Windows 10: Windows 10 forgot password

I have a Dell Inspiron tower and Windows 10 OS. I've been using it fine for years, lots of data I don't want to lose. Last week, I finally put on a sign-in password, then promptly forgot it. I tried following the instructions for creating a USB password reset disk. Not working.


Is there any way to reset the password or override the password without restoring the computer and losing all of my data??

:)

 

Forgot Windows 10 password...

So I fired up my laptop in order to use it to flash a router without mucking around with the rest of my networking... and I forgot the password to log in. Is there anything I can do short of reinstalling windows, or downloading a Linux LiveCD? (If I do have to download something, I'd prefer the file size to be as small as possible, because of evil data caps)

 

forgot password

Hi Tom,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft community.

• Are you using Microsoft account or local account for logging in the computer?

I suggest you to follow steps from the below article “What to do if you forget your Windows password” and check if it helps.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/what-do-forget-windows-password#1TC=windows-10

You may also refer to the below article.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-live/account-reset-password-forgot-faq

Hope this information was helpful and do let us know if you need further assistance. We will be glad to assist.

 

Forgot Windows 10 password...

For future reference, there have been reports that this was patched out several weeks back. I found an alternative method doing some registry diving.
Reset Windows 10 password without using third party tools