Forgot your Windows password or PIN

First work out which kind of account you sign in with. A Microsoft account can be reset online in minutes. A local account is harder.

What you seeThe PIN is incorrect. Try again. / That password is incorrect. Make sure you are using the password for your Microsoft account.

Which kind of account?

Look at the sign-in screen. If your email address is shown under your name, or the options mention "Microsoft account", you use a Microsoft account. If only a name appears and you chose the password yourself when setting up the PC without an email, it is a local account.

Before anything else, check the simple causes: Caps Lock, Num Lock, the keyboard layout (shown at the bottom right of the sign-in screen), and whether you are typing the PIN where the password is wanted. Click Sign-in options to switch between PIN, password, fingerprint and face.

Forgotten PIN (Microsoft account)

1. On the sign-in screen, click I forgot my PIN.
2. Enter your Microsoft account password and complete the verification code sent to your phone or email.
3. Choose a new PIN.

The PC must be connected to the internet: use the network icon at the bottom right of the sign-in screen.

Forgotten Microsoft account password

1. On the sign-in screen, click I forgot my password, or on any phone or computer open account.live.com/password/reset.
2. Enter the email address and choose where to receive the security code: your recovery phone or second email.
3. Enter the code and set a new password.
4. Sign in to the PC with the new password. The PC must be online to learn of the change.

If you no longer have the recovery phone or email, the same page leads to an account recovery form. Fill it from a device and place you have used before, with as much detail as you can; an answer can take a day or more.

Forgotten local account password

Windows 10 version 1803 and later, and Windows 11: if you set up security questions, a wrong password brings up Reset password under the box. Answer the three questions and choose a new password.

If there are no questions:

• Another administrator on the same PC can sign in and change your password: Settings › Accounts › Other users › your account › Change account type or password, or Windows key + R › netplwiz.
• A password reset disk, if you made one earlier on a USB stick, works from the "Reset password" link.
• Otherwise there is no official way to recover a local password. The only supported route is to reset the PC, which removes programs and, with "Remove everything", the files. See below before you do that.

Be careful with programs and videos that promise to "crack" Windows passwords. Many carry malware, and none can undo BitLocker encryption.

Before resetting, think about your files

• If the drive is not encrypted, files can be copied off first from the recovery environment (see automatic repair loop, the Notepad method) or by connecting the disk to another computer.
• If the drive is encrypted with BitLocker or device encryption and you cannot sign in, the files are locked to your account. The 48-digit recovery key, if the PC was ever signed in to a Microsoft account, is saved at account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey.

To reset from the sign-in screen: hold Shift and choose Power › Restart, then Troubleshoot › Reset this PC. "Keep my files" asks for the account password on some systems; "Remove everything" does not. See Reset this PC.

Once you are back in

1. Add a PIN and fingerprint or face: Settings › Accounts › Sign-in options.
2. Update the recovery phone and email of your Microsoft account at account.microsoft.com › Security.
3. For a local account, add security questions: Sign-in options › Password › Update your security questions.
4. Save the BitLocker recovery key somewhere outside the PC.
5. Keep a backup of your files, so that a lost password is never a lost archive.

For Windows 11 and Windows 10. Written in November 2026. Menus move between updates; use the search box in Settings if a name differs. Back up important files before any step that resets, repairs a disk or opens the computer. This is an independent guide, not connected with Microsoft.