Locked myself of my laptop

Question

Good day everyone,

last night I tried to create a local account on my laptop, which for some reason failed. I didnt think too much off it until the point where I must have clicked "sign in with local account" My computer signed off the microsoft account and to the login screen asking for a password. Due to the previously failed attempt creating a local account I cannot sign in, as the password does not get recognized. Now here's the catch. I cannot revert to log in by pin to my existing microsoft account on this computer either At least there are no options anywhere to toggle accounts or login methods. Unfortunately I do not have a USB stick with password reset wizard set up... I was hoping to be able to achieve something by creating a recovery key and sing this in safe mode to repair the laptop. Weirdly enough the laptop does not show up under "devices" on my microsoft account.

Is there any way to fix this without resetting the entire PC?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Answer 1

If you've locked yourself out of your laptop and cannot sign in with either your Microsoft account or the local account, there are a few steps you can try to regain access without resetting the entire PC:

1. Use Safe Mode: Try booting into Safe Mode. Restart your laptop and repeatedly press the F8 key (or Shift + F8) during boot-up to access the Advanced Boot Options. From there, select Safe Mode. If you can log in to Safe Mode, you may be able to create a new local account or revert to your Microsoft account.
2. Reset Microsoft Account Password: If you have access to another device, you can try resetting your Microsoft account password through the Microsoft account recovery page. This may allow you to log back into your account on the laptop.
3. System Restore: If you have previously created a restore point, you can use System Restore to revert your system to a previous state. This can be done from the Advanced Startup Options menu. Restart your laptop and hold the Shift key while selecting Restart to access this menu.
4. Recovery Drive: If you have access to another Windows computer, you can create a recovery drive on a USB stick. Boot your laptop from this recovery drive and use the recovery options to troubleshoot and potentially reset your password.
5. Contact Microsoft Support: If none of the above options work, consider reaching out to Microsoft Support for further assistance.

Unfortunately, without a password reset disk or recovery key, your options may be limited, but these steps can help you troubleshoot the issue.

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References:

• How to use System Restore to log on when you lose access to an account