Windows 10 Password issue

[sargan]

I have a Dell PC which has accounts for all members of the family - W10
Myself as admin others as users
I don’t use it … as I have my own PC.

Daughter advised me Anti-virus about to expire – went to install new license and W10 does not accept (or I have forgot) my password.
Is there a way of getting a pwd reset ? ………… when I click pwd reest option on login it asks for a USB drive to be installed ? … no idea why, or what that will lead to.
My daughter still has access OK if that will give me a way to fix this?
It is no big issue if I have to lose my config – all my files are elsewhere, but don’t want to lose daughters files or the W10 license.

 

[jerryg50]

I have a Dell PC which has accounts for all members of the family - W10
Myself as admin others as users
I don’t use it … as I have my own PC.

Daughter advised me Anti-virus about to expire – went to install new license and W10 does not accept (or I have forgot) my password.
Is there a way of getting a pwd reset ? ………… when I click pwd reest option on login it asks for a USB drive to be installed ? … no idea why, or what that will lead to.
My daughter still has access OK if that will give me a way to fix this?
It is no big issue if I have to lose my config – all my files are elsewhere, but don’t want to lose daughters files or the W10 license.

Get in touch with the Anti Virus support. If you have a paid account you should get support. They can fix this for you. McAfee and Symantic are very good for support like this.

 

[sargan]

Unfortunately this is nothing to do with Anti-Virus provider .... I just found the issue when I went to update Anti-virus ..... the issue is with Windows Admin account access ..... I can't get in ... password doe not work.
Be same for any Admin change - i.e. add a program or update a driver.
Is there a way to elevate my daughters account to Admin ... then she could reset my password ..... or even delete my account and create a new one.

I'm happy if my account is deleted as along as I can recreate a new Admin account

 

[Luke13TH]

Hi Sargan,

If you can't access the account then it will be quite a problem, log in to your daughters account and see what accounts are active (maybe there is one that is an admin except yours), if you have forgotten the password you will not be able to reset it from your daughters account. Deleting your account wont help either due to your daughters account being a standard account, that means she will only be able to create standard accounts.

In these times Microsoft always say you have to reset the PC, however there are 3rd party programs you could use however I do not use them personally.

 

[sargan]

I am OK with resetting PC (can back up daugheter stuff) as long as I don't lose windows install and licensing .... took ages to get license issue corrected (was a W7 to W10 upgrade)

 

[Luke13TH]

If you follow this way you shouldn't loose the install.

1. Go to settings
2. Update and security
3. Recovery
4. Reset this pc (allows you to keep the files or remove then and just reinstalls windows)

 

[patcooke]

If you're using a Microsoft account to login then you could use another pc to use the Windows live account reset page to change your password then use your new password to log on to the admin account.

 

[jerryg50]

I am OK with resetting PC (can back up daugheter stuff) as long as I don't lose windows install and licensing .... took ages to get license issue corrected (was a W7 to W10 upgrade)

Register the lisence with MS using an MS account. Your password to the sccount should activate. Make an image backup of the present system.

You can also call MS support about the problem. If they have proof you are the owner they in most cases can get you in. They will charge for this.

Whenever setting up a system always have two or more admin accounts. Ive seen an account go corrupt. Never forget a password. On a home computer use a simpled password.

Once your system is fixed make an image backup to an external drive. This makes it a lot easier to recover from a disaster.

 

[sargan]

If you follow this way you shouldn't loose the install.

1. Go to settings
2. Update and security
3. Recovery
4. Reset this pc (allows you to keep the files or remove then and just reinstalls windows)

Will this work OK from a non-Admin account

 

[patcooke]

If you're loging on with a MS live account I still reckon the easy way is to go online on another pc and reset your password.

 

[sargan]

This was a stanslone PC running W7, I upgraded licesnse to W10
I am not familiar with Microsoft Live

 

[Luke13TH]

Will this work OK from a non-Admin account

Hi Sargan,

This should work for an non-admin account. I would try it and see the results first otherwise it's going to have to be a boot usb to reinstall the OS.

 

[patcooke]

This was a stanslone PC running W7, I upgraded licesnse to W10
I am not familiar with Microsoft Live

What username did you use to login to the admin account?