How to Recover Windows 11 Password

Nowadays, our daily lives revolve around countless apps and devices. Naturally, it’s not surprising at all if you forget one or two passwords every once in a while. However, if you end up forgetting the sign-in password of your Windows 11 device, this can spell real trouble. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to reset your computer’s sign-in password. In this article, we will show three methods to recover the password for your Windows 11 machine. Here we go.

Recover the Windows 11 Password through Microsoft Account

Many Windows 11 device users have created a Microsoft account on their computer as soon as they purchased it. Luckily, you can use your Microsoft account to retrieve the forgotten Windows 11 password. Here’s how to do it:

1. Start your Windows 11 PC and wait for the sign-in screen to appear. Your Microsoft account name will be displayed with an empty box to enter your password. 
2. Now, click on the “I forgot my password” option right below the password box.
3. When the next screen appears, type the email address associated with your Microsoft account and press the “Enter” key. 
4. Next, you will enter the “Verify your identity” menu. You need to decide how you would like to receive your security code to verify your identity. You can request it via your phone number or email associated with your Microsoft account. Once you select how to get it, click on the “Send Code” option.
5. When the code arrives, enter it in the box and click on the “Verify” option. After that, a new interface will appear, allowing you to enter a new password for your PC’s local account.
6. After you’re done setting the new password, you can use it to log in to your computer.

Using Command Prompt to Recover Password for Local Windows 11 Account

Didn’t create a Microsoft account yet? No problem. You can always use the Command Prompt program to reset the password on Windows 11. Here’s how.

For More Than One User Account with Administrative Privileges

If you have multiple user accounts with administrative privileges on your Windows 11 PC, follow the steps below:

1. Sign in to your PC using another user account with administrator permissions.
2. Next, press the “Windows + S” keys to open the “Search Bar” on your computer and type “cmd.”
3. Once the “Command Prompt” appears, click on the “Run as administrator” option on the right panel. The command-line interface window will open.
4. Now, type “net user accountname newpassword” and press the “Enter” key.
5. Replace the “accountname” and “newpassword” of the command line with the name of the account you have forgotten the password of and the new password of your choice, respectively.

That’s all. After running the command, you can use your new password to login into the local user account.

If You Only Have One Administrator Account

Do you only have one user account on your Windows 11 PC? You may have another account but without administrator privileges. In this case, the method mentioned above won’t work at all. But, there’s no cause for concern. All you have to do is boot your PC into Safe Mode with Command Prompt and follow a few more steps. Here’s how it works:

1. Open your computer, and on the sign-in screen, click on the “Power” icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
2. Next, while pressing and holding the “Shift” key on your keyboard, click on the “Restart” option on the screen. Once your computer reboots, it will enter the Windows Recovery Environment.
3. Navigate to Troubleshoot → Advanced Options → Startup Settings → Restart. 
4. Now, keep pressing the “F6” key on your keyboard before the computer restarts and your PC will enter into the Safe Mode with Command Prompt window.
5. In the command prompt window, type “net user username newpassword” and press the “Enter” key. Once again, replace the “username” with the username of your device’s account and the “newpassword” with a password you want to assign.
6. The password of your Windows 11 device’s user account has been successfully changed. You can now reboot your computer back into normal mode and use the new password to sign in.

Restore Passwords for Your Windows 11 Device via Password Reset USB

Did you ever create a Windows 11 password reset USB? If so, you can use it to easily recover your Windows 11 password. But before we explain how to do so, let’s see how to do so using any Windows 11 PC. This will be useful the next time you encounter this problem.

Create A Password Reset USB on Windows 11

Here’s what you need to do to create a password reset USB for your Windows 11 local account:

1. First, connect a blank USB drive to your Windows computer.
2. Now, press the “Windows + R” keys to open the “Run” program and type “control panel.” After that, press the “Enter” key to open the “Control Panel” window.
3. Now, type “create password reset” in the “Search Box” of the control panel, which is located in the upper-right corner of the Window. Once the “Create a password reset disk” option shows up, click on it.
4. Now, follow the simple on-screen procedure. This will create a password reset disk for an account on your Windows computer.

Gain Access to Windows 11 using Password Reset USB

We presume you have the USB for resetting the password in your hand. Follow the procedure below to restore the password for a local account on your Windows 11 machine:

1. Plug in the Windows 11 password reset USB drive to your PC and turn your computer on.
2. On the sign-in screen, click on the “Reset password” option and then click on the “Next” option.
3. On the next screen, click on the drop-down icon to open the drop-down menu.
4. Click on the “password reset USB/Disk device” option.
5. Now, in the next menu, type your new password and an accompanying hint that will give you a clue should you forget it again.
6. Once that’s complete, click on the “OK” option. You may now employ the new password to get into Windows 11.