Cannot log into Windows: password not recognized.

Issue: Cannot log into Windows: password not recognized. Problem started on Thu Jan 4, 2018.
Computer: This is my son’s HP ProBook 6560b Win10 Pro (x64) notebook. We live quite a few miles apart so we are talking about this issue over the phone.

He gets account.live.com to recover or change his password I guess as I’ve never had to do that.
However he never created a Microsoft account as he only has a local administrator account.

I was able to get him into Advanced Options and it requested his gmail account.
He hasn’t used his gmail account for about 6 months and doesn’t remember the password he created but he’ll go through Google's procedure to recover or change his password on another computer. Is the gmail account equivalent to a Microsoft account and will that help him with his Windows log on screen even though he only has a local administrator account?

But I have an additional very important question: on the account.live.com to recover or change his password what good is that when someone can’t even log into Windows even if a Microsoft account is being used? What are the options to be able to use in a situation like this? I did find an article on how to use it but I don't see how that's useful when you can’t log into Windows & connect to the internet.

Caledon Ken said:

If your son is using a local account no online password resets will help.
It sounds like your son was using a local account so most of the above is useless.
When he keys in his password he should see a symbol, to the right of his password, and if he clicks on that it will expose his password. We do this to ensure it is being keyed as intended.
I usually set up machines with to administrator accounts, the second one being like a second set of keys to the cars for situations like this. Ken

Thank you Ken, all of your information is helpful to me.
Also I'm a fan of setting up an Elevated Administrator account but I've gotten away from it because I get these comments and stares like "don't bother" in polite terms. But I will do so on my son's computer the next time we visit each other.

Caledon Ken said:

I don't activate the built in Admin unless needed. I just set up two local admin accounts. One for the user and the second as that second set of keys.

Excellent advice, thanks again.

Another question comes to mind: is it possible to save the data on a computer in this situation?
--- I wouldn't try it myself as we live too far apart for me to try it, I would tell my son to bring the computer to a local computer shop.

Caledon Ken said:

Yes you can save the data. Unless you are using Bitlocker.
Use Kyhi's recovery disk.
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk
Creates a Windows environment and you can just copy it out.

I like that. It's quite an extended thread so I'll have to go through it. His computer has either version 1703 or 1709, I'll have to ask him which on it is. I haven't seen a download for either one of those versions in that thread yet, is 1703 or 1709 included on one of those pages?

Good to know. Thanks again.

Problem solved a few weeks ago. In post #1, I mentioned "He hasn’t used his gmail account for about 6 months and doesn’t remember the password he created." At first he was using his name as a local Admin account and it was working fine. One day my son & another one of my sons connected a wi-fi extender and at the end of whatever else they had done, my son created his google gmail account. I visited them the following day and asked them if they have recorded the new password: like so many other people I help, it was "no, not worried about it". I ended up creating a Kyhi's recovery disk (Thanks Ken post #6) as well as recording the gmail password they told me. Good thing I did. I found the password protected document that included the gmail password.

I might be preaching to the choir, but for those who this might help, please know how important it is to manage passwords even if it's just a rudimentary method. A forgotten password is not only an inconvenience but also a time consuming process to fix it and many times as I've seen a loss of data.