by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff
If you've ever forgotten your Windows 8 password, you'll know that the only way suggested to recover it is through a second administrator account or a password recovery disk. If your computer is connected to the internet, all you need to do is reset your Windows Live password via another device. But what if you aren’t connected to the internet when the password is lost, don’t have a recovery disk, and don’t have a second admin account on your Windows 8 device? Well generally, you might just be f*cked… until now.
Think I’m about to suggest reinstalling Windows 8 completely? Heck no! You’d lose all of your important files. Plus, I’m a nerdy geek and I like my stuff to stay how I want it. So you know I found another way to reset the password on my Windows 8 laptop when I needed to. What happened is my laptop was out of commission, due to a hardware issue. I had taken it in for repairs after it sat unused a few months (yeah I have more than one laptop so I was okay without it) and forgotten the password.
At first I went into panic mode when I got it back and couldn’t get in. But then I said to myself, “You’ve got this. You know you do” and of course I was right. So what did I do? Well, I thought about it myself for a second after the usual help suggestions were a no-go. Aren’t they always useless?
Here’s what I did to reset my Windows 8 password on a laptop without a password recovery disk or second admin account. I first went to my Microsoft Live account and reset that password from another computer. But without being connected to the internet, what good would that do? It wasn’t going to detect the changed password.
Ah, but see I am creative. Don’t forget that when I have my bad moments, okay? Smart people have smart phones, right? Well, sometimes. In my case, that happens to be true. My Smartphone is always connected to the internet either via its internal connection or the home Wi-Fi connection. This time it was connected to the home W-Fi. So how does that help me? There’s this little thing I pay extra for called USB tethering. You plug your phone into the computer via USB and enable tethering and voila, you’re online on the computer, too.
From there, it was cake. Once online, I could then log in using the new Windows Live password I had just reset. There were no lost files, no having to reinstall Windows 8, no calling expensive repair people. Yup. I got into my locked Windows 8 laptop after forgetting the password and all it took was some quick guesswork that is probably common sense to some, but may be helpful to those who may not have thought of using these steps.
Here’s hoping my nerdiness helps someone else who had the same issue I did – and for goodness sakes, make two admin accounts on your computer if you don’t have a Smartphone with tethering enabled. You’re welcome.
**Photo Credit/Copyright: Lyn Lomasi
I originally published this on BUBBLEWS (no longer published there)
If you've ever forgotten your Windows 8 password, you'll know that the only way suggested to recover it is through a second administrator account or a password recovery disk. If your computer is connected to the internet, all you need to do is reset your Windows Live password via another device. But what if you aren’t connected to the internet when the password is lost, don’t have a recovery disk, and don’t have a second admin account on your Windows 8 device? Well generally, you might just be f*cked… until now.
Think I’m about to suggest reinstalling Windows 8 completely? Heck no! You’d lose all of your important files. Plus, I’m a nerdy geek and I like my stuff to stay how I want it. So you know I found another way to reset the password on my Windows 8 laptop when I needed to. What happened is my laptop was out of commission, due to a hardware issue. I had taken it in for repairs after it sat unused a few months (yeah I have more than one laptop so I was okay without it) and forgotten the password.
At first I went into panic mode when I got it back and couldn’t get in. But then I said to myself, “You’ve got this. You know you do” and of course I was right. So what did I do? Well, I thought about it myself for a second after the usual help suggestions were a no-go. Aren’t they always useless?
Here’s what I did to reset my Windows 8 password on a laptop without a password recovery disk or second admin account. I first went to my Microsoft Live account and reset that password from another computer. But without being connected to the internet, what good would that do? It wasn’t going to detect the changed password.
Ah, but see I am creative. Don’t forget that when I have my bad moments, okay? Smart people have smart phones, right? Well, sometimes. In my case, that happens to be true. My Smartphone is always connected to the internet either via its internal connection or the home Wi-Fi connection. This time it was connected to the home W-Fi. So how does that help me? There’s this little thing I pay extra for called USB tethering. You plug your phone into the computer via USB and enable tethering and voila, you’re online on the computer, too.
From there, it was cake. Once online, I could then log in using the new Windows Live password I had just reset. There were no lost files, no having to reinstall Windows 8, no calling expensive repair people. Yup. I got into my locked Windows 8 laptop after forgetting the password and all it took was some quick guesswork that is probably common sense to some, but may be helpful to those who may not have thought of using these steps.
Here’s hoping my nerdiness helps someone else who had the same issue I did – and for goodness sakes, make two admin accounts on your computer if you don’t have a Smartphone with tethering enabled. You’re welcome.
**Photo Credit/Copyright: Lyn Lomasi
I originally published this on BUBBLEWS (no longer published there)
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