If you don’t know how to unlock a Dell Inspiron laptop without the password, you can read this post to safely perform a Dell laptop password reset.
“I need to access my user account on my Dell Inspiron laptop, but I forgot my password because I haven't used it in a long time. I have sensitive info on my laptop that I must access by any means. I'm looking for information on how to unlock a Dell pc. Please recommend some effective methods for recovering a forgotten Dell Inspiron password.”
Dell laptop has a wide audience scope, no matter whether you’re a student, an officer, or a gamer, the Dell Inspiron Series offers users various choices. However, one of the most unfortunate events that could occur is forgetting the password to your computer, particularly if you have important data stored on your laptop or PC. This would result in being unable to access your photos, documents, and other files contained within your device.
So, to solve this problem, in this post, we will show you how to unlock a Dell Inspiron laptop without the password, and how to perform Dell laptop password reset safely.
From this part, we’ll show how to unlock Dell laptop via resetting the laptop password for Microsoft account and local account users. You can choose one to carefully follow to fix your case.
If you're unable to recall the password to your Dell Inspiron laptop, it's worth noting that if you initially signed in with a Microsoft account, you can utilize it to unlock your device without any need for the password. However, if you cannot recall the password for your Microsoft account, it's possible to reset it to gain access.
Step 1. Go to account.live.com on any device that's connected to the Internet.
Step 2. Type your Outlook email ID and click "Next".
Step 3. You'll be asked to verify your identity. Enter the last 4 digits of your registered mobile number and click "Get Code" to generate your code.
Step 4. Enter the received code and click "Next".
Step 5. Once you're in the password reset window, enter your new password and tap "Next".
Now you can power on your Dell Inspiron laptop and unlock it by entering the new Microsoft account password.
For local account users, there is a hidden administrator account that is created automatically and it remains invisible on the login screen. So, if you forget your password for any of your user accounts, this hidden administrator account can be used to recover it. To gain access to the hidden administrator account, booting your Windows in Safe Mode is necessary.
Step 1. Restart your Dell Inspiron Laptop. Press the F8 key when Windows start. And the admin account will appear on the login screen.
Step 2. Press CTRL + ALT + DELETE keys simultaneously.
Step 3. Choose Switch User from the list of options and enter “Administrator” as username, and leave the password field blank.
Step 4. Press Enter, then you can go to Account Settings and reset the target user account password.
There are 2 kinds of Windows password reset disk. One is previously created by Windows built-in tool to save you from forgetting your password. This disk is only available for the computer where it was born. So you can’t create it from another computer and use it on your Dell Inspiron laptop.
Another is created via third-party software that won’t need to prepare before you’ve lost your password. You can create a password reset USB on another working PC, and then use it to unlock your Dell Inspiron laptop. This is more convenient than the first one.
However, some password reset tools have Windows version limitations, so here we recommend you AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional (supporting Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP/Vista).
The password reset function of this tool supports all Windows versions, you can create a password reset USB on a Windows 10 or 11 to unlock your Windows 7 or 8 PC. No limitations on Windows versions, or PC requirements, and the most important point is the simple operations.
Part 1. Create a Windows password reset USB
Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant and click “Tools” at the top toolbar and select the “Reset Windows Password” option.
Step 2. Select “Next” after reading to create a bootable USB.
Step 3. Choose one of the three available choices according to your needs and click “Proceed”.
Step 4. The USB flash drive requires to be formatted in this step, and all the data will be erased. Please make a backup of all your important files.
Step 5. Wait for creating WinPE bootable USB drive. Then plug the USB into the computer that you hope to reset or remove the password.
Part 2. Reset the password
Step 1. Change the boot order to make the PC boot from the USB after inserting the created reset USB.
Step 2. Then, when you see the interface of AOMEI Parti Choose “Reset Password” and select the OS by clicking "Next".
Step 3. Select the target account and the feature you need. Click “Next”.
Notice: You can choose Remove Account Password or Reset Account Password from the two options under the window.
Step 4. Input the new password in the window and click “Yes”.
Step 5. Click “Reboot Computer” to restart your PC after the operations.
If you have an installation drive, you can use it to use CMD lines to reset your Dell Inspiron laptop password.
Step 1. Insert the bootable flash drive into your device. Restart your computer while pressing the boot key repeatedly. This is the F2 key for Dell laptops.
Step 2. Upon entering the boot menu, select the bootable device from the menu. If your device is a USB, select Removable Device. If it’s a DVD, select CD-ROM. Then press any key to boot the laptop.
Step 3. Select your language and keyboard menu input. Click Next.
Step 4. Click Repair your Computer.
Step 5. Click Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.
Step 6. Look for your installation drive, which is usually in D drive. Type “cd C:\Windows\system32”, and press “Enter”.
Step 7. Rename the utility manager by typing “ren utliman.exe utilman_bak.exe”, then “copy cmd.exe utilman.exe”.
Step 8. Type “exit,” then restart your computer.
Step 9. Click Ease of Access.
Step 10. The easiest method is to enter “control userpasswords2” and then hit Enter. Select your user account, then reset password.
Thankfully, there are several methods to help you if you don’t know how to unlock a Dell Inspiron laptop without the password. Linking your Windows account to your Microsoft account enables you to quickly reset your password via the internet. Conversely, for users with local accounts on their Dell Inspiron laptop, unlocking the device can be achieved through the use of an installation disk or attempting to reset the password in Safe mode.
Alternatively, a more convenient method is using AOMEI Partition Assistant to reset the password on your Dell laptop. What’s more, this tool can also assist you in effortlessly managing your devices with various functions like disk cloning, MBR/GPT conversion, test disk speed, release C drive space, etc.