Reset Forgotten Windows 10 Password with a Boot CD

Forgetting Windows 10 password on a home or work computer is really a headache. That might cause you to lose your photos, documents, and other important data, and even cause more losses. Many people might think doing a system reinstall is the only way to regain access to the locked computer but it’s not. Reinstalling Windows not only consumes much time but it also wipes your personal data. You don’t have to do that. Actually, there are a couple of ways you can reset Windows 10 password without loss of data. Now in this post we will show you how to reset forgotten Windows 10 password with a boot CD.

How To Reset Windows 10 password with an installation CD

If you have a Windows 10 installation CD/DVD, you can use it to reset Windows 10 password without losing any data on the computer. Note that an installation boot CD applies to resetting password for local account and domain account, but it does not apply to Microsoft account. Steps are as follows.

Step 1: Boot password-forgotten Windows 10 computer from the CD.

Insert the Windows 10 installation CD/DVD into your computer’s CD-ROM drive. Start/restart the computer and force it to get into the BIOS setup. Make the CD-ROM the first boot device, and save the changes and exit the setup to make the computer boot from the CD/DVD.

Step 2: Replace files.

1) After the computer boots from the installation CD/DVD, the Windows Setup screen will appear. On the screen, press Shift + F10 on your keyboard. This will open a CMD window.

2) In the cmd.exe window, type in the command: move d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe.bak, and press Enter key. Note that replace "d" with your system drive letter.

3) When it says ‘1 file(s) moved’, next, type in the command: copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe, and press Enter. When it says '1 file(s) copied', you are done.

4) Now type in the command: wpeutil reboot, and hit Enter to restart computer. Quickly disconnect the Windows 10 installation CD/DVD from this computer so that the computer will restart from the system drive instead of the CD/DVD.

Step 3: Reset Windows 10 password.

1) After the computer boots up and get to the Windows 10 sign-in screen, click the Ease of Access icon on the lower right corner. This will bring up an utilman.exe window.

2) On the utilman.exe window, type in the command: net user Jack ABC123, and press Enter key. Replace Jackwith your user name, and replace ABC123 with your new password. When it says ‘The command completed successfully’, the password for this user is reset. Next time you have to use the new password to sign in to Windows 10.