{"id":24106,"date":"2021-05-21T18:12:06","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T12:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=24106"},"modified":"2023-08-09T23:12:07","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T17:42:07","slug":"windows-password-reset-administrator-user-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-password-reset-administrator-user-account\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Reset Forgotten Windows 10\/11 Account Password"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Summary:<\/strong> This article tells you how to reset the password(s) for any local user account, including the built-in administrator in Windows 10 if you have forgotten the password.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Occasionally, we may forget the Windows user account password, especially if we have been using the auto-login using stored credentials or PIN sign-in method for a long time. Most users don&#8217;t have a second administrator account on their computer. And they would have never activated the built-in Administrator account (keeping it disabled is good for security, anyway).<\/p>\n<p>The local user account password can be reset easily using different methods even if you haven&#8217;t created a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/create-password-reset-disk-forgotten-password-windows\/\">password reset disk<\/a> beforehand.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you&#8217;re using a Microsoft Account (MSA), you can reset your forgotten MSA password <a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/account-billing\/reset-a-forgotten-microsoft-account-password-eff4f067-5042-c1a3-fe72-b04d60556c37\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">online<\/a>. However, this is not within the scope of this article. This post tells you how to reset the local user account password.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-9189\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/information-icon.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" \/><strong>Similar problem: Lost administrator rights but not the password?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the user account has suddenly lost its administrative privileges (but you remember the password) and turned into a guest or standard user account, it&#8217;s a different issue and the fix is very simple in that case. Check out the article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/locked-user-account-lost-admin-privileges-rescue\/\">Lost Administrator Rights? Recover the Account via Windows RE<\/a> for an easy fix.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"toc\">\n<p><strong>Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For the forgotten password situation, the user has these options to reset the account password.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#resetpwd\">Method 1: Use the Reset password link at the sign-in screen<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#winre_reset\">Method 2: Reset the user account password via Windows RE<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#admin_activate\">Step 1: Activate built-in Administrator via registry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#reset_password\">Step 2: Reset the user or administrator password<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#utilman\">Method 3: Using Utilman.exe backdoor to reset the account password<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong><em>I&#8217;m confused! Which of the above methods should I use?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the hint:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Method 1 assumes that you know the answers to the security questions.<\/li>\n<li>Method 2 assumes that you remember the built-in administrator password.<\/li>\n<li>Method 3 works <strong>great<\/strong> even if you&#8217;ve forgotten the built-in administrator and your user account passwords &#8212; and even if the built-in administrator is inactive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>How to Reset Account Passwords in Windows 10<\/h2>\n<h3><a id=\"resetpwd\"><\/a>Method 1: Using the sign-in screen<\/h3>\n<p>In Windows 10 v1803 and higher, you can reset your local account password via the sign-in screen. If you added security questions when you set up your local account for Windows 10, you have at least version 1803, and you can answer security questions to sign back in.<\/p>\n<p>Note that this section talks about resetting the local user account (not Microsoft Account) password only.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>After you&#8217;ve entered an incorrect password: Select the <strong>Reset password<\/strong> link on the sign-in screen.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24033\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/reset-password-sign-in-w10.png\" alt=\"reset windows 10 password at sign-in screen\" width=\"750\" height=\"420\" \/><br \/>\n<em>If you use a PIN instead, see PIN sign-in issues. If you&#8217;re using a work device that&#8217;s on a network, you may not see an option to reset your password or PIN. In that case, contact your administrator.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Answer your security questions.<\/li>\n<li>Enter a new password.<\/li>\n<li>Sign in as usual with the new password.