Get into a locked Windows system

1. Boot from a live ISO.
2. If you booted from a windows ISO, hit Shift+F10. This will bring up a command prompt. In this we will replace the utility manager at the login screen with cmd.exe:

move d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe.bak
copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe

1. Once this is complete, use the command “wpeutil reboot” to restart the machine.
2. After you’re back at the login screen, click the Utility Manager. If everything went right, you should see a cmd.exe launch.
3. This is the prompt you’ll use to create a new administrative user from the login screen. Type in the following commands, replacing with the name you’d like to assign to the new account (no carrots).

net user <username> /add
net localgroup administrators <username> /add

1. Now close the prompt, reboot, and you should see your new user in the login screen.
2. Enter your fresh desktop. From the desktop, right click the Start menu in the bottom-left hand corner, and select “Computer Management”.
3. 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!

Note: 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. 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.