A forgotten Windows 8 password is not yet a reason to panic. Therefore, if this is your situation, do not take any action that could damage both your PC and its components. There are enough methods to reset the password in the Windows 8 operating system, but each of them is only suitable for a certain type of password.
There are two types of accounts in Windows 8, namely local and online www.live.com accounts. If you don't know what account type is used on your Windows 8 PC, then you need to find out first. To do this, turn on your computer and see if the email address with the domain hotmail.com, live.com or some other is displayed on the screen above, next to the text field where you enter the password to enter the eight. If an e-mail with a domain is displayed, it means that the PC is accessed through it. In another embodiment, the account is local.
Changing your online is a fairly quick and easy process. But to reset local accounts, you will have to use third-party software or the original Windows 8 disk. Third-party software that can be used to reset the password does not always help, since computers pre-booted with Windows 8 include the new secure boot and boot method. Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot. This new secure boot makes it more difficult for third party software tools to access your password.
In this material we will look at ways to reset both an online account and a local one. To crack a local account password, we will use not only OS tools , but also third-party utilities . And for Windows 8 home users, we'll look at alternative password entry methods that are easy to remember.
Changing your online account password
online Microsoft account to log into your laptop or desktop computer running Windows 8 You can easily restore your Microsoft account using the online form at https://account.live.com/password/reset. Using this form, you can remove the password from any PC, as well as from a smartphone or tablet. Many users who have forgotten their account password usually try to solve this problem through Microsoft support, but when talking with support, they do not solve this problem and advise using the form that we described above.
Now let's look at an example. Let's go to the page in the browser indicated above.
On this page, select the “ I don’t remember my password ” option and move on to the next page.
This page requires you to enter your account name. After this, you will be sent a security code to the additional address that you specified during registration. Once you receive this security code, you must enter it to verify that you are the owner of the Microsoft account.
After confirming the received password, you will be taken to a page where you can create a new password for your account with the hotmail.com, live.com or other domain. Now you can easily access your Windows 8 PC.
As you can see from the example, making a reset, knowing the additional e-mail address or mobile phone number, is quite simple. But what should you do if you do not have access to an additional e-mail or mobile address where you can receive a security code? Microsoft itself offers a solution. Therefore, on the support page https://windows.microsoft.com/ru-ru/windows-live/id-support you must select the appropriate item that will help you solve the access problem.
I would also like to note that when contacting support for a reset, you need to create a new account . This account will be temporary and is only needed to reset your password with the assistance of support. To reset your account, support will ask you to fill out an online form with security-related questions. For example, any previous password entries will be taken into account, as well as addresses to which you recently sent letters to your colleagues and friends.
There is one more point that needs to be taken into account. After performing the reset, you will have access to the PC on the eight only if the computer has Internet access . Otherwise, eight will ask for the old password that you forgot.
Resetting the local account in eight
As described earlier, by creating a local 8 entry password, you will keep your PC secure as it includes the new Secure Boot and UEFI boot method.
To restore access to your local account, you will need an installation disk or bootable USB flash drive with Windows 8. A bootable USB flash drive can be created using Microsoft's Media creation tool . In our case, we will use a boot disk.
Now is the time to warn users: you use this method at your own peril and risk, as it is not recommended by Microsoft developers.
Well, let's get started. After booting from the disk at system startup, select the installation language and move on to the next window.
In this window, click on the “ System Restore ” item, which will take us to the menu of additional options.
In this menu, select the links “ Diagnostics / Advanced options / Command line ”. In the console that opens, enter the command shown in the figure below as an administrator.
Confirm this command with the Enter key and enter the following command.
And also confirm it with the Enter key.
After completing these steps, reboot your computer and instead of entering your password at the login screen, press the Shift key five times, which will open the console as an administrator. In a command prompt running as an administrator, enter the command shown below.
In the command entered, "alex" is the username and "Fg45#-fghd" is the new password.
