This Forum article walks you through the account password reset, account recovery process, and offers tips and tricks to help get you into your account as quickly as possible.
- Microsoft Account Sign Up
- Microsoft Account Password Reset Page
- Microsoft Account Login
- Microsoft Account Password Reset Spam
A Microsoftaccount (formerly knowns as Windows Live ID) is what you use to sign in to Microsoft services such as outlook.com (or Hotmail), Office, OneDrive, Skype, Xbox, Windows, and more. It makes your experiences on devices and services more personal and relevant to you.
Microsoft accounts work across all Microsoft devices, apps, and services, but a local account only works on the device where you created it. Because of this, although we can help you recover forgotten passwords for Microsoft accounts, we can't help you manage accounts that are local to your device. Reset your work or school password.; 6 minutes to read; In this article. If you forgot your password, never received one from your company support, have been locked out of your account, or want to change it, we can help. If you forgot your Microsoft account password, learn how to do a Microsoft password reset online or by using your Xbox console. Learn how to reset your forgotten Microsoft account password. Learn how to reset your forgotten Microsoft account password. Sep 20, 2019 I have Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2016 through a community college that uses office 365 and I am getting a need password every time I go into outlook 2016 on my primary computer but on my surface 3 and my developer computer it works fine I have tried the Microsoft office recovery program that is. Hi, Outlook keeps prompting for password could be. Use the Password Reset Tool for Microsoft Live Accounts. The first (and most obvious) solution available from the outset is to use the standard password reset function available at Microsoft’s password reset website. There you’ll find three choices, and for this particular case, you’ll want to follow the “I Forgot My Password.
Watch the Instructional Video on the step by step password reset & recovery
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/videoplayer/embed/RE1ZRwx
Password Reset
If you forgot the password you use to sign in to services like Outlook.com, Skype, OneDrive, and Xbox Live you might need to reset it. First, check to make sure that Caps Lock isn't on, because passwords are case-sensitive. If you're sure you're using the right password but still can't sign in, you may need to reset your Microsoft Account password
To reset your password: Rosetta stone version 3 upgrade.
- Go to the Reset your password page - https://aka.ms/MSAPWreset
- The short video provides step by step guide on how to reset your Microsoft Account Password
- To learn more on how you can protect your Microsoft Account, visit https://aka.ms/ProtectMSA
Account Recovery
If resetting your Microsoft Account password does not work, you may still recover your account by answering the Recovery Form.The account recovery form is meant to be the last option to get you back into your account. the recovery form gives you a chance to prove that you own your account.
Fill out Recovery Form
- Go to https://account.live.com/acsr
- Enter a working email address that we can use to contact you about your account recovery
- The short video provides step by step guide on how to recover your Microsoft Account through ACSR
- To lean more on Recovering Microsoft Account, please visit https://aka.ms/MSArecovery
Note:
The account recovery form works by asking questions about your account that only you could answer. Then, we review your answers and respond within 24 hours with either instructions to get back in to your account or a denial. Keep these tips in mind to help you succeed:
- Use a computer we’ll recognize. If possible, fill out the form on a computer that you’ve used to sign in to your account before.
- Answer as many questions as possible. Not all the questions will apply to you, and that's ok. Don't worry if you don't have an answer. But it's better to guess and be close than to leave a question blank.
- Give us a working email to contact you. We won't use this email address for spam, only to give you the results of your recovery request. You can even use a friend's account, or create a free temporary email.
- If you have two-step verification turned on for your account, the recovery form won’t work. When you turn on two-step verification, we promise not to let anyone sign in without two forms of identification, no matter how much information they know about your account. Visit this page to learn more about two step verification
We’ve all done it before. You sit down to log into your Windows machine, type in what you think is the password, and bang, you realize you forgot what it was! You scramble to try different combinations of letters and numbers to see what will fit, but nothing works. What do you do now?
Thankfully, the process of recovering your password in Windows 10 is much the same as it has been in Windows 8 and above, albeit with a few slight tweaks. Here’s how you can recover both your Microsoft Live 10 login, as well as the credentials for any other users registered with the local machine.
