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If you can’t log in to your Windows 10/11 PC because of error “The Password is incorrect” or if you’ve forgotten your password, continue reading below to learn how to regain access to your PC and files.
Not being able to sign in to your Windows 11/10 account due to the “Password is incorrect” error is a common and annoying issue because it prevents you from accessing your files and applications on your computer. The “password is incorrect” error usually occurs due to a typing error, but it can also occur if you’ve lost or forgotten your account password, due to a corrupted profile or system errors causing problems with the login process.
In this tutorial you will find step-by-step instructions on how to login to your Windows 10/11 computer when you have forgotten your password or when you cannot log in to your account even if you remember and type the correct password.
How to Reset Windows 10/11 Password if you have forgotten it (FIX “The Password is incorrect”).
The only way to sign in to a Windows computer if you have forgotten the password, is to reset the current password using the hidden ‘Administrator’ account as instructed below.
Step 1. Enable Command Prompt on the ‘Sign in’ Screen.
To be able to log in to Windows 10/11 if you’ve forgotten your password, you first need to do a little trick: to set the “Accessibility” icon on the ‘Sign in’ screen to open the Command Prompt. To do that:
1. On the ‘Sign -in’ screen, click the Power button, then hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard and click Restart with your mouse.
2. After restarting,* click Troubleshoot –> Advanced options -> Command Prompt.
* Important Notice: If the computer is protected with BitLocker, then after restarting you’ll prompted to type the BitLocker Recovery Key to continue. If you don’t know the recovery key and you use a Microsoft account on the device (eg to sign in to Windows, download Apps from the Microsoft Store, get your emails or activate Microsoft Office), then from another device with internet access (eg your smartphone), navigate to one of the following locations to find it:
- Microsoft BitLocker recovery keys webpage and sign in using the Microsoft account you use on the device to find out the recovery key.
- Azure Account if you sign in to the device with an Azure Active Directory (Microsoft/Office 365) account.
3. In the Command Prompt window, type the following commands in order (press Enter after typing each command):
- move c:windowssystem32utilman.exe c:
- copy c:windowssystem32cmd.exe c:windowssystem32utilman.exe
- exit
4. Now close the Command Prompt window and then click Continue (Exit and Continue to Windows)
5. Then, on the ‘Sign in’ screen, click the Accessibility icon to the left of the Power button.
6. If you have followed the above instructions correctly, a Command Prompt window will open. Now, depending on the type of account you have (Local or Microsoft), proceed to the corresponding section below:
A. LOCAL ACCOUNT.
If you are using Windows 10/11 with a Local account, follow the steps below to reset your account password:
1. In the command prompt window, type the below command and press Enter.
- control userpasswords2
2. On the ‘User Accounts’ window, click the Reset Password button to reset the password of your Account.
3. On the ‘Reset Password’ window, click OK to clear the current password or, type a new password (and hit OK). Then click OK again to apply the change.
4. Close the Command Prompt window and then press Enter on the ‘Sign-in’ screen if you haven’t specified a new password on the previous step, or type the new password and press Enter to login to Windows.
5. After entering Windows proceed to step-2 below to get things back.
B. MICROSOFT ACCOUNT.
If you are using Windows 10/11 with a Microsoft account and you forgotten the password for it, proceed to enable the hidden ‘Administrator’ account to gain access on the computer and then reset your Microsoft Account password as instructed below:
1. In the command prompt window, type “regedit” and press Enter.
2. In Registry Editor navigate to the following location:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESAMDomainsAccountUsers 00001F4
3. At the right pane, double click to open the F REG_BINARY value.
4. Using the down arrow key or your mouse place the cursor on the line 0038 before the number “11” as shown on the screenshot below.
5. Now press once the delete key to delete the number “11″ and then just type 1 to insert the number ‘10′. Then click OK.
6. Now close the Registry Editor and the Command Prompt windows and then click Turn off your PC.
7. Turn on your PC again and in the ‘Sign in’ screen click on Administrator account at the bottom left. Then let Windows to create the new profile and set your preferred settings in ‘Privacy’ questions.
8. After entering Windows, navigate to Reset Microsoft Account Password webpage and follow the onscreen instructions to reset the current password and set a new password for your MS account. Then restart the computer, click on your Microsoft Account in the ‘Sign in’ screen and login to Windows using the new password.*
9. Finally, proceed to step-2 below to get things back and you’re done!
* Note: If you are unable to reset your Microsoft account password or if you are unable to login to Windows with your Microsoft account after changing the password, then you can do the following:
- Create a new local account and set it as the Administrator (Read the instructions on Additional Help section on the end of the article to learn how to create a new account).
- Restart your PC, login to Windows with the new account and transfer all your files from your Microsoft Account profile folder to the new account’s profile.
- When done, open Command Prompt as Administrator and give the following command to disable the ‘Administrator’ account.
- net user administrator /active:no
- Finally, follow the instructions on Step-2 below to restore the function of the ‘Accessibility‘ icon.
Step 2. Disable Command Prompt on the ‘Sign in’ screen.
After fixing your problem, proceed to disable ‘Command Prompt’ and restore the “Accessibility” function in the Sign-in screen. To do this:
1. Navigate to your C: drive and explore its contents.
2. Cut (or copy) the “utilman.exe” file inside the “C:WindowsSystem32” folder. Then choose Yes when prompted to give permissions and you’re done!
Additional Help
How to create a local account in Windows 10/11.
To add a new local account with administrative rights in Windows 10/11:
1a. Simultaneously press the Windows 
+ R keys to open the run command box.
1b. Type the following command and press Enter.
- control userpasswords2
2. Click the Add button.
3. At the next screen click on Sign in without Microsoft account (not recommended)
4. Then click Local Account.
5. Now type a username for the new account and click Next to create it without a password. Then click Finish to close the “Add User” wizard.
6. Back to ‘User Accounts’ window, select the new account and click Properties.
7. In the User Properties window, select the Group Membership tab, select Administrator and then click OK.
That’s it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.
