options. Choose Troubleshoot and then Advanced Options and Command Prompt. At this point, you may be asked for a BitLocker recovery key to be able toa ccess your drive. You can find your BitLocker recovery keys on this page, or another place where you may have chosen to save them. Type in the drive letter for your Windows installation, followed by a colon. Generally, it will be C, so type C: and press Enter. Type cd windows and press Enter. Type cd system32 and press Enter. Type out ren utilman.exe utilman1.exe, then press Enter again. Type ren cmd.exe utilman.exe and press Enter one more time. Exit the Command Prompt and click Continue to reboot Windows 11. Once in the login screen, click the Accerssibility icon (near the power icon) and Command Prompt will open. Type the command: control userpasswords2 and press Enter. Choose the account you want to reset the password on and choose Reset password. Enter your new password, or leave it blank to remove the password. Click OK. Close the Command Prompt, restart, and enter the password you entered. Go back to the Windows 11 Settings app, choose Accounts > Sign-in options, and reset the password again so you can set new security questions. Open the Start menu and, while holding Shift on your keyboard, click the Power button and then Restart. Windows will restart to the recovery environment again. Choose Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt. Again, you'll need your BitLocker recovery key. Type C: (or the appropriat edrive letter) and press Enter. Type cd windows and press Enter. Type cd system32. Enter the following command: ren utilman.exe cmd.exe. Finally, enter this command: ren utilman1.exe utilman.exe. Once you complete the steps above, you'll be able to sign in again and no damage will have been done to your files. It's important that you follow the steps through to the end, as things might break otherwise. A warning about other options These are all the major ways you can unlock a computer without a password in Windows 11. If none of these three methods work, you might be tempted to try a third-party program that you might have come across through a Google search. Indeed, there are plenty of these options on the internet, and some of these work, but we suggest staying away from these programs because they could contain hidden malware that can damage your computer. You're probably better off resetting your PC entirely than using programs that can unlock your computer.