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"winre_reset\"><\/a>Method 2: Reset the user account password via Windows RE<\/h3>\n<p>Using this method, we first enable the built-in administrator (&#8220;Administrator&#8221;) account using the Registry Editor in Windows RE. Then we log in as &#8220;Administrator&#8221; and then reset the user account password or perform other administrative tasks as required.<\/p>\n<p><em>For this method, you may be able to use the built-in recovery options or the Windows RE loaded via the Windows 10 Setup disk. However, my suggestion is to use the Windows 10 USB Setup disk. Accessing the built-in recovery options will prompt you for the administrator password. Whereas, booting from Windows 10 Setup disk won&#8217;t ask you for the password.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4><a id=\"admin_activate\"><\/a>Step 1: Activate built-in administrator using the registry (via WinRE)<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>Boot the system using your Windows installation media or Recovery drive if you&#8217;ve created one already. If you don&#8217;t have any, download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-iso-direct-download-mct-useragent\/\">Windows 10 ISO<\/a> and then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-iso-to-usb-dvd-tool-bootable-media\/\">create bootable media<\/a> using another computer.<\/li>\n<li>On the Windows setup page, click Next.\n<div class=\"newline\"><em>(<strong>Tip:<\/strong> At this point, you can press <code>Shift<\/code> + <code>F10<\/code> to open a Command Prompt window quickly, and jump directly to Step 6 below. Or you can follow the instructions from Step 3 below.)<\/em><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>Click <b>Repair your computer<\/b>.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6027\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/w10-winre-recovery-1.png\" alt=\"windows 10 setup - repair your computer\" width=\"700\" height=\"511\" \/><\/li>\n<li>In the Windows Recovery Options menu, click Troubleshoot, and then click\u00a0Advanced Options.<em>There we go. We have opened the recovery options.<\/em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre%20(1).png\" width=\"600\" height=\"464\" \/><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre%20(2).png\" width=\"600\" height=\"391\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Click Command Prompt.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre%20(3).png\" width=\"600\" height=\"373\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"newline\"><em>(This opens a Command Prompt window. We need to edit the <code>SAM<\/code> registry hive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/edit-registry-offline-windows-re\/\">offline<\/a> to enable the built-in Administrator account from recovery options.)<\/em><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press <kbd>ENTER<\/kbd>:\n<pre>regedit.exe<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>In the Registry Editor, select <code>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE<\/code><\/li>\n<li>From the File menu, click <strong>Load Hive&#8230;<\/strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre%20(8).png\" alt=\"load hive registry editor SAM - windows re\" width=\"600\" height=\"385\" \/><\/li>\n<li>In the browse dialog, locate and select the <code>\\Windows\\System32\\Config\\SAM<\/code> hive file from your Windows installation &#8212; e.g., assuming <code>C:\\<\/code> is your Windows drive letter. This <code>SAM<\/code> hive contains the user accounts information.\n<div class=\"newline\">(See the section about <strong>finding the drive letter of your Windows installation<\/strong> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/edit-registry-offline-windows-re\/\">this article<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19635\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-1.jpg\" alt=\"windows recovery options load hive SAM administrator\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-1-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Assign a name for the loaded hive &#8212; e.g., <code>TEMPHIVE<\/code><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19636\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-2.jpg\" alt=\"windows recovery options load hive SAM administrator\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-2-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Go to the following branch in the Registry Editor:\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\TEMPHIVE\\SAM\\Domains\\Account\\Users\\000001F4<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Double-click the REG_BINARY value named <code>F<\/code><\/li>\n<li>In the 8th row, 1st column, modify the value <code>11<\/code> to <code>10<\/code><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19637\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-3.jpg\" alt=\"windows recovery options load hive SAM administrator\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-3.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-3-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>The value of <code>11<\/code> denotes that the built-in Administrator account is disabled. Setting it to <code>10<\/code> enables the built-in Administrator.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19638\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-4.jpg\" alt=\"windows recovery options load hive SAM administrator\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-4-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Click OK to save the setting.<\/li>\n<li>Select the <code>TEMPHIVE<\/code> key.