So you forgot the login password of your Windows 8 or 8.1 computer and looking for an easy way to recover or reset windows 8 password without any hassle OR you may be trying to hack into someone else’s Windows 8 computer but you don’t know the login password?
Let me remind you hacking into someone else’s computer without their consent is illegal but if you are trying to reset or hack your own windows 8 password or want to help your friends and family member to recover their forgotten password then you are at right place.
This article will guide you to reset windows 8 password without any reset or recovery disk which windows asks you to create also you are not going to buy any kind of third-party software.
Resetting windows 8 or 8.1 login password is very easy if you have windows 8 or 8.1 bootable disk it may be Windows 8 DVD or any other media like a flash drive or external hard disk having bootable windows 8 or 8.1.
How to Reset Windows 8 password
There are plenty of options to reset windows 8 password if you can log into the computer by any mean.
1. Reset Windows 8 Password from another Admin account
Lets the computer you are using have 2 user account luckily, but you forgot the password for one account in such case you can reset windows 8 password by logging into other user accounts.
- Login to another User Account.
- Press Win+X key on your keyboard.
- Click on Computer Management, it will open Computer Management.
- Navigate to Local Users and Groups > Users.
- Find the locked user account Right-Click on it and choose Set Password.
- Create a new password for locked user account.
2. Login using PIN code and Reset Windows 8 Password
Windows 8 and 8.1 offers 4 digit PIN Code security which is another convenient way to login into windows 8, if you ever created PIN code for your computer then you can easily login to your windows 8/8.1 computer and change the user account password.
All you need to do is log in into your computer using 4 digit PIN code and reset the password.
There are two ways to reset the password in such case.
1. Create another account and reset the password.
- After login using PIN go to PC settings and choose Accounts from there Add a new Local Account with Administrative privilege.
- Now Logoff and login to the newly created account and reset the password for the locked account by going to Computer Management as discussed above in the first method.
2. Login to windows by using PIN code, Press Win+X and choose Command Prompt(Admin).
Type in net user <user_name> new password and hit Enter, like in below example my username is spaint and password is newpassword.
This will reset windows 8 login password now you can log in with new password into the local account.
3. Login via Microsoft Account and Reset Windows 8 password
If you ever set up the sign in option to log in with Microsoft account then you can easily login into Windows 8 when the local account is locked.
Choose Microsoft account to login into windows, then select the Email account and type the password. After login using Microsoft account reset the password for the local account as discussed in the first method.
4. Reset Windows 8 Password with Windows 8 DVD/USB Flash Drive
When you have no other option left to recover your password you may end up taking your computer to the nearby repair shop or buying password resetting tools online which will cost you few bucks but there is no guarantee that you will get your password recovered.
However you need to have a Windows DVD it may be Windows 8 or 8.1 doesn’t matter, most of us always keep a copy of Windows but if you don’t have Windows DVD, at least you may have USB Flash drive (A blank flash drive min. 4 GB), if you don’t have a Flash drive you need to get one may be from your friend or buy a good flash drive from online store
If you own a Windows 8 DVD you can skip below paragraph.
Let’s you have a flash drive, then all you need to do is download Windows 8 iso file and extract it using WinRar, now make your flash drive bootable, you can head toward linked article which will guide you thoroughly to make flash drive bootable and copy windows 8/8.1 into it using the command prompt.
I assume your Windows 8 bootable media is ready, now follow these steps-
1. Insert bootable media DVD/Flash drive into your computer.
2. Restart your computer, when windows Starts (as soon you see the logo of your computer manufacturer) immedietly start pressing Boot key on your keyboard. Boot key varies by the computer manufacturer
- Dell Boot Key is F12
- HP boot Key is F9
- Samsung boot key is F12
- Sony F11, F12
Generally, boot key remains F2, F9, F10, F11 or F12 or you can Google it for your Computer manufacturer.
And you will get Boot Menu Similar to the image below.
3. Now use Up/Down arrow key to select your bootable media, if you are using Flash drive choose “Removable Device” or if you are using DVD choose “CD-ROM Drive” and hit Enter on your keyboard.
It will take you to another screen, here you need to click on Next.
4. After clicking on Next it will show you Windows Setup Screen, here click on “Repair Your Computer“
5. Now Click on Troubleshoot then Advanced Options.
6. Now click on Command prompt.
It will launch Command prompt from bootable media.
Now, Whenever you goes to windows login screen you also gets an Ease of Access option 
at bottom left corner, you can open Ease of Access center without login into your Windows computer.
What we are going to do now is – Replace Ease of Access with Windows Command Prompt (The Windows currently installed into computer, not the above one), once we will be able to open command prompt without login we can do many things.
7. Replace Ease of Access With Command Prompt –
- Type cd: and hit Enter
- Type cd windows hit Enter
- Type cd system32 hit Enter
- Type ren utilman.exe utilman_bak.exe hit Enter [Renaming Utitity manager to utilman_bak]
- Type copy cmd.exe utilman.exe hit Enter [Copying cmd in place of ease of access]
8. Now close cmd and Restart your computer.
9. Once you go to login Window Click on Ease of Access.
And it will launch Command Prompt instead of Ease of Access.
10. Type in control userpasswords2 and hit Enter.
10.1. Now it will launch User Contol option. Select your User account and click on Reset Password.
10.2. Here you need to create a new password and hit OK, OR if you don’t want any password then leave it blank and hit OK.
10.3. Again hit OK on User Accounts windows to close it. Restart your computer and log in with your new password.
11. Alternatively, you can reset your password without User Accounts.
- Click on Ease of Acces and launch cmd.
- Type net user hit Enter [It will show you user accounts]
- Type net user <User_Name> <new_password> and hit Enter, as example net user itech password123.
Restart the computer and log in with the new password.
Watch Video Tutorial
After login into the Computer, we need to revert the changes we made, to do so –
- Open My Computer and Navigate to C:/Windows/System32 Folder.
- Find and delete utilman.exe
- Rename Utilman_bak.exe to utilman.exe
That’s All!
All the above methods are useful to Reset Windows 8 Password depending on the situations, and also applies to windows 8.1, method 4 may look lenghty to you, but it is very simple to perform.
If you face any problem to reset windows 8 password please comment below and I’ll answer within few minute or hour.
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