Unlock Forgotten Windows 8 Local / Microsoft Account, PIN and Picture Password

Forgot your Windows 8 user password and can't log in with any sign-in option? Is there any Windows 8 password recovery software? Don't panic. This article will explain how to unlock forgotten Windows 8 local account, Microsoft account, PIN and Picture Password with ease.

1. Local Account

Local account password is stored in the SAM file using NT/LM hash. SAM is part of the Windows registry that is located in c:\windows\system32\config\. The SAM file is locked and cannot be accessed when the operating system is loaded. However, it is fully accessible if the computer is booted from a live recovery disk such as PCUnlocker.

PCUnlocker is a WinPE-based utility with simple graphical user interface. The program works offline and it creates its own boot environment. Once you boot into PCUnlocker Live CD, you can unlock / reset lost password of any user account on Windows 8.1 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP.

2. Microsoft Account

In Windows 8 / 8.1, you can link a local account to your Microsoft account or create a brand new Microsoft account. After forgetting the Microsoft account password, you can reset it online via the Microsoft Account Password Reset page. But what to do if your Microsoft account is compromised or hacked?
Just like the domain logons, Windows caches the Microsoft account password locally which makes it possible to login without Internet connection. If you're locked out of Windows 8, you can also reset the cached Microsoft account password with PCUnlocker, which allows you to log on to Windows 8 with a new password.

 

3. Picture Password and PIN

 

During Windows 8 installation, we must first create a local account or Microsoft account and then optionally set up a PIN or Picture Password. So if you've forgotten your PIN code or Picture Password, click Switch to password button on the picture logon screen and you can then use a local / Microsoft account to login.

Picture Password and PIN logon seem to be more secure than a local account. However, these two types of passwords are stored using reversible encryption, and you can decrypt and recover Windows 8 Picture Password and PIN easily as long as you can log into Windows with admin rights.

4 Practical Methods to Recover Windows 8 Password

Forgot Windows 8 password and can't remember it? You can choose to reinstall Windows system if you don't have any important data stored on your computer, but often that is not the case. Re-installing Windows could be a tedious and time-consuming job and you also can't assure that you will not lose any important files. So is there a quick and easy way to solve this problem without reinstalling?

If you've created a Windows 8 password reset disk beforehand, you can use it to reset the forgotten password easily. But in case you haven't taken precautionary steps earlier and you forget the password, you can't create any type of reset disk without logging into Windows 8. Here, I am going to discuss most of practical methods to recover Windows 8 password if you have forgotten it.

Method 1: Recover Windows 8 Password in Safe Mode

It's the best way to recover Windows 8 password by using the built-in Administrator account. When you install Windows 8 for the first time, it asks you to create a new user account to use on the computer and once you create it, Windows setup automatically disables the Administrator account and you can't access it in normal mode. The next time you forget your user password, you can boot into Safe Mode and login with Administrator account and reset the user password.

1. Boot your computer and immediately press on the F8 key repeatedly until your computer displays the boot menu.
2. With the arrow keys, choose Safe Mode and press the Enter key.
3. On the home screen, click on Administrator. If you have no home screen, type Administrator and leave the password field as blank.
4. Click on the Start menu in the bottom left corner, go in the Control Panel, then in User Accounts you can reset any user password easily.

Method 2: Login with Hotmail Password or PIN Code

It is well known that Windows 8 offers us multiple ways to log into Windows 8 like using traditionally text password, Hotmail password and PIN code. If you set your Hotmail account for Windows 8 login then you have a chance to recover Windows 8 password. Open your Hotmail email ID on another computer and then change its password with a new one. After changing the Hotmail password, try to login on Windows 8 using the new password and make sure that your Windows 8 is connected to internet during this time.

If you have used PIN code on Windows 8 previously then you can use it again to login on Windows 8.

Method 3: Recover Windows 8 Password with Ophcrack

Ophcrack is the best free Windows 8 password recovery tool available. It enables you to recover Windows 8 password by using brute-force cracking method to try thousands of password combinations of letters, numbers and special characters. So it could take hours or days to crack even a single password. Ophcrack also works with Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

Method 4: Recover Windows 8 Password by Third-party Software

Reset Windows Password is the only software you need if you fail to recover Windows 8 password after using all the above methods. This is the ultimate Windows 8 password recovery solution with a 100% success rate.

1. Download the self-extracting Zip file of Reset Windows Password package.
2. Uncompress the package, there is a ISO image: ResetWindowsPwd.iso. Burn it onto a CD/DVD or USB flash drive.
3. Boot your locked computer from the newly burned CD/DVD or USB flash drive.
4. Wait until the boot process is finished. When a window pops up with all your Windows accounts, select the target one to reset the password.

Forgot your Windows 8 password? With the methods above you can recover Windows 8 password easily. No need to reinstall the whole operating system and all other software installed on your computer.