locked out of Surface computer. forgot the password. how do i reset password

Hello john sanders, welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

If you forgot the password to your Surface and want to keep your personal files, here’s what you can do. The steps depend on the type of account and what recovery options you set up.

1. Is your account a Microsoft account or a local account?

• If it’s a Microsoft account: Go to account.live.com/password/reset, follow the steps to verify your identity, and set a new password. After that, sign in normally. This won't affect your data.
• If it’s a local account, move to the next step.

2. Did you set up security questions for this local account?

• If yes, on the sign-in screen select Reset password, answer the security questions, and set a new password. You’ll get back into Windows without losing any data.
• If no, continue.

3. Did you create a password reset disk?

• If yes, insert the disk and use it to reset the password. This also keeps your files.
• If no, there’s still one more option.

4. If all of the above fail, you can use Reset this PC (Keep my files)

• You can start this from Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). To get there, power cycle the device three times during boot until you see the recovery screen. Then go to: Troubleshoot > Reset this PC > Keep my files

However:

• There is a chance that during reset you will be asked for the BitLocker recovery key instead of the password. This happens if the drive is encrypted with BitLocker, which is often the default on Surface devices.
  • If the drive is not encrypted, great—you’ll go straight to the desktop after reset.
  • If you are prompted and have the BitLocker key saved (usually in your Microsoft account), enter it and proceed.
  • If you are prompted and don’t have the key, then you cannot continue. The only remaining option is Remove everything, which wipes all data.

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