Windows 10: How to switch from using a PIN to using a password, when you've forgotten your local admin...

Last year I was wanting to change my Microsoft account to be the Local Admin on my laptop. When I did that, it had me change my password, and set a PIN. A couple of days later I came to realize that I hadn't accomplished that, but instead converted the account on my laptop to become a local only account. The problem is that I've forgotten the password! I'm now forced to login with only the PIN. I want to get back to using a password.


Is there any way without reformatting my laptop to recover the password for the local admin account, with only having the PIN?

:)

 

Forgotten admin password.

I've forgotten the administrator password for my notebook. I can login with a 4 digit pin but I need the current password to change the password and that's the one I've forgotten. Also Windows keeps complaining of needing a startup repair but I cannot run it without the admin pass. What can I do?

 

admin password?

You can reset the Admin Password using Windows XP repair; See Here for step by step.

*Toast :toast:

 

Forgotten admin password.

Sorry but "Admin account" might be a description. Is your answer to 1 that you are signed in to the built-in account with the username Administrator or do you just mean that you are signed in to an account that has admin status [an account that you have made at some stage]?

The account to select in the list is the one that you want to reset the password to. If that is the one you are signed in to then you'll get that To change your password press Alt+Ctrl+Delete message instead [and the existing password is needed in order to do any change].

You need to be signed in to a different admin user account in order to reset the existing one's password. By the way, you will lose all your saved internet sign-in credentials by resetting it.
- You could create a new password-protected, admin-level local user account {steps given in a separate post below} then sign in to it so you could then use netplwiz to reset the original one.

Denis