Windows 10: Recovery Environment Password Incorrect

Hello all,


For the past few weeks I've been having issues with booting my Asus laptop. There has been a few ongoing problems with drivers and windows update. But thats another story.


Ultimately I'm in the recovery environment trying to refresh the windows install on my PC... but the password to my account is incorrect.

I have tried all my passwords, reset my microsoft password multiple times. The keyboard layout is correct. I'm at a loss at this point.


Any help would be appreciated!


When booting it's always attempting to repair / diagnosing pc then failing and being directed into recovery.


Booting into safe mode just... doesn't work. So I'm fresh out of ideas for basic resolution. I'll need assistance on anything further than options I've already tried.


Thanks in advance :

:)

 

Windows Recovery Environment Does Not Accept Passwords

When accessing a tool like Command Prompt or System Restore in Windows Recovery Environment, I click my user name, type in my password, and then an error message says "The password is incorrect". This is because I sign into my PC using my Microsoft Account,
which Windows Recovery Environment does not accept passwords at all even my Microsoft Account password is correct. Has this change happened on Windows 10 version 1903?

 

Windows Recovery Environment password

When booting to to the WinRE Advanced Startup from the installed Windows it requires you to choose an account that is an administrator, then supply its password even when the password is blank. For a blank password is should accept just clicking on Continue. This behaviour only occurs if you are booting from the WinRE of the installed system, as it requires you to sign into the system before proceeding. No account or password is required when booting from a Recovery USB.







That is normal, and it should accept your blank password, but I did have one system on my test machine where it refused to accept any correct password...

...unfortunately I could not find out why or how to fix it, so I rebuilt the system.

Multiple System Images using Backup & Restore - advice?

 

New Microsoft password rejected in the Recovery Environment

It's not just system restore that will ask for a password, almost all the recovery environment's troubleshooting options require you to give the password of a local administrator account before letting you proceed. You problem is that while you have changed your MS account password, the local account password hasn't changed.

I'm not sure how you'd go about changing the local account password while it is linked to your MS account. You may be able to switch to a local account, change the password to match the one you used for the MS account, then switch it back to an MS account. I don't use an MS account, so I can't test that for you.

What I can suggest is that you create a new local administrator account just for maintenance purposes and never link it to a MS account. Apart from anything else, it's always a sensible precaution to have a second administrator in case of problems signing in to your original one. When booting to any Advanced Start Up option that requires a password you can choose this local account instead, then you will know for certain which password to use.