As has been said many times, including by direct developers of various software, it is the computer user that is the best "means" of protecting the Windows operating system and the computer as a whole. Of course, in the structure of the Windows operating system there are many standard tools, the functionality of which is under reliable protection of personal data and the integrity of Windows itself, and third-party antiviruses that provide omnidirectional protection of the computer are always installed to help them.
But such efforts of anti-virus software will come to naught if the user himself does not provide them with all kinds 
of support, but makes rash decisions that can lead to disastrous results (virus infection, OS failure, compromised personal data, etc.).
Regardless of the prevailing opinion, the first stronghold of protection is the password for the account, without which simple means to get to the desktop will not work.
All skepticism regarding the security of this "first stronghold" is justified, since it is unlikely that the professionals in their field and the most complicated symbolic password will stop.
But, leaving your account without password protection, especially if third parties (family, work colleagues) can access the computer, is an extremely wrong decision, which is guaranteed to lead to certain negative consequences.
But what to do if you yourself have forgotten the password for your account? Is the situation stalemate, and is it time to call "hackers"? The search for answers to these and other questions is the purpose of this article.
Microsoft Account
Despite the fact that many users have a negative attitude towards Microsoft, linking existing accounts to a Windows account has many positive aspects, among which the possibility of recovering access to it almost without effort and in the shortest possible time if you have forgotten your password or it was especially highlighted modified without your knowledge.
The advantage of this approach is that for its implementation it is enough to have any device (tablet, smartphone, computer) with an active Internet connection, regardless of which device you want to access.
As part of the example, we take as a basis that access must be obtained to a computer, and we only have a smartphone. You will need to do the following:
- Using any Internet browser convenient for you, open the site - https://account.live.com
- Enter the login/address from your account and click "Next";
- In the next step, enter the email address to which you will be sent information on access restoration, then confirm your actions by entering an alphanumeric combination and click "Next";
- After entering this information, a 4-digit digital code will be sent to the email address you specified, which you must enter in the appropriate window, then click on Next button;
- Upon successful confirmation, you only have to follow the instructions that will be sent to the email, and then come up with and enter a new password for the account.
The password will be changed specifically for the account, therefore, with the new data, the input will be available on any device.
Simple, fast, and most importantly effective.
No Microsoft Account
Immediately it is worth noting that there are many options that can help restore the desired access, but it is worth stopping at several methods that have been actively used by users for more than one year, namely:
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Registry Editor and command line.
This method is suitable for recovering the password for entering the local account. To perform the following steps, you need bootable media with the Windows operating system. Correspondence of the installed operating system with the one on the disk/flash drive is not necessary, but if there is such an opportunity, then it must be used.
Insert the bootable media into the appropriate port on the computer motherboard and do the following:
- Boot from it using the “Boot Menu” or setting the boot priority in the BIOS;
- At the first stage, where you will be asked to select the installation language, press the key combination “SHIFT + F10”;
- You will see a command line console, into which you need to enter and execute the “regedit” command by pressing the “Enter” key;
- After executing the indicated command, the registry editor window will open;
- Select the branch "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" and click "File" - "Load Hive";
- Specify the path "C:\Windows\System32\config\", where select the file "SYSTEM", just note that the letter of your system partition may be different;
- Enter any section name and click "OK";
- In the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" branch, a section with the name you specified appears in which the "Setup" subsection will be located;
- Open it and double-click on the “CmdLine” parameter to open the “Change String Parameter” window;
- Set the value “2” for the parameter “SetupType”;
- Then return to the section you created and click "File" - "Unload Hive";
- Close all active windows and restart the computer.
At this point, the first step to restore access has been completed, now it remains to apply the remaining tools in the command line console, which will open immediately after the computer restarts:
- Enter the command "net user" to display a list of users;
- Having decided on the name of the user for whom you are trying to restore access, enter the new command "net user_name_***", where instead of "name" specify the username, and instead of "***" a new password, for example, "net user 911-win 123456789".
Using this command, a new password will be created, in order to delete the old one (without creating a new one), specify the command - net user 911-win - indicating the name of your account accordingly.
- Do not close the command line console, but open the registry editor again, where return the previous values for the parameter “CmdLine” - empty, for “SetupType” - “0”.
It will remain to restart the computer and log in to the account with a new password.
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Control Questions
Those who set the password for their account after updating the operating system to version 1803 know that when entering password protection, the system will ask you to enter several security questions, the meaning of which is to recover the password if it is lost or unauthorized change.
- After you enter the password incorrectly, the system will prompt you to reset it, agree with this proposal by clicking on the "Reset Password" button;
- Further, the system will offer to answer you to the control questions set by you earlier;
- If the answers are entered correctly, then at the next stage it will be possible to set a new password by entering it twice in the appropriate fields;
- After entering the new authorization data, you will be redirected to your account.
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Using additional software
There are many options that can be used to solve the issue under consideration, including this applies to additional software.
Unfortunately, the DISM ++ utility, which has a huge functional set, which allows not only to delete the password for the account, but also to carry out a comprehensive cleaning and optimization of the operating system, is not deservedly paid attention.
So, to solve the question posed in this article, you will need to do the following:
- Create bootable media with the “DISM ++” program and, by analogy with the above steps, carry out the first boot from it;
- Open the command line console by pressing the “SHIFT + F10” key combination;
- Next, enter a command that reflects the location of the installation file on your media “F:\dism\dism ++ x64.exe” or “F:\dism\dism ++ x86.exe”, depending on the bit depth of the operating system;
- Accept the terms of the license agreement, and wait for the utility interface to appear;
- Open the "Utilities" - "Toolkit" section and expand the "Account Management" tab;
- In the "Account Management" window that opens, select the user for whom you want to reset the password and click on the "Reset Password" button.
A message appears stating that the password has been successfully deleted and nothing is stopping the login.
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Using the Built-in Administrator Account
IMPORTANT! Doesn't work on Windows 10 Home:
- Open the command line console by pressing the “SHIFT + F10” key combination;
- Enter and run the command "net user Administrator /active:yes";
- Reboot the computer without using bootable media, and log in with new "Administrator" account;
- Open "This PC" and click "Manage";
- Open the section "Local Users" - "Users" and right-click on your account;
- Read the warning of the operating system and click on the "Continue" button;
- Enter the new password for the selected account twice and click OK.
After performing these manipulations, the password will be reset to a new value, with which you can enter the account you need.
It remains only to disable the "built-in administrator" command "net user Administrator/active:no".
Conclusion
So, the four most effective options that have been repeatedly rescued by users have been given above. The main thing that you need to remember is that you should be extremely careful when manipulating such system partitions, so you should think several times before deleting or changing something.