<\/li>\n<li>From the File menu, click Unload Hive&#8230;<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19639\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-5.jpg\" alt=\"windows recovery options load hive SAM administrator\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-5.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-load-hive-sam-5-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<li>In the Recovery Options window, click <strong>Continue<\/strong> (Exit and Continue to Windows 10.)<\/li>\n<li>When you get to the Windows 10 sign-in screen, you&#8217;ll see the built-in Administrator account.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24112\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/built-in-admin-activated.png\" alt=\"built-in administrator sign-in screen activated\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Log in to the built-in Administrator. This account has a blank password by default.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4><a id=\"reset_password\"><\/a>Step 2: Reset Password for administrator\/user accounts<\/h4>\n<p>Once logged in as the built-in administrator (&#8220;Administrator&#8221;), you may create a new user account with administrator rights, or reset the password for the original user account. You can use the User Accounts Settings page or command-line to manage accounts.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some command-line examples:<\/p>\n<p><strong>To reset the user account (e.g., Ramesh) password, run this command:<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<pre>net user ramesh p@ssw0rd<\/pre>\n<p><strong>To reset the built-in Administrator account password (e.g., to <code>p@ssw0rd<\/code>), run this command:<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<pre>net user administrator p@ssw0rd<\/pre>\n<p><strong>To create a new user account and set it as administrator, use this syntax:<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<pre>net user {username} \/add\r\nnet localgroup administrators {username} \/add<\/pre>\n<p>e.g., To create a new user account named <code>John<\/code>, you&#8217;d type:<\/p>\n<pre>net user john \/add\r\nnet localgroup administrators john \/add<\/pre>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"utilman\"><\/a>Method 3: Create a Backdoor Using Utilman.exe<\/h3>\n<p>You can use the <code>utilman.exe<\/code> backdoor method to facilitate a group membership change, built-in Administrator account activation, or resetting the user account or built-in administrator account password from the login screen.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-9189\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/information-icon.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" \/><em>For this method, you&#8217;ll need the Windows 10 Setup disk before proceeding. Accessing the built-in Windows RE <strong>does not<\/strong> help.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<p><i><b>About this method<\/b>: If you&#8217;ve noticed, the Windows sign-in screen shows the Ease of Access button to launch the Accessibility Options; clicking that would launch the file utilman.exe. So, by replacing utilman.exe with cmd.exe, we can make Windows invoke Command Prompt when you click the Accessibility Options button. This gets you full administrative access to the system.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>The debugger method also works for <code>sethc.exe<\/code> in all versions of Windows and <code>Atbroker.exe<\/code> (at least in the earlier builds of Windows 10.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/icotip.gif\" alt=\"tips bulb icon\" width=\"34\" height=\"34\" \/><em>The beauty of the method is that it works even if you have forgotten the password of your user account and the built-in &#8220;Administrator&#8221; accounts, or the built-in Administrator is inactive.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Replace Utilman.exe with CMD.exe<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>Boot the device using the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-iso-to-usb-dvd-tool-bootable-media\/\">Windows 10 setup disk<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/access-windows-recovery-environment\/\">access the Windows Recovery Environment<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>On the Windows setup page, click Next.\n<div class=\"newline\"><em>(<strong>Tip:<\/strong> At this point, you can press <code>Shift<\/code> + <code>F10<\/code> to open a Command Prompt window quickly, and jump directly to Step 5 below. Or you can follow the instructions from Step 3 below.)<\/em><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>Click <b>Repair your computer<\/b>.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6027\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/w10-winre-recovery-1.png\" alt=\"windows 10 setup - repair your computer\" width=\"700\" height=\"511\" \/><\/li>\n<li>In the Recovery Options menu, click Troubleshoot \u2192 Advanced Options \u2192 <strong>Command Prompt<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre%20(3).png\" width=\"600\" height=\"373\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Find out the drive letter of your Windows installation by typing <code>bcdedit<\/code>. If Windows was installed on C:\\ drive, it might be assigned D:\\ in Windows RE. The output of the <code>bcdedit<\/code> command shows the Windows drive letter, as seen from Windows RE.