After successfully restoring the ability to log in, boot from the installation disk and return the utilman.exe file back :
From the example you can see that it is a little complicated for novice users, but users who have experience working with the command line should have no problems running as an administrator.
Reset via command line
To reset your Windows 8 password via the command line, you must have an installation disk with the system distribution on hand. If there is no disk, then using the command line will not work, since you will not be able to replace the system files first.
- Insert the disc and restart your computer. Launch the installation wizard by booting from the disk.
- On the language selection screen, press Shift+F10 to bring up the command prompt.
- Type the command "notepad" to open a notepad. Expand the File menu and click Open.
- Click on the "Computer" button. Look at which disk the system files are located on. If in normal mode this is drive C, then through the command line it will most likely be drive D.
- Return to the console and run the command “copy d:\windows\System32\utilman.exe d:\” to create a copy of the utilman.exe file in the root of drive D. If your system files are on a different partition, then instead of “d:” enter another letter.
- Run the command “copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe” to replace the utilman.exe file with cmd.exe. When prompted for confirmation, type “Yes.”
After the computer restarts, the “Accessibility” button will appear at the bottom of the administrator account login window.
Click on it - the command prompt will open, since you have replaced the system files. Run two commands:
- net user Alex NoviYPaR00l (00 – two zeros) to change the password.
- net user Alex 7 to set the password to "7".
Instead of the name “Alex”, you write the name of the user for whose account you forgot the password. The key "7" will now be used to log in until you set a different password. All that remains is to change the system files back: boot again from the Windows 8 installation disk, call the command line (Shift+F10) and execute copy d:\utilman.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe.
Creating a flash drive for reset using Windows 8
Another convenient tool for resetting a local account password is a password reset flash drive . This floppy disk is a flash drive with settings for resetting the password for a local account. Before starting the floppy disk creation wizard, insert a USB flash drive into your PC. To launch the wizard, launch “ Search ” using the Win + Q key combination and enter “ Create a reset floppy disk ”. (The option is only available when logging in with a local password).
Run the found wizard.
In the wizard window, click Next, after which the “userkey.psw” file will be written to the USB drive. This file contains password reset information. You can use this flash drive to reset your password by booting to the login screen. Reset Password link will appear next to the password text box .
By clicking on this link, the password reset wizard will read the reset information from the flash drive and you will have access to Windows 8 without entering forgotten characters.
As can be seen from the example, this method is very simple and is suitable for novice personal computer users. But I would like to note that its main disadvantage is that you will have to create this reset disk before you forget or lose your password. Therefore, it is advisable to create a reset disk immediately after installing the operating system .
What to do if you forgot your Windows 8 password
Even the most avid Windows 8 fans can be confused by the situation when a user has forgotten his password to log into the system.
It turns out that in order to solve this problem, it is not at all necessary to take the computer to a service center and pay money for help. You can reset Windows 8 (and at the same time remove the password) yourself using two simple methods. Updated:
Read our article for a new way to reset passwords for all versions of Windows.
What to do if you forgot your Windows 8 password
Method one - only using Windows 8 itself. So, you can reset the password in Windows 8, but you should take into account the fact that when you reset the password, all personal data from the computer (documents, photographs, etc.) will be deleted. It stores, including separately installed programs.
1. First of all, make sure that the computer is plugged in and do not turn it off during the reset procedure.
2. On the Windows 8 login screen, click on the power icon in the lower right corner of the screen. A pop-up menu will appear on the screen.
3. Then press and hold the Shift key while clicking the “Reboot” menu item in the drop-down menu.
4. A new menu “Select an action” will appear on the screen. Here you need to go to the “Diagnostics” section by clicking on it with the mouse
5. In the menu that opens, click “Return to original state.”
6. Click Next and wait for the system to restore the system.
7. If the installation disk is not inserted into the computer, the system will require you to use it to complete the recovery.
8. After a few minutes, you need to click “Just delete my files” in the menu that appears. By completing these steps, you will return the Windows 8 system to the state of completion of installation on the computer, and you will need to re-create a user on the computer, as well as personalize the desktop and necessary programs on the computer.
