Win 11, Forgot Live password, no backup email etc

[Spawn-Inc]

My uncle setup his new (in 2018) pc and had to create a microsoft live account. He hasn't used it in a while and forgot his password but doesn't have any form of backup to recover the password. Outside of reinstalling windows and starting again is there any other option?

 

[EarthDog]

A password reset isn't possible???

 

[Spawn-Inc]

A password reset isn't possible???

That would be ideal but he didn't put a recovery email (If he did it wouldn't matter as he cannot get into that email without windows) or phone number so I suspect he will have to call microsoft and hope for the best and or as, I eluded to earlier, reinstall windows.

 

[Zerileous]

Hiren's boot CD (not actually a CD anymore) is the answer I used it a while ago on some Win10 machines with local accounts. There should be a tool to change the password, but if that doesn't work because its an online account, you should be able to create a new admin account using the drive.

Hiren's BootCD PE

Of course, this kind of stuff is always at your own risk. Just because I had luck with it doesn't mean it won't break something on your system.

 

[Janus67]

Hiren's boot CD (not actually a CD anymore) is the answer I used it a while ago on some Win10 machines with local accounts. There should be a tool to change the password, but if that doesn't work because its an online account, you should be able to create a new admin account using the drive.

Hiren's BootCD PE

Of course, this kind of stuff is always at your own risk. Just because I had luck with it doesn't mean it won't break something on your system.

Beat me to it, that or command line in recovery should allow creating a local account to be able to sign in. The online account though is going to be hosed if they never setup a backup or recovery address/method

 

[dumpa]

Another option, if you're in the US, go to stacksocial.com and they usually have Windows 11 Pro keys for $19.99 sold by RetailKing. I have used it before and can verify it's 100% legit. Stacksocial also responds within 1 hour and they will provide another key if you have any issues.

 

[Janus67]

Another option, if you're in the US, go to stacksocial.com and they usually have Windows 11 Pro keys for $19.99 sold by RetailKing. I have used it before and can verify it's 100% legit. Stacksocial also responds within 1 hour and they will provide another key if you have any issues.

The issue isn't with a Windows license but with logging into an account that the password is lost and unrecoverable

 

[Zerileous]

Hrm yes just to be clear the Hiren's 'CD' is a bootable Win11 environment but it contains a plethora of recovery tools including tools to edit user accounts. The idea is to use this drive to make administrative changes to the existing windows install in an effort to avoid reinstalling. I wasn't suggesting using the boot CD as a new OS. The existing license should be fine if you decide to reinstall windows entirely.

 

[dumpa]

The issue isn't with a Windows license but with logging into an account that the password is lost and unrecoverable

I'm assuming you have stuff you need to save? I figured you just need to use the PC.