\n<div class=\"newline\"><em>Note: The drive letter doesn\u2019t always change! On my EFI-based system, the drive letter of Windows remained the same (C:\\)<\/em><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>Once you got the drive letter of your Windows installation (e.g., <code>C:\\<\/code> ), run the following commands:\n<pre>cd \/d c:\\windows\\system32\r\n\r\ncopy Utilman.exe Utilman2.exe\r\n\r\ncopy cmd.exe Utilman.exe \/y\r\n<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24089\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/utilman-rename-1.png\" alt=\"reset lost administrator password windows 10\" width=\"701\" height=\"173\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Exit the Recovery Environment and continue to Windows.<\/li>\n<li>When the sign-in screen appears,\u00a0click the accessibility (Ease of access) button or press <kbd>Win<\/kbd> + <kbd>U<\/kbd>, which should, in turn, launch the Command Prompt under admin privileges.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24115\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/utilman-cmd-notice.png\" alt=\"utilman.exe cmd.exe rename notice\" width=\"729\" height=\"266\" \/>Ignore the following error messages if they appear in the Command Prompt window:<\/p>\n<pre class=\"err\">The system cannot find message text for message number 0x2350 in the message file for Application.\r\n\r\nNot enough memory resources are available to process this command.<\/pre>\n<p><em>This is expected when you rename <code>cmd.exe<\/code> and run it, without the corresponding .mui file. This error can be avoided by replacing Utilman.exe.mui with cmd.exe.mui in the c:\\windows\\system32\\en-us\\ folder. However, it&#8217;s not a mandatory step as far as this article\/scenario is concerned. But, if you plan to do that, be sure to backup the original utilman.exe.mui file first.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Despite these messages, you&#8217;ll be able to carry out the tasks mentioned below without any issues.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4>Reset Password for administrator\/user accounts<\/h4>\n<ol start=\"9\">\n<li>From the elevated Command Prompt window, perform the required account management task(s) &#8212; e.g., enable built-in Administrator, reset account passwords, or create a new admin user account.\n<div class=\"newline\"><strong>To activate the built-in Administrator account, type:<\/strong><\/div>\n<pre>net user administrator \/active:yes<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre%20(18).png\" width=\"599\" height=\"408\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>To reset the built-in Administrator account password (e.g., to <code>p@ssw0rd<\/code>), run this command:<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<pre>net user administrator p@ssw0rd<\/pre>\n<p><strong>To reset the user account (e.g., Ramesh) password, run this command:<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<pre>net user ramesh p@ssw0rd<\/pre>\n<p><strong>To create a new user account and set it as administrator, use this syntax:<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<pre>net user {username} \/add\r\nnet localgroup administrators {username} \/add<\/pre>\n<p>For example, if you want to name the new user account as <code>John<\/code>, you&#8217;d type:<\/p>\n<pre>net user john \/add\r\nnet localgroup administrators john \/add<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6419\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hand.png\" alt=\"hand point icon\" width=\"49\" height=\"27\" \/><em><strong>Quick Tip:<\/strong> In the Command Prompt window, you can launch the User Accounts GUI to manage user accounts &#8212; i.e., enable the built-in Administrator account, reset local user account passwords, etc. Run the command <code>CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2<\/code> or <code>LUSRMGR.MSC<\/code>. The latter command is available on Windows Pro Editions and higher.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Once you gain access to your account\/admin privileges, restore the original Utilman.exe back. To do so, run <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/run-program-as-trustedinstaller-locked-registry-keys-files\/\">Command Prompt under TrustedInstaller<\/a> rights and execute these commands:\n<pre>cd \/d c:\\windows\\system32\r\n\r\ndel Utilman.exe\r\n\r\nren Utilman2.exe Utilman.exe<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24088\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/utilman-rename-2.png\" alt=\"reset lost administrator password windows 10\" width=\"700\" height=\"180\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Close the Command Prompt window.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<h4><a id=\"registry\"><\/a>Replace Utilman.exe with CMD.exe (Alternate way, via the registry)<\/h4>\n<p>Renaming <code>Utilman.exe<\/code> is one way; it is probably the easiest option. However, there is also another route &#8212; via the registry &#8212; that can accomplish the task.<\/p>\n<p>You can edit the registry offline and set a debugger for <code>Utilman.exe<\/code> (i.e., attaching <code>CMD.exe<\/code> as the debugger), so that you can launch admin Command Prompt from the login screen. This is a backdoor method that helps you gain full administrative access to the system.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Follow the instructions in the article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/edit-registry-offline-windows-re\/\">Edit the Registry Offline via Windows RE<\/a>\u00a0and load the <strong>SOFTWARE<\/strong> registry hive.