Use the Password Reset Tool for Microsoft Live Accounts
The first (and most obvious) solution available from the outset is to use the standard password reset function available at Microsoft’s password reset website. There you’ll find three choices, and for this particular case, you’ll want to follow the “I Forgot My Password” selection if you’re attempting to recover any accounts that are tied to your online identity.
Once you make it through these steps, you’ll be greeted with the generally familiar recovery process that most major companies will use when attempting to verify that you really are who you say you are. If you’ve registered an external email or a cellphone number with your account, you can receive a code which will pop your account open without any extra hassle.
Create a New User to Save Account Files
If none of this works, there’s another measure you can take which will (in a very roundabout way), allow you to regain access to your computer.
RELATED:How to Crack Your Forgotten Windows Password
First, start by booting your Windows 10 installation into the setup by changing the boot order in your BIOS to take priority with the CD, or use the ISO as a startup disk instead.
You’ll need to boot from Windows 10 installation media to do this. First, you’ll need to create Windows 10 installation media on a USB drive or DVD. Once you have, change the boot order on your PC and boot from the USB drive or disc.
Once the setup begins, hit Shift+F10.
This will bring up a command prompt. From here, we’re going to use the command prompt to replace the Utility Manager at the login screen with cmd.exe with the following commands:
move d:windowssystem32utilman.exe d:windowssystem32utilman.exe.bak
copyd:windowssystem32cmd.exed:windowssystem32utilman.exe
Once this is complete, use the command “wpeutil reboot” to restart the machine.
After you’re back at the login screen, click the Utility Manager. If everything went right, you should see a cmd.exe launch like the image below.
This is the prompt you’ll use to create a new administrative user from the login screen. Type in the following commands, replacing <username> with the name you’d like to assign to the new account (no carrots).
net user<username>/add
net localgroup administrators<username>/add
Now close the prompt, reboot, and you should see your new user in the login screen.
Click in here, and enter your fresh desktop. From the desktop, right click the Start menu in the bottom-left hand corner, and select “Computer Management”.
Navigate to “Local Users and Groups”, scroll down to the affected account, and right-click. Choose the “Set Password” option, and choose a new set of credentials to regain access to your locked account!
It should be noted that this method will only work to fully recover accounts that are designated to sign on locally. If you need to get your Microsoft Live account password back, you’ll have to retrieve it through the online forms mentioned above.
Microsoft Account Sign Up
That said, if the online recovery service doesn’t work, you will still be able to access any important files or folders that may have been locked up in that account by going into C:Users, and clicking on its associated folder.
When All Else Fails: Call Microsoft
If the automated reset process on Microsoft’s site doesn’t lead anywhere to restore your Live-only account, you can look into dialing up a representative at the company itself.
When calling the TechNet Help Center directly, you’ll initially be greeted with the same security questions that you filled out when you created the account. If you can’t answer these, the representative will hand you off to another team, which will use a variety of verification techniques that range from asking for detailed information about what the account’s been used for, to having you list any specific names that might be stored in your own contact list.
If you can answer just two of these correctly, the rep will send you a temporary unlock code, which you can then use to log back into your Live account.
Preventative Steps
Of course, all these steps are only necessary if you haven’t already followed our many different guides on creating a backup password reset disk beforehand, either from the Windows default program, or through a Ubuntu-based rescue tool installed on a CD or USB thumbstick.
RELATED:How To Create and Use a Password Reset Disk or USB In Windows 8 or 10
Secondly, you can also look into taking advantage of the new Windows PIN feature, which will allow you to tie a PIN code to your account instead of the standard alphanumerical password. You’ll find the option to add a PIN either in the initial setup, or in the “Accounts” section of the Windows 10 Settings folder.
This way, whether it’s your debit card passcode or just your lucky number, it’ll only be a few simple keystrokes to remember, instead of a complicated combination of words and letters that can be difficult to track among the dozens of different logins you have across each of your separate devices.
Microsoft Account Password Reset Page
Losing or forgetting your password can be a frustrating experience, but thanks to these workarounds, tricks, and tips, it doesn’t have to mean the end of your account as you know it!
Image Credits: Pixabay
Microsoft Account Login
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