Geek Patrol help needed: I gave my grandson a new computer a couple of months ago. He hasn't used it lately and has forgotten the password to get on. I know the password is located in...

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

I gave my grandson a new computer a couple of months ago. He hasn't used it lately and has forgotten the password to get on. I know the password is located in DOS somewhere but I need someone to walk me through getting there. When the computer is off and you first turn it on, I know you hit some key like f11 constantly until DOS comes up -- it has been so long since I did something like this I'm lost as to how to locate the password.
Thanks in advance to my knowledgeable friends!

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

What version of Windows?
And are you asking specifically about the password for the user?

From everything I know about current operating systems, unless you can get into Safe Mode, and have the local admin password or a user with those rights, it's going to be pretty tough to get the password.

There are ways, but they are way out of the scope of this forum, and would require more than text based guidance.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

If he gets his email through a Microsoft account (Live, MSN, Hotmail, etc), the password is the same. Hitting a key will take you to bios, where if he did a backup thumbdive, he can boot off that. I know of no way to locate a password in DOS... even if it's there, it's going to be encrypted. After your grandson "completely" resets his computer and re-installs Windows, remind him that a password isn't worth anything unless he remembers it. Also, in W10, you can create a simple 4 digit PIN. I'm sure you've reminded him already that he has no one to blame but himself for this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQXFd0CN4s8

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028457/windows-10-reset-your-local-account-password

ggab Loc: ?

Bridges wrote:

I gave my grandson a new computer a couple of months ago. He hasn't used it lately and has forgotten the password to get on. I know the password is located in DOS somewhere but I need someone to walk me through getting there. When the computer is off and you first turn it on, I know you hit some key like f11 constantly until DOS comes up -- it has been so long since I did something like this I'm lost as to how to locate the password.
Thanks in advance to my knowledgeable friends!

If we can presume it is Windows 10, he either created a local username and password or used a Microsoft account.
Does he use outlook, hotmail etc. for his email. If so, as stated earlier, the log in is the same as his email.
If he doesn't remember the password for the email, it can always be changed. The changed password would be the new log in Password. Of course, this would need to be done from another computer.

If it was Windows 8.x, then chances are it was a local user name and pw.

A good practice is to have a second, administrator level user created. These credential should be kept with a parent.
This way, should it happen again the parent can log in and reset the password.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

47greyfox wrote:

If he gets his email through a Microsoft account (Live, MSN, Hotmail, etc), the password is the same.

Deleted: Thread responses covered it in more detail.

FTn

If the machine is new it is running Windows 10. DOS died at least 20 years ago. With Windows 10 you might see a reset password option under the password box after you enter an incorrect password. If it is there go ahead and click on it. If he set a password, you will be asked to answer a series of questions. After you correctly answer them the way he did you will be prompted to set a new password. Use that password to sign in. After you successfully log in set up an account for yourself with a password you will remember. This way you will have a back door in when this happens again.

If he set up a pin and doesn't remember that select sign in options and select sign in with password. Then follow the instructions above.

Remember that Google is your friend.

- FTn

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

ggab wrote:

A good practice is to have a second, administrator level user created. These credential should be kept with a parent.
This way, should it happen again the parent can log in and reset the password.

This is critical on devices you manage for others!

Other than that, if you can't remember a (local) password, and the hints don't help, there is not much you can do without some technical help from some "system administration" tools.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I did go to Utube and found there are a couple of ways to do a workaround to reset the password. It basically involves "breaking" the computer by turning it off a couple of times in a row to make the computer switch to a repair mode in which you can access files, change the name of the file called Utilman and execute a few steps that will lead you to a DOS type command prompt whereby you can change the password or eliminate it entirely. Then you have to go back in and reset the file to the original name of Utilman.exe. Not the easiest thing to do but will get one out of a jam.

Toby

Bridges wrote:

I gave my grandson a new computer a couple of months ago. He hasn't used it lately and has forgotten the password to get on. I know the password is located in DOS somewhere but I need someone to walk me through getting there. When the computer is off and you first turn it on, I know you hit some key like f11 constantly until DOS comes up -- it has been so long since I did something like this I'm lost as to how to locate the password.
Thanks in advance to my knowledgeable friends!

The safest password is "incorrect" . You don't have to worry about remembering it. When you start up just type in anything and the computer will respond "sorry about your password is incorrect'

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Bridges wrote:

I gave my grandson a new computer a couple of months ago. He hasn't used it lately and has forgotten the password to get on. I know the password is located in DOS somewhere but I need someone to walk me through getting there. When the computer is off and you first turn it on, I know you hit some key like f11 constantly until DOS comes up -- it has been so long since I did something like this I'm lost as to how to locate the password.
Thanks in advance to my knowledgeable friends!

You are lost with the DOS-F11-stuff.

If grandson hasn't been using the computer, and has nothing on it he needs to save, wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows. In other words, START OVER from a clean slate. And this time, set up TWO user accounts. His, and one for YOU, with admin access. Then you can login and manipulate things, like retrieving future data he needs.

If there is currently data on the machine that he needs, take the hard drive out and connect it to another computer via USB dock or an external drive enclosure. Then you can read his hard drive to your heart's content, retrieve data, then wipe it, put it back into his computer and install fresh Windows.

Stan Gould Loc: La Crosse, Wisconsin

Use a passphrase that will be easy for you to remember but difficult for someone to guess. One of my passphrases is four words— the names of the 🐕 dogs I have had, including one that was a favorite pet 60 years ago

LightBender Loc: Paradise, TX

There is a reset switch on the mother board.

David Taylor

FTn wrote:

If the machine is new it is running Windows 10. DO... (show quote)

Then Google will inform you that DOS hasn't gone away.

David Taylor

LightBender wrote:

There is a reset switch on the mother board.

Nope.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

LightBender wrote:

There is a reset switch on the mother board.

You are confused. Besides not knowing if the computer in question is a desktop or a laptop:

DESKTOP (not laptop) computer motherboards have had reset switches or jumpers that reset the BIOS password, which controls powering-on and/or making BIOS changes. This has nothing to do with Windows if the Windows password is forgotten, so would be of no help.

And laptop computers no longer even have that anymore, because a stolen laptop could have its BIOS security removed so the thief could use/sell the laptop. Replacing the motherboard is how you fix a laptop with a locked BIOS.

When Windows 10 is installed fresh on a computer, it requires you to provide answers to three security questions. This is encrypted and stored on the hard drive. If you forget your password, Windows will ask you one of the security questions. If you answer correctly, you can then login, and reset your password in your User Account.