When you have no idea on how to wipe Windows 10 without password, you can turn to this article. We will provide two methods to totally delete all data on your PC without password.
“ I want to sell out my old Lenovo laptop. I’m afraid of leaking my private information, so I decide to delete all the data from it. The problem is that I forget the Windows 10 password! Can I wipe my Windows PC without password? If yes, how can I do it? Thanks in advance.”
When users want to sell out their PC, the data on it should be removed, or the data may be leaked to strangers. Since simply deleted files can be recovered with professional data recovery tools, it’s the most suitable method to wipe all data from the PC. Besides, when some users want to reuse a second-hand PC, they also need to wipe all the data from it.
However, some users can’t get into their PC without password, not to mention wiping the data on it. In the next part, you can get some practical methods to learn how to wipe Windows 10 without password. Keep reading!
If you forget the password of the older PC, you may be stuck on opening the locked PC. Here, you can try to factory reset the PC or wipe it under Windows Recovery Environment.
Factory reset will turn the PC to the original state and remove everything from it. When you forget the PC password, you can wipe the PC by factory resetting it.
Step 1. On the locked PC screen, click “Restart” and press “Shift” at the same time.
Step 2. You are asked to choose an option, choose “Troubleshoot”.
Step 3. In a new window, select the “Reset this PC” option. Then choose “Remove everything” to remove all information on the PC, including the lost password.
Step 4. There are two options: “Cloud download” and “Local reinstall”, choose one.
Step 5. You’ll be prompt to choose “Only the drive where Windows is installed” or “All drives”.
Step 6. In the popped window, click “Fully clean the drive”. Then click “Reset”, all data on the target PC will be removed.
Under the Windows RE, you can also run the CMD.exe to delete all data on the PC. Here is the detailed process on how to wipe a computer without password by using it.
Step 1. In the “Choose an option” window, click “Troubleshoot”.
Step 2. Click “Advanced options” and “Command Prompt” in order.
Step 3. In the CMD, input “diskpart” and press “Enter” to run the Diskpart.
Step 4. Type “list volume” and hit “Enter” to list all the partitions on the PC, remember the drive letter of the system drive. Input “exit” and press “Enter” to turn off Diskpart.
Step 5. Type “move E:\windows\system32\utilman.exe E:\”, then press “Enter” to move the utilman.exe file to the root directory of the system drive.
Step 6. Type “copy E:\windows\system32\cmd.exe E:\windows\system32\utilman.exe”, and press “Enter” to copy the cmd.exe file to the target path.
Step 7. Then input “wpeutil reboot” and press “Enter”.
Step 8. Click the human icon at the corner to run CMD, input “net user “Leah George” 2022” to reset the password as 2022, then press “Enter”. Input “exit” and hit “Enter” .
Step 9. Unlock the PC with the new set password, press “Windows” and then input “cmd”, then select “Run as Administrator”. Then input the following commands and press “Enter” each time.
• diskpart (run the Diskpart tool.) • list disk (list all disks on the target PC.) • select disk 2 (choose the disk 2 to wipe. ) • clean all (delete all data from the disk 2.)
If you think the mentioned methods are difficult to operate, there is a much easier tool for you to wipe Windows 10 PC without password- AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. This practical tool can work on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP.
In a clear and bright interface, you can easily create a password reset USB, then reset or remove the password with it. Different from the Windows password reset disk, you can immediately create and use it when you lose the password. Once the PC is unlocked, you can use the “Wipe Hard Drive” function to effectively wipe all data on the PC.
In addition, there is another option to wipe Windows 10 PC- wipe it under Win PE. This tool will help you to create a bootable media, then wipe the whole PC with the disk, even when the PC is locked. With this method, you don’t need to reset the PC password.
Let’s see how to wipe Windows 10 PC without password.
First, you can reset the PC password, then wipe the disk on your Windows 10 PC one by one.
★ Stage 1. Remove the forgotten Windows 10 password
You need to prepare a USB to create the password reset USB. Since all data on the USB will be deleted in the process, please back important data up before you operate.
Step 1. Insert the prepared USB into another working PC, download and open AOMEI Partition Assistant, then click “Tools”> “Reset Windows Password”.
Step 2. A window will pop out, read it and click “Next”.
Step 3. Choose “General USB Flash Disk”, and click “Proceed”.
Step 4. Read the popped prompt and then click “Yes”.
Step 5. The tool is creating the bootable USB, then click “Finish” when it is finished the creating operation. Take out the created USB from the PC, and insert it into the locked PC.
Step 6. Turn off the locked PC and restart it. You’ll be asked to change the boot drive, follow the wizard to perform and then choose the Windows system, click “Next”.
Step 7. All accounts on the PC will be listed, click the target account, then tick “Remove Account Password” or “Reset Account Password”, click “Next”.
Step 8. In the new interface, input a new password and confirm it, then click “Yes”.
★ Stage 2. Wipe data on your Windows 10 PC
Open your PC with the new password, install AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional on the PC. Then you can wipe all data from the PC with “Wipe Hard Drive”.
Note: Since the difference between SSD and HDD, if your disk is SSD, please try the “SSD Secure Erase” function.
Step 1. In the main interface, right-click on the target hard disk, then select “Wipe Hard Drive”.
Step 2. In the small window, select one method to wipe your disk, here we choose “Fill sectors with Zero”, click “OK”. You can also try the other methods according to your needs.
Tip: ✿ Fill sector with Zero: Overwriting a disk with zero, can prevent most recovery tools from recovering any data. ✿ Fill sectors with random data: Writing random data to the disk. It’s safer than “Fill sector with Zero” but will take a little more time. ✿ DoD 5220.22-M: Overwriting a hard drive with 3 passes: zeros, ones, and random data. It is much safer but takes much more time. ✿ Gutmann: Performing 35 passes to wipe an HDD. It is the safest way to prevent nearly all recovery methods, and programs from restoring any data. But it will take a long time and may cause wear on the drive.
Step 3. Click “Apply” and “Proceed” to start the disk wiping task.
In addition, you can also wipe Windows 10 without retrieving the password. This method is simpler and faster. Please refer to the following steps to figure out how to wipe a Windows 10 computer without password.
Step 1. Insert the created bootable USB into the target PC, then restart the PC and press a key (the specific key requires you refer to the official page of the PC). Then select the USB Device and press “Enter” to boot Windows from the bootable USB.
Step 2. After loading, you can see the main interface of AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click on the target PC hard drive and click “Wipe Hard Drive”.
Step 3. In the small window, tick “Fill sectors with Zero (Safe, Quick)” and click “OK”.
Step 4. A note will mention you that the operation could delete all partitions including the system partition. And once the system partition is deleted, your PC cannot start the next time. Click “Yes”.
Step 5. Click “Apply” and “Proceed” to wipe the target hard drive.
How to wipe Windows 10 PC without password? In this tutorial, you can get 3 methods to wipe all data from the locked PC without password. If you want to perform the task without any difficulty, AOMEI Partition Assistant can be the best choice.
If you want to optimize the PC deeply, you can try other provided functions, such as Allocate Free Space, App Mover, Clone Disk, Dynamic disk converter, etc. Besides, its Server Version can be used on Windows Server 2022/2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2), so you can upgrade the version if necessary.