For complete instructions, watch the video:
The second method is to use a password reset program.
To reset your password, you will need to create a bootable USB flash drive and delete the password using it.
We create a bootable flash drive (all data on the flash drive will be destroyed), to do this, download the program and image:
Unpack the contents and run the file rufus_v1.4.1
In the open program window, click on the disk icon, select the image in the unpacked folder called BootPass and press the start button.
We are waiting for the bootable flash drive to be created.
Now we insert the USB flash drive to reset the password into the password-protected computer and select “boot from USB” when booting. (When booting your computer, press F10, F12 Esc depending on your computer model)
Then watch and do as in the video
After rebooting the password was gone.))
Preventing Forgotten Password Issues
Once you have regained access to your account in Windows 8, you can set new alternative login methods using the operating system settings. These methods are picture password and PIN code .
For example, using a graphic password, you will reliably protect your account, while it is very easy to remember and difficult to forget. The principle of operation of the graphic password is based on the gestures of your favorite photos. To create one, you need to find one of your photos, for example, a photo of your cat. Following the wizard's prompts, set your photo and record three gestures on it, with which you can unlock access to your account.
Using a PIN code is the easiest way to access a home user's computer. For example, everyone has phones that use a four-digit PIN . Therefore, you can create the same PIN code as on your phone and use it to enter the eight. Judge for yourself, it is very difficult to forget such a password.
How to set and remove a password when logging into Windows 8: Video
Changing the login password on the command line
So, as you remember, the last command rebooted the PC. Now, when loading, we are taken to a menu where we are asked to enter a password. There is an Accessibility button in the lower left corner. Click on it. If the above commands were written correctly, a command line will open where you can reset your password in Windows 8. To do this, enter the following commands:
- Net user Andrey * – this command allows you to make changes to the account of a specific user. Here, instead of “Andrey”, you should enter the name of your account. It is worth noting that this name must be written in the language in which it is indicated in the system. The command line supports the Russian language, so if your account name is written in Cyrillic, then write it that way.
- Now you should enter a new password and press “Enter”. It will not appear as you type, so be extremely careful. It is best to first enter a simple key, which can later be changed in the account settings.
- After entering the key, you will need to enter it again for confirmation. Press "Enter".
- Now we execute the “Exit” command.
After the completed operations, you can freely log into your account by entering a new password. We have discussed with you one of the simplest ways to reset your password in Windows 8 if you cannot log into your account. It is worth noting that our data was not damaged, and we did not have to reinstall or restore anything.
Overview of reset programs
In this example, we will look at two password reset programs. The first program is called Ophcrack . This utility is distributed free of charge and can be downloaded from the official website https://ophcrack.sourceforge.net. You can download the utility as an ISO image and as an archive to create a bootable USB drive. In our case, we will use the LiveCD version. After booting from a LiveCD at system startup, we will be taken to this menu.
In this menu, select the item “ Ophcrack graphic mode - automatic ”. This item will launch a portable OS based on Linux with a console in which you can perform password reset . I would also like to note that if the passwords are very complex, then finding them can take a very long time.
The second program is called PCUnlocker . The utility can be downloaded from its official website https://www.top-password.com. PCUnlocker, like Ophcrack, can be used as an ISO image and as an archive to create a bootable USB drive. First of all, let's download the PCUnlocker to our PC and burn it to an optical disc. Continuing further, we will boot from this disk when the computer starts into the PCUnlocker .
PCUnlocker is based on the Windows PE , so we will see a familiar interface. To remove a password on our computer running Windows 8, you need to select a user and click the Reset Password button in the PCUnlocker . In our case, the administrator is the user “Alex”. After these steps, a reset will be carried out, after which you will be able to log into your account.
In addition to the utilities discussed above, there are also those that can remove your password and restore access to your local account:
- Offline NT Password & Registry Editor;
- Kon-Boot;
- Cain&Abel;
- LCP;
- Trinity Rescue Kit;
- John the Ripper.