<\/li>\n<li>Add a debugger value for <code>utilman.exe<\/code>, mentioning <code>cmd.exe<\/code> as the debugger. To do that, create a subkey named &#8220;<code>utilman.exe<\/code>&#8221; under this key:\n<pre>HKEY_USERS\\MyKey\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Image File Execution Options\\utilman.exe<\/pre>\n<p>(Assuming you used the name <b>MyKey<\/b> when you loaded the hive.)<\/li>\n<li>In the utilman.exe key, create a string value (REG_SZ) named <code><strong>Debugger<\/strong><\/code><\/li>\n<li>Double-click <code>Debugger<\/code> and set its value data to <code>c:\\windows\\system32\\cmd.exe<\/code><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre%20(19).png\" width=\"600\" height=\"211\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Make sure you <u>Unload the hive,<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The next step is to disable the <strong>Windows Defender<\/strong> service. This is because, in recent versions of Windows 10, Windows Defender antivirus removes the debugger registry value for the executables, namely: DisplaySwitch.exe, osk.exe, Magnify.exe, Narrator.exe, sethc.exe, and utilman.exe, for security reasons.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>In the Registry Editor, select the <code>HKEY_USERS<\/code> key<\/li>\n<li>Follow the instructions in the article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/edit-registry-offline-windows-re\/\">Edit the Registry Offline via Windows RE<\/a>\u00a0and load the <strong>SYSTEM<\/strong> registry hive.<\/li>\n<li>Go to the following key:\n<pre>HKEY_USERS\\MyKey\\ControlSet001\\Services\\WinDefend<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Double-click <code>Start<\/code> and set it to <code>4<\/code>. Setting the value to 4 will set the service to &#8220;Disabled.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Double-click <code>ImagePath<\/code> and append <code>.OLD<\/code> to the existing string &#8212; e.g., <code>\"C:\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Windows Defender\\platform\\4.18.2011.6-0\\MsMpEng.exe.OLD\"<\/code><\/li>\n<li>From the File menu, unload the <code>MyKey<\/code> hive. This is <strong>important!<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<li>Click <b>Continue<\/b> to Exit and continue to Windows.<\/li>\n<li>In the Windows logon screen, click the accessibility (Ease of access) button or press <kbd>Win<\/kbd> + <kbd>U<\/kbd>. This should now launch the Command Prompt window under admin privileges.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s time to enable the built-in Administrator or reset the account password(s) &#8212; whichever you need for that situation.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre%20(18).png\" width=\"599\" height=\"408\" \/><\/li>\n<li>After gaining access to your user account or admin privileges, <b>close<\/b> the backdoor created in Step #3 above. You don&#8217;t have to go back to Recovery Environment to delete the key.<strong> You can do so from within Windows<\/strong>. To close the backdoor, delete this key using the Registry Editor once you login to your user account:\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\Image File Execution Options\\utilman.exe<\/pre>\n<p><em><strong>This is an important step<\/strong>. If this backdoor is left as it is, anyone who has access to your system can play bad tricks against you.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>After logging in to your account, re-enable the Microsoft Defender antivirus service (by running the Registry Editor as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/run-program-as-trustedinstaller-locked-registry-keys-files\/\">TrustedInstaller<\/a>) by setting the <code>Start<\/code> value to <code>2<\/code> and the correct <code>ImagePath<\/code> value, in the following registry key:\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\WinDefend<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Deactivate the built-in administrator<\/h3>\n<p>After you&#8217;ve reset the account password(s) and finished the administrative procedure, log off from the &#8220;Administrator&#8221; account.<\/p>\n<p>Log in to your user account and deactivate the built-in administrator account by running the following command from the admin Command Prompt:<\/p>\n<pre>net user administrator \/active:no<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24107\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/disable-built-in-administrator.png\" alt=\"disable built-in administrator\" width=\"699\" height=\"152\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Keeping the built-in &#8220;Administrator&#8221; account deactivated is highly recommended for security reasons.<\/p>\n<p>I hope this guide helped you reset Windows 10 administrator or user account passwords easily!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary: This article tells you how to reset the password(s) for any local user account, including the built-in administrator in Windows 10 if you have forgotten the password. Occasionally, we may forget the Windows user account password, especially if we have been using the auto-login using stored credentials or PIN sign-in method for a long &#8230; <a title=\"How to Reset Forgotten Windows 10\/11 Account Password\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-password-reset-administrator-user-account\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Reset Forgotten Windows 10\/11 Account Password\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,869],"tags":[680],"class_list":["post-24106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","category-windows-11","tag-windows-recovery-environment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5719,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/username-password-incorrect-every-restart-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":24106,"position":0},"title":"[Windows 10] &#8220;The Username or Password is Incorrect&#8221; Error at Every Restart","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"After installing a Feature Update like Fall Creators Update, you may face yet another weird issue. Whenever the computer is restarted, the first screen that may show up even before the login screen is: \"The username or password is incorrect. Try again.