Resetting a forgotten local user account password was never easy unless you had created the password reset disk for your account. There are third-party tools such as Windows Password Recovery Tool, but most users find it difficult to use third-party utilities, or they don’t have a spare PC to download password recovery tools.
Luckily, resetting a forgotten user password is easy if you are running the latest version of Windows 10. As you likely know, one can reset the Microsoft account password right from the login screen. In addition to Microsoft accounts, you can now reset the local account password by answering to security questions.
In one of our previous articles titled how to add security questions to local user accounts to your Windows 10 local user account, we told you that version 1803 (Windows 10 April 2018 Update) and later releases support adding security questions to local user accounts, and one can use those security questions to reset the password right from the login screen.
In this guide, we will show you how to reset local user account password by answering security questions.
IMPORTANT: Remember that this method cannot be used to reset Microsoft account passwords. To reset Microsoft account password, refer to our how to reset Microsoft account password from login screen in Windows 10 guide.
IMPORTANT: If you have not added security questions to your local user account, please refer to our how to reset the forgotten password in Windows guide to reset the local account password.
Reset local account password by answering security questions
Step 1: When you type a wrong password on the login screen, you will get the following screen with Reset password link. Click the Reset password link.
Step 2: You will now see the following screen where you need to answer security questions that you had previously added to your local user account. Note that you don’t need password reset disk or any other tools.
Step 3: Type correct answers and then click the submit (arrow button) button.
Step 4: You will now get the password reset screen. Type in your new password and then re-enter the password again. Click the submit button again to reset the password and set the new password.
You can use these security questions to reset your local account password if and when you cannot remember your account password.
So, if you have not added security questions to your local user account, add security questions to your account right away.
