How to Change Password of Local Account or Microsoft Account in Windows 10
If you have a local account on the PC, then your Windows password is what you use to sign in to your user account in Windows on the PC.
If you have a Microsoft account, then your password is what you use to sign in to online Microsoft services and Windows on PCs and devices that you use the same Microsoft account on.
You can help keep your PC or device more secure by changing your password regularly and by using a strong password. If you forget or lose your password, there are several things you can try to change, reset, or remove it.
See also:
- Change or reset your Windows password | Windows support
- Change your Microsoft account password | Microsoft account support
This tutorial will show you different ways to change or reset the password of your or any local account and Microsoft account in Windows 10 and online.
If your PC is on a domain, your system administrator must reset your password.
If you had set Windows to automatically sign in to a local account at startup that you just changed, reset, or remove the password of, then you will need to set Windows to automatically sign in to the local account at startup again to update it with the new password.
A Microsoft account password can only contain up to 16 characters.
Enabling passwordless sign-in will remove the password and picture password sign-in options for all Microsoft accounts on the sign-in screen and in Accounts > Sign-in options > Settings.
For a Windows 11 version of this tutorial, see:
Change Account Password in Windows 11
Contents
- Option One: To Change Password of your Local Account in Settings app
- Option Two: To Change Password of your Local Account in CTRL+ALT+DEL secure screen
- Option Three: To Change Password of any Local Account in Control Panel
- Option Four: To Change Password of any Local Account in Local Users and Groups
- Option Five: To Change Password of any Local Account in Command Prompt
- Option Six: To Change Password of any Local Account in PowerShell
- Option Seven: To Change Password of your Microsoft Account in Settings app
- Option Eight: To Change Password of your Microsoft Account Online at Microsoft
1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.
2 Click/tap on Sign-in options on the left side, click/tap on Password on the right side, and click/tap on the Change button. (see screenshot below)
3 Type in your current password, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
4 Type in a new password and password hint, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
5 Click/tap on Finish. (see screenshot below)
6 You can now close Settings if you like.
1 While signed in to your local account, press the CTRL+ALT+DELETE keys to open the secure screen.
2 Click/tap on Change a password. (see screenshot below)
3 Type in your current old password, type in a new password, and press Enter or click/tap on the arrow. (see screenshots below)
4 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option. If you don't have another administrator account, then you can enable the built-in Administrator account to sign in and use to reset the password of the other account.
This option should only be used if the local user has forgotten his or her password, and does not have a password reset disk.
For security reasons, Windows protects certain information by making it impossible to access if the user's password is reset. When an administrator changes the password of another user's local account on the PC, that local account will lose access to all EFS-encrypted files, personal certificates, and stored passwords for Web sites or network resources.
1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the User Accounts icon.
2 Click/tap on the Manage another account link. (see screenshot below)
3 If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.
4 Click/tap on a local account (ex: Brink) that you want to change or remove the password of. (see screenshot below)
5 Click/tap on Change the password. (see screenshot below)
6 Type in a new password and password hint, and click/tap on Change password. (see screenshot below)
7 When finished, you can close the "Change an Account" Control Panel if you like.
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option. If you don't have another administrator account, then you can enable the built-in Administrator account to sign in and use to reset the password of the other account.
Local Users and Groups is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.
This option should only be used if the local user has forgotten his or her password, and does not have a password reset disk.
For security reasons, Windows protects certain information by making it impossible to access if the user's password is reset. When an administrator changes the password of another user's local account on the PC, that local account will lose access to all EFS-encrypted files, personal certificates, and stored passwords for Web sites or network resources.
1 Type lusrmgr.msc in the search box in the Start menu or on the taskbar, and press Enter.
2 If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.
3 Click/tap on Users in the left pane, select a local account (ex: Brink_2) in the middle pane, and click/tap on More Actions and Set Password in the right pane. (see screenshot below)
4 Click/tap on Proceed to confirm. (see screenshot below)
5 Type in a new password, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
6 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
7 You can now close Local Users and Groups if you like.
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option. If you don't have another administrator account, then you can enable the built-in Administrator account to sign in and use to reset the password of the other account.
This option should only be used if the local user has forgotten his or her password, and does not have a password reset disk.
When an administrator changes the password of another user's local account on the PC, that local account will lose access to all EFS-encrypted files, personal certificates, and stored passwords for Web sites or network resources.
1 Open an elevated command prompt.
2 Do step 3 or step 4 below for what command you would like to use.
A) Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)
(To change password)
net user "UserName" "NewPassword"
Substitute UserName in the command above with the actual user name of the local account within quotes that you want to change the password of.
Substitute NewPassword in the command above with the actual new password within quotes for the local account.
A) Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
net user "UserName" *
Substitute UserName in the command above with the actual user name of the local account within quotes that you want to change the password of.
B) When prompted, type a new password and press Enter, retype the new password to confirm and press Enter, and then go to step 5 below.
You will not see the password as you are typing it.
5 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do this option. If you don't have another administrator account, then you can enable the built-in Administrator account to sign in and use to reset the password of the other account.
This option should only be used if the local user has forgotten his or her password, and does not have a password reset disk.
When an administrator changes the password of another user's local account on the PC, that local account will lose access to all EFS-encrypted files, personal certificates, and stored passwords for Web sites or network resources.
To see more usage details for theSet-LocalUser
command, see: Set-LocalUser | Microsoft Docs
1 Open an elevated PowerShell.
2 Type the command below into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
Set-LocalUser -Name "<UserName>" -Password (ConvertTo-SecureString "<Password>" -AsPlainText -Force)
Substitute <UserName> in the command above with the actual user name (ex: "Brink2") of the local account within quotes that you want to change the password of.
Substitute <Password> in the command above with the actual new password within quotes for the local account.
For example:Set-LocalUser -Name "Brink2" -Password (ConvertTo-SecureString "Test2" -AsPlainText -Force)
3 When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell if you like.
Enabling passwordless sign-in will remove the password and picture password sign-in options for all Microsoft accounts on the sign-in screen and in Accounts > Sign-in options > Settings.
1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.
2 Click/tap on Sign-in options on the left side, click/tap on Password under Manage how you sign in to your device on the right side, and click/tap on the Change button. (see screenshot below)
3 If prompted to verify your identity, select how you want to verify. (see screenshot below)
4 Type in your current old password, type in a new password, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
Passwords for a Microsoft account must have at least 8 characters and contain at least two of the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
You must choose a password that you haven't used before. To help protect your account, you need to choose a new password every time you reset or change it.
5 Click/tap on Finish. (see screenshot below)
6 You can now close Settings if you like.
1 Do step 2 or step 3 below for how you would like to go online at Microsoft.
2 Go the Change your password webpage for your Microsoft account at Microsoft, sign in to your account if you haven't already, and go to step 4 below.
3 Open Settings, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.
A) Click/tap on Your info on the left side, and click/tap on the Manage my Microsoft account link at the top on the right side. (see screenshot below)
B) Click/tap on the More actions link under your account picture, and click/tap on the Change password link in the drop menu, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)
4. If prompted to verify, type in the current password of your Microsoft account, and click/tap on Sign-in. (see screenshot below)
5 Type in your current password, type in a new password, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
If you like, you can also check the Make me change my password every 72 days box.
Passwords for a Microsoft account must have at least 8 characters and contain at least two of the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
You must choose a password that you haven't used before. To help protect your account, you need to choose a new password every time you reset or change it.
6 Your Microsoft account password is now changed.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
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