\" Note that the above screen shows up even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"username or password is incorrect windows 10","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/w10-use-my-signin-info.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/w10-use-my-signin-info.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/w10-use-my-signin-info.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/w10-use-my-signin-info.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1029,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/create-password-reset-disk-forgotten-password-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":24106,"position":1},"title":"How to Create and Use a Password Reset Disk in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"You can create a password reset disk so that you can regain access to the system quickly in the event of a forgotten local account password, without having to use third-party boot environment CDs. It's suggested that you create a password reset disk after creating the user account and assigning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"password reset disk wizard","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/pwd-reset-disk-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":76731,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/change-password-missing-sign-in-options\/","url_meta":{"origin":24106,"position":2},"title":"No Option to Change Password in Settings (Sign-in Options)","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When you open Sign-in Options in Settings in a Windows 10 or 11 system, the option to change the password may be missing. Cause The \"Password\" option will be missing if the Windows Hello mandatory sign-in is enabled. Resolution To restore the missing \"Password\" option in Settings, do the following:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"password option missing in settings sign-in options","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/no-password-change-settings-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/no-password-change-settings-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/no-password-change-settings-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/no-password-change-settings-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3099,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/locked-user-account-lost-admin-privileges-rescue\/","url_meta":{"origin":24106,"position":3},"title":"How to Regain Lost Admin Rights in Windows 10 or 11","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary: This article tells you how to restore your user account's lost administrator rights and privileges in Windows 10 and 11. If your user account has lost admin rights, you may also have inadvertently set yourself a \"Standard User\" via Account Settings or incorrectly configured the Local Security Policy or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"lost administrator rights - standard user","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-account-lost-admin-rights-standard.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-account-lost-admin-rights-standard.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-account-lost-admin-rights-standard.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6033,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-yes-button-uac-dialog-grayed-disabled-user-account-control\/","url_meta":{"origin":24106,"position":4},"title":"[Fix] UAC Yes Button is Missing or Grayed Out","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Some users are facing a weird problem wherein the \"Yes\" button in User Account Control (UAC) dialog is disabled or grayed out. As a result, you'll be unable to launch any program under elevated privileges (run as administrator). Cause This problem can occur if your user account group membership is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/regain-admin-rights-7.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/regain-admin-rights-7.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/regain-admin-rights-7.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/regain-admin-rights-7.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7918,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/enable-built-in-administrator-windows-10-recovery-options-advanced\/","url_meta":{"origin":24106,"position":5},"title":"Enable the Built-in Administrator in Windows 10\/11 via Windows RE","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"There are situations where you'll need to activate and use the built-in Administrator account in Windows. 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If your existing admin user account profile gets corrupted (and you have no alternate user account with admin privileges), you'll need to enable and use the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"windows recovery options","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}