How to bypass login screen?

I got myself a Mini PC in 2021 as a backup to my main tower PC which I set up at the time before putting it away until a few days ago. Then I discovered that I either set it up with some weird password I've never used before or some weird alteration of my usual ones perhaps. At any rate I can't access Windows 10 Pro on it for the life of me. So far, I've tried to figure out a way of doing it that won't keep asking me for a password I can't figure out. I got into Advanced settings after a LOT of failed attempts but then when I tried to get into safe mode or command prompt it again wanted a password .

I appreciate obviously there has to be a security element in all of this so perhaps it's not something achieveable?

I just really want to be sure there isn't a method I've not yet tried before I do a full reset. And given it came with Win 10 on it, will a reset cause me any hassles? I'm never sure about such things having had issues a couple of years ago when I did it on a laptop which caused days of angst after it wanted the program disc to complete the process which I didn't have (it was one of the Win 7-10 updates)!

Thanks guys
Reading through all that lot makes me think a Reset would be far simpler since I've probably not got much on the PC worth worrying about after 2 years anyway?

Or would that really be "hammer-nut" thinking & I should just work my way through that lot anyway. To my knowledge I'd imagine it's a local a/c as I don't tend to use MS ones by default.

I'll have to leave it until next wk now to have time to tackle it again, but thanks so much for your input as it's given me more info than I previously had to work with.

Dalchina - so I've worked through that linke to reset the password but the option to do so using the 3 security Q's didn't work for me as I keep getting errors on them too even tho I'm convinced they're correct.

So I tried to do the Reset but of course unless I opt to wipe everything & reinstall WIndows it still wants a p/w to do it

Never used to be this tough!

Using a password to log in would not defeat anyone with a little technical knowledge.

I'm reasonably PC smart but it's certainly defeating me!!!

Sorry - maybe I should have clarified. Those were the steps I'd used (from that link) to try & get past this problem without any success in any direction.

What I now need to know is if I opt to reset Windows completely removing files etc, will it be able to download & reinstall the same version the PC came with or do I need to know what build it is etc before trying that option? I've a vague memory of doing this option with my laptop & then not being able to get Windows 10 to reinstall as it was an upgrade from Win 7 & I didn't have something it asked me for. Took me forever to get that one sorted.

Sometimes makes me feel I'd rather revert back to Win 7 where I was easily able to reinstall Windows from a disc without any hassles.

Anyway thanks for your help & patience - I'm just going to obviously either crack the nut that is the password problem or else reinstall. Done for today - I've a headache fighting with it the past few hours so off to relax & recover!!