Need help resetting Admin password on a used computer

I was given a used computer, but I don't know the Administrator password. I am currently logged in as a standard local user.

Is there a way for me to:

• Change my current account to an Administrator account?
• Reset the password for the original Admin account?

Thanks,
Rick

trickyrick said:

I was given a used computer and dont know the Admin User password. Im logged in as a local user.
Can i change my account to an administrator or can I change the password of the original admin account.
Thanks Rick

Click to expand...

If you do not care what is on the system, you can do a factory reset and reinstall the OS with yourself as administrator.

You can with an offline tool such as Hiren or Lazesoft which requires creating bootable media to do so. I would suggest just doing fresh install of windows or resetting windows

Have you forgotten your Windows login password? In this video, i demonstrate how to reset it using Kali Linux, a powerful tool for penetration testing and security assessments.

Thanks. I dont care whats on the computer but if I do a new Windows 11 install Im out the windows 11 license, is it not tied to the origanal owners microsoft account
p.s. I was able to change my local account to an administrator.
Can i delet the original user
How do I reinstall Win11 keeping the licence

trickyrick said:

How do I reinstall Win11 keeping the licence

Click to expand...

Welcome to Eleven Forum.

Win 11 Home or Pro... $9.97


Or... spend the next week or two messing around with it.






Here's some other things that you may find useful...

You can remove the password or change it or temporarily enable the built-in Administrator account so you can login from there, assuming it has no password or you remove it as well. All you need is a Live Windows USB, such as Sergei Strelec WinPE which has a live Windows 10/11 environment with tons of diagnostic and troubleshooting tools. If you click on start button and open start menu, you see a list of folders, each for the respective tool category. One of them is Password Resetting. Run one of these tools and then browse to the Windows folder. It will display all users and let you remove or change the password.

If you rather reinstall Windows, no need to restore the official image with all the undesired bloatware. Just create a bootable Windows 11 Setup USB flash drive, delete all partitions on the disk and click next to proceed. Setup will pick automatically the appropriate version (Home or Pro) and if the laptop has a digital license (aka registered with Microsoft servers), it will activate automatically online. In worst case you might need to purchase a new key, but this is very rare for Windows 10/11. For best compatibility and performance, don't rely entirely on Windows Update to find all drivers. I recommend to download at least the chipset and graphics drivers from manufacturer. I would even download the graphics driver directly from nVidia/Intel/AMD. It will make a great difference in performance compared to automatic basic-functionality Windows Update drivers which usually are some versions older.

trickyrick said:

Thanks. I dont care whats on the computer but if I do a new Windows 11 install Im out the windows 11 license, is it not tied to the origanal owners microsoft account
p.s. I was able to change my local account to an administrator.
Can i delet the original user
How do I reinstall Win11 keeping the licence

Click to expand...

If your local account is now an administrator then it should be safe to delete the original account.

First and foremost a Windows 10/11 digital licence is tied to the hardware ID of the PC and stored on Microsoft's activation servers. Linking a digital licence to a Microsoft account is an optional extra, not the primary means of activation.

In your local account, check what Settings > System > Activation says. If it now just says "Windows is activated with a digital licence." with no mention of any link to the MS account then you can clean install Windows 11 and it will activate from the existing digital licence as soon as it can contact the activation servers.

Just for info, if you can log in and you still want to do a fresh install then I would install Driver Store Explorer,


and create a folder on a USB drive to export all the drivers. You can then import all the needed drivers on the new install. Keep a copy of the Driver Store Explorer folder that has the Rapr.exe file.

Fabler2 said:

Just for info, if you can log in and you still want to do a fresh install then I would install Driver Store Explorer,

Release DriverStore Explorer v1.0.26 · lostindark/DriverStoreExplorer

🌟 Release Highlights This is a landmark release — DriverStore Explorer v1.0! Beyond the major version milestone, this release introduces in-place self-update functionality and WinGet integration. ✨...

github.com

and create a folder on a USB drive to export all the drivers. You can then import all the needed drivers on the new install. Keep a copy of the Driver Store Explorer folder that has the Rapr.exe file.

View attachment 171575

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That is convenient to avoid looking for drivers, but I suggest to download latest drivers anyway since these might be outdated and might not even be the official drivers with all the features and extras. Windows Update drivers or third-party driver tools almost always (with some exceptions) just make the device work without respect to performance or enabling all features and of course it omits "optional" components such as nVidia/AMD Control Panel. Compare a limited printer driver from Windows Update with the official model-specific printer driver from manufacturer (not the generic official driver such as HP PCL6). The limited driver enables printing as color or B/W in draft or normal quality and at various paper sizes. Big deal. The official model-specific driver enables access to all printer features including printing quality, watermarks, dual-side printing, various paper types, multiple trays. You get the idea. Similarly I prefer the official manufacturer drivers for every single device of my computer. Especially the chipset and graphics that make a great deal of difference in compatibility and performance. Don't be lazy and rely on Windows Update or a third-party driver tool to do all the work, take the extra time to locate and download the official drivers and you will see it was worth it.