Forgot your Windows password and locked out? What can and cannot be done

Being locked out of your own computer is a strange, helpless feeling, and the internet is full of confident advice that is either wrong or wrong for your kind of account. There are really four situations, and the login screen tells you which one you are in. Here is what each means, what you can do yourself, what we can do, and the one thing nobody can do.

Which kind of account is it?

• A Microsoft account: the login screen shows an email address under your name. Your password is Microsoft’s, not the computer’s, and you reset it on their website from any phone or other device.
• A local account: the login screen shows just a name, no email. The password lives only on this computer. On Windows 10 you may see security questions you set up; on Windows 11 there is usually no reset path from the screen.
• A work or school account: an organization email. Only your IT department can reset it. We cannot, and neither can anyone else.
• A PIN, not a password: if you type a PIN to sign in and have forgotten it, the “I forgot my PIN” link works as long as the computer is online and you know the Microsoft account password.

A Microsoft account: reset it from your phone

Go to account.microsoft.com on any other device, choose the forgotten-password option, and follow it. Microsoft will send a code to the phone number or backup email on the account. Once it is reset, connect the locked computer to the internet (the Wi-Fi icon on the login screen) and sign in with the new password. If you no longer have the phone or backup email, Microsoft’s recovery form is the only route, and it can take a few days. We can walk you through it, but we cannot speed Microsoft up.

A local account: this is where a shop helps

When there are no security questions and no other administrator account on the machine, a forgotten local password cannot be reset from the login screen. We can reset it at the bench, provided the drive is not encrypted and the computer is yours. Your files and programs are untouched; you simply sign in with a new password. One side effect worth knowing: anything you protected with Windows’ own file encryption, or a saved browser password, may need re-entering afterward.

BitLocker: the blue screen asking for a recovery key

This one is different, and it is the part to read slowly. If the computer boots to a blue screen asking for a 48-digit BitLocker recovery key, the drive is encrypted. That is a good thing when a laptop is stolen; it is a wall when the key is lost. Where the key usually is:

• In the Microsoft account the computer was set up with: sign in at account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey from any device.
• On a printout or a USB stick, if whoever set it up saved it there.
• With your employer’s IT, if it is a work machine.

We will say this plainly, because other places will not: nobody can bypass BitLocker without the key, and we do not try. Anyone who says they can is either guessing or describing something else. Without the key, the files on the drive are gone. What we can do is help you find the key through the account, and, if it truly cannot be found, wipe the drive, reinstall Windows, and get the computer working again as a fresh machine.

Proof that the computer is yours

Resetting a password is exactly what a thief would want done to a stolen laptop, so we ask every customer the same thing: show us it is yours. Any of these works: photo ID with a receipt or order email for the computer; photo ID that matches the name on the account or the login screen; or signing in to the Microsoft account the machine is linked to. For a business machine, a word from the owner or manager. We write down what we saw. It takes a minute, nobody is accused of anything, and it is the same policy you would want in place if your laptop went missing.

What we can and cannot do, in one list

• Can: reset a local Windows password on an unencrypted drive, with proof of ownership. Walk you through a Microsoft account recovery. Find a BitLocker key that is stored in your account. Copy your files off an unencrypted drive and reinstall Windows if a reset is not possible.
• Cannot: bypass BitLocker without the key. Reset a work or school account. Get into a Microsoft account without going through Microsoft. Unlock a computer for someone who cannot show it is theirs.

What to bring, and what it costs

Bring the computer, its charger, your ID, and whatever you have that shows it is yours. If you know the email address on the account, bring that too. It starts with the flat $60 look, which covers a straightforward local reset in most cases; anything beyond that, such as a reinstall, is quoted before we start, with the $60 credited. This is routine work in our Windows and Mac setup. Walk in Monday through Thursday, 9:00 to 5:30, or Friday by appointment, at 746 S Arnold St Suite 3, the black door with our logo on it, straight ahead when you pull in, up the steps. Or book a drop-off online. Every price we charge is on our prices page.