Locked out of Windows 10 in a very bad way!

This one has me stumped. All was working well, on my HP Pavillion, that I recently upgraded to Windows 10. Yesterday, I wanted to reboot the PC in safe mode so I could delete some software that was giving me dramas. So I followed some instructions where I went in to msconfig to automatically open in safe mode. Sorry, can't find the specific sequence that I followed, but nothing seemed overly crazy in this process . . . until . . .




I reboot the computer, and come to a simple windows 10 log-on screen with my username and password (no other user options, log in as guest option, and no option to use PIN or image password). So I enter my password, and I get "incorrect password." I try again, and the same thing. I double check password and as it was correct, I figured I would just use another computer and update it online. Used the new password and no joy. Realised that my Windows 10 PC is offline so it must be looking for some old password from who knows when (sweaty brow by now).


I have gone through all of the possibilities that I can remember (I keep my passwords in Keeppass so I can remember them, and they are sadly ridiculously secure - example: A!!1g@t0r531). I have probably thirty different passwords TODAY, and I have zero idea of what my password might have been when it was originally created two years ago, or when it was last updated.




I have been searching and searching for any way to get this computer to just go back to normal reboot rather than safe reboot. Alternatively if I could get the PC to recognise my network (thought it might be a problem with connecting to wireless, so used a ethernet cable to my router, and still no network found), I can log back in with my current password.


Grasping at straws, I created a bootable USB from another PC and it still comes straight back to the no access log-in screen.


I am completely lost on this one, and no idea how to proceed. Any suggestions will be hugely appreciated.

At the login screen, hold down shift key while clicking on the power icon in lower right corner. Keep holding down shift key and click on restart. That should reboot you back into normal mode..

Thanks for the tip. However while it does take me to a different panel with some diagnostics and alternative boot-up options, it does not allow me to change the book sequence. Somewhere in there it allowed a command prompt, but if I went to that link, it required the same admin password that I can't remember.

alphanumeric said:

Online or offline, its the same password. Log on credentials are stored locally on the PC.

Sadly NOT true. Simply because you are able to change your Microsoft password from ANY computer while your W10 computer is turned off or offline, means that the two can get out of sync. That the two can and often are different is not a unique problem. I have tried the last few "online" passwords and none are a match, so obviously the process that syncs the two passwords has not happened for some time. Very frustrating.

You can try Option 4 here:
Administrator account - Enable or Disable in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

"If I read your post correctly . . . " - Not exactly, or at least that isn't what I meant to write.

I first tried the current (and correct password) a couple of times. This one I know worked just before I went down this path. I only changed the password when the current one was failing on the PC, and AFTER I made that change, I realised with Windows 10 not connecting to the internet, so it could not "know" the newest password. I then went back to the last three Microsoft passwords (all logged in my secure Keeppass account, and none of those worked).

I'm 'guessing' that something about SAFE mode is requiring a last-time-Safe-mode-was-accessed password . . . and I have no clue when that might have been - and furthermore that is only a wild guess as to why this is happening.

I know these passwords in a perfect world should not be out of sync, and they should automatically, in theory, sync on a regular basis, but obviously they no not.

You can try Option 4 here:
Administrator account - Enable or Disable in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

NavyLCDR said:

You can try Option 4 here:
Administrator account - Enable or Disable in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Navy, thanks for your help. I did attempt to do Option 4, but the problem was that it still came up with the same user and wrong password. Also interestingly, this instruction said to change a particular number from 11 to 10 (or the other way around?) - in any event, in my file, that particular field was set to 15. Changed it, but ultimately no change to the log in.

In the meantime, while I was trying to work through help, I came across a fix it software application PC Unlocker by Password Recovery Software - Recover Lost Password, Reset Windows Password, that sounded good. (BTW, THIS IS NOT JUST SOME RANDOM PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENT, I PROMISE). Anyway, the website said satisfaction guaranteed, and because I could buy it using PayPal, I figured it was a no-lose proposition. From the description, the standard would not work so I bought Professional, but then later, because I could still not get my machine to recognise a non-UEFI boot-up drive, I had to upgrade to their top of the line Enterprise for total of US$49. It worked!

It enabled me to reset both my local user password, and override the admin password (for just one log in, and then it reverts). I was able to then update the Admin password, log out and the next time (not booting up off of the USB Drive), I was able to get back to msconfig, and set the boot up sequence to normal boot (note: this whole think started because I was just trying to find a way to get into SAFE mode).

My head is still spinning because this was so stressful. An incredible number of reboots, and simultaneously reading five different blogs, and the links in those blogs, and . . . and so many started with "Go into Control Panel" or "Log in as Administrator." Argh . . . if I only I could have!

Thanks TenForums for your help. Good luck to any and all who have this problem. Oh, and I do want to check for spyware, but I think this is legit. I'll update when that is checked. I always get any software from someplace like downloads.com that scans it, but in this case, they didn't seem to offer anything like the software I bought so I had to take a chance. Like I said I will check and update on this thread if they managed to get some bad doo doo on my PC,