It happens to everyone at some point — you're trying to log into an account and you can't seem to remember your password. It's always frustrating, but when that password happens to be the one protecting your laptop, it can bring a big part of your life to a screeching halt. Thankfully, you can try to reset your password on Windows 11 and 10 to regain access to your important data.

The process for resetting your password will vary significantly if you're using a Microsoft account or a local account, and for a Microsoft account, it will also vary depending on your security settings, particularly if you have two-factor authentication enabled.

Before resetting your password

If you've signed into Windows using a Microsoft account and you can't seem to log in, it's worth considering an alternate option before resetting your password. Windows 11 may have asked you to set up a PIN when you first signed in, which is different from the password for your account. If you can't remember the PIN you may want to check if you can log in with your password instead.

To do that, click Sign-in options, then see if there's an option for a password. In some recent versions of Windows, it's possible for the password to be disabled in order to increase security, so you may not see a Sign-in options button. If that's the case, you'll need to reset your PIN.

How to reset your PIN

If you don't know your PIN and don't have the option to sign in with a password, you'll have to reset your PIN. Here's how:

1. Under the PIN field, click I forgot my PIN.
2. Enter the password for your Microsoft account.
3. If you haven't yet, enter a method for receiving security codes in the future.
4. Enter the security code sent to your alternate email address or phone number (depending on what you chose in step 3).

   If you've already set up a recovery method for your account, steps 3 and 4 won't be necessary.

5. Choose a method for receiving a security code to recover your PIN. You may need to confirm the full email address or phone number if you choose one of these methods.
6. Enter the security code sent to your method of choice (if asked).
7. Click Continue.
8. Enter a new PIN to use for sign-in. Make sure you can remember it for the future.

Once you've followed this process, you'll be able to sign into Windows, and you can use your new PIN to sign in again in the future.

How to reset your Microsoft account password

If you can't remember the password to your Microsoft account either, things get a bit more complicated. In order to recover it, you'll need to have set up a recovery method beforehand. If all that's established, though, you can follow these steps to reset the Microsoft account password and PIN from the login screen.

1. Click I forgot my PIN on the sign-in screen. If you don't have a PIN set up, click I forgot my password instead and skip step 2.
2. Click Forgot password? under the password field.
3. Choose a recovery method to send a security code to. You may need to confirm the full phone number or email address.
4. Enter the code sent to the recovery method of your choice.
5. Enter the new password and confirm it in the field below.
6. Enter the password again to sign into your Microsoft account. If you're setting your PIN, follow the process in the section above starting at step 5 to reset your PIN. If not, you should be able to sign into Windows with your new password now.

Resetting your Windows password online

If you want to change your Microsoft account password to prevent others from signing into it and not because you're locked out yourself, you can do that using any web browser on almost any device. To do this, you'll need to head to your Microsoft account page, expand the Security section, and click Change password. From there, the process is largely similar to what we described above.

How to reset a local account password

So far, we've been looking at Microsoft accounts, since that's what Microsoft is pushing users to use on Windows 10, and especially Windows 11. But if you are using a local account on your Windows PC, things are a bit different. There are two methods for recovering your password — one using security questions and the other using a password reset disk. Both of these require you to set up these recovery methods beforehand, so if you didn't do that, you'll have to try an alternate method.

How to reset a password using security questions (and how to set it up)

If you set up your account to be a local account from the beginning, you were asked to choose security questions, which you can use to recover your password now. Simply click Reset password on the sign in screen (you'll need to enter a wrong password once for this option to show up), then answer the security questions.

However, due to Microsoft's push for online accounts, you likely set up your PC with a Microsoft account, then switched to a local account later. The problem with this is that when you switch an online account to a Microsoft account, you're not prompted to set up security questions, meaning by default, you don't have a recovery method. However, you can add security questions after the fact.

On Windows 10, you can follow these steps to set up new security questions:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Choose Accounts.
3. Click Sign-in options.
4. Choose Password, then Update your security questions.
5. Enter your password.
6. Choose the three security questions you want to use and their respective answers.
7. Click Finish.

On Windows 11, you can access the dialog to update your security questions by pressing Windows + R on your keyboard and entering the command ms-cxh://setsqsalocalonly. This will take you straight to step 5 above.

Even if you did set up security questions before, you can use this option to update them, in case you forgot them.

How to reset a password using a password reset disk

Another option for resetting your password is using a password reset disk, which serves as a security verification to help you reset your password in the future. This method isn't offered by default, so if you want to set it up, you have to do the work beforehand. For starters, you'll need a USB flash drive. Here's how:

1. Open the start menu and search for Control Panel. Open the first option.
2. Choose User accounts.
3. Click User accounts again.
4. Insert the USB flash drive into a USB port on your computer.
5. In the menu on the left, click Create a password reset disk.
6. Click Next.
7. Choose the USB drive you inserted and click Next.
8. Enter your current password and click Next again.

Finish the process and your USB drive can now be used to reset your password if you ever forget. To do so, follow these steps:

1. On the sign-in screen, click Reset password.
2. If you have set up security questions, click Use a password reset disk instead.
3. Click Next.
4. Choose the drive containing your password reset disk and click Next.
5. Enter the new password and a password hint and click Next.

Your password will be reset and you can sign in using your new password.

Final thoughts

That's about all you need to do in order to reset your Windows password, regardless of what account type you have. In either case, you'll need to have set up some safeguards beforehand if you want to be able to reset your password, but if you did, you can always go back to a usable state. It's not the easiest process, but that's the price of security, and it's better to have some hurdles to reset your password than to make it too easy for someone else to get into your account.