Free Password Recovery Tools for Windows 10

When you forget the Windows password, you may tend to find a free password recovery tool for Windows 10. In this article, you can get 3 free tools to handle the lost password. Besides, a reliable third-party software will also be recommended.

Tina

By Tina / Updated on August 23, 2023

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Help! I forgot my Windows password

 

“My Windows 10 PC said the password is expired and got a “denied access” error when inputting the old password. How to get around this bug? I heard the password can be reset without losing data. Is there any free Windows 10 password recovery tool? Thanks in advance

- Question from forum.level1techs.com”

 

Since the password can protect your PC data, you may create one when you first get your PC. However, if you forget this Windows password, you also cannot turn on the PC successfully. What a pity thing!

To unlock the PC, you may seek some free password recovery tools for Windows 10 online. In the next part, you can get 3 tools to reset the password when you forget, let’s do it!

Top 3 free Windows 10 password recovery tools

You cannot do anything on your PC when you forget the Windows password. Fortunately, here you can get 3 password recovery utilities to unlock Windows 10.

▶ Method 1. Reset the password via created Windows password reset disk

Windows password reset disk provides an opportunity for users to reset their forgotten passwords. If you have produced it before losing the password, you can insert it into your PC and then effectively reset the password. If you didn’t create it before, this tool is useless for you.

Step 1. When you input a false password, you can see the “Reset password” option, click it.

Password Reset

Step 2. The Password Reset Wizard will be opened, click “Next”.

Password Reset Wizard

Step 3. Insert the created password reset disk and choose the key disk, click “Next”.

Key Disk

Step 4. Then reset a new password and hint, click “Next”.

Reset A New Password

Step 5. Once the password resetting operation is finished, click “Finish”.

Finish

 ▶ Method 2. Reset the password using Windows installation disk

Windows installation disk is another free tool that can reset the forgotten password. Here are the detailed steps to change the lost password with the Windows installation disk.

Step 1. Insert the Windows installation disk into the target PC, and boot it from the computer. When you enter the Windows Setup interface, press “Shift +F10” to run CMD program.

Windows Setup

Step 2. Input the commands “copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\” and “copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe”, then hit “Enter”. Turn out the Windows installation disk, input and run the “wpeutil reboot” command to reboot the PC.

Step 3. When you see the logging-in interface, press “Shift” 5 times. The CMD tool will run again, input “net user cocosenor *” and press “Enter” to reset the password, you’ll be asked to confirm the password.  

Net User Cocosenor

 ▶ Method 3. Reset the password with CMD

CMD is known as a practical disk managing tool on Windows system, it can perform functions like resizing partitions, changing drive letters, formatting disks, etc. Besides, it can also reset the password as a free password recovery tool for Windows 10 when you lose it.

Step 1. When you are refused to get into your PC, hit “Shift” and click “Restart”, then click “Troubleshoot” .

Troubleshoot

Step 2. Click “Advanced options” and “Command Prompt” in turn.

CMD

Step 3. Then you’ll open the built-in tool CMD, input “diskpart” and press “Enter”.

Diskpart

Step 4. In Diskpart, input “list volume” and hit “Enter” to list all the volumes on your PC, remember which is the system drive. Input “exit” and press “Enter” to leave Diskpart.

Exit

Step 5. When you return to CMD window, type “move E:\windows\system32\utilman.exe E:\”(E refers to the drive that storing utilman.exe files), then press “Enter” to move the utilman.exe file.

Move Command

Step 6. Type “copy E:\windows\system32\cmd.exe E:\windows\system32\utilman.exe”, press “Enter” to copy the cmd.exe file to the target path.

Copy Command

Step 7. Then type “wpeutil reboot” and press “Enter”.

Reboot Command

Step 8. Click the human icon to open CMD once again, then type “net user “Leah George” 2022” to the new password as 2022 and press “Enter”. Input “exit” and hit “Enter”. You can enter the new Administrator password to get into the PC.

Human Icon

Bonus reading: Run a powerful password recovery software to reset the password

Although there are three methods provided, they’ll be out of order sometimes, especially when you perform the wrong operation. If you want to try a much simpler tool, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional can be a nice option, it can be used in Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP.

The interface is clean and organized, so you can easily locate the target function. Under friendly guidance, you can create a password reset USB when you already lose the password, then you will reset the forgotten password with the newly created bootable USB quickly.  

This tool aims to provide you with an all-rounded service, so you can also use other functions to manage your PC, including Partition Alignment, Defrag disk, Allocate free space, Migrate OS to another disk, Convert dynamic disk to basic, etc.

Free Download Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Step 1. Insert the created USB into a working PC, download and open the best Windows 10 password reset tool, and select "Tools"> “Reset Windows Password” in the top taskbar.

Reset Password

Step 2. A small window will pop out, read it and click “Next” to continue.

Password Reset Disk

Step 3. Select a USB boot device and click “Proceed”.

USB Device

Step 4. Read the words about creating a bootable USB, then click “Yes”.

Warning

Step 5. Wait patiently, it will create the password reset USB, click “Finish”.

Finish

Step 6. Take out the USB and then insert it into the current locked PC, restart it. You need to change the boot drive, then boot the PC from the created USB and choose the system, click “Next”.

Select Windows System

Step 7. Choose an account and tick “Reset Account Password” in the new window, then click “Next”.

Select Account

Step 8. Then you can set a new password and click “Yes”.  

Set New Password

Verdict

In this post, in order to solve the problem of forgetting the password, we have shared 3 free password recovery tools for Windows 10, including Windows installation disk, password reset disk and CMD. Besides, we also recommended the powerful AOMEI Partition Assistant to reset the password easily.

By the way, if you want to reset the lost password with AOMEI Partition Assistant on Windows Server, the Server Version is the best choice.

Tina
Tina · Staff Editor
Tina is an English editor of AOMEI Technology. She has a positive attitude and full of energy. On her work, she always keeps thinking to figure out the solutions for users' problems, and writes the answers so that can help someone. In her daily life, she likes to sing, watch TV and sleep. She always being grateful and happy to all the things happened and all the people encountered.