Windows 10 says my password is wrong… But I know I’ve entered it correctly!
Categories: End Users Howtos Information Instruction
Coming into the office one morning and turning on your Windows 10 computer, you might find that the password for your user no longer works. After installing an update, Microsoft may have changed the way you sign into the computer. In this article, I will show you how to find out if that has happened, and what you can do to revert the changes and use your original password again!
How do I know if I have this issue?
If you are asking yourself this question, the easiest way to tell is to see if you get this message after trying your password.
“That password is incorrect. Make sure you’re using the password for your Microsoft account. You can always reset it at account.live.com/password/reset.”
There is an issue with Windows 10 where, after an update, it will change a local user to a user associated with a Microsoft account. This means you will have to enter your Microsoft account password in order to log into the computer. This becomes a problem when someone either doesn’t remember their Microsoft account password, or can’t remember creating one in the first place.
What is a Microsoft account and why would I have one?
A Microsoft account is a combined account that allows you to access all of the Microsoft owned content available on the internet. This account can be used to access Outlook.com or Hotmail, XBOX Live for video games, Windows Store on your PC, and even Skype, as it’s owned by Microsoft. If you have used any of these services, or any of the other many divisions within Microsoft, you would have had to sign up for a Microsoft account at some point. You might have even created an account when logging into a brand-new computer with Windows 10, as it’s the most user intuitive way to create a user on a new PC.
How do I find out what my Microsoft account credentials are?
The easiest thing to do would be to search your personal and work emails for anything from Microsoft about account creation. They always send confirmation emails whenever you sign up for an account, and since you can use your personal email address to create an account it would be the most logical place to check first. If you deleted the initial email or can’t find it, you can move onto the next step and Microsoft’s password recovery tool will tell you if you have an account or not. The initial email should give you a clue as to what email address you used to create the account, finding the correct password is more difficult. Unless you remember what the password is, you will need to reset it.
How to I reset my Microsoft account password so that I can log into my computer?
For this to work, you will need to either log into a different user on your computer, or use a different computer entirely as you won’t be able to log into your computer just yet. You would also be able to complete these steps using a smartphone as well.
The first thing you will need to do is go to the following website: https://account.live.com/password/reset
Choose the option for “I forgot my password” and click Next. This will take you to the account recovery page.
Enter your email address, phone number, or Skype name, enter the correct captcha characters, and click Next. If you remember which email address you used when you created a Microsoft account, enter it here. However, if you don’t know if you have an account, start with your personal email account and follow the steps, Microsoft will tell you on the next page if there was not a Microsoft account associated with that email address. If there is not an account associated with that email address, back up and try a different email address or perhaps a phone number or Skype name. If there is an account associate with that email address, then continue through the steps of verifying your identity and resetting your password.
Okay, I’ve reset my Microsoft account password or I know my password. How do I change it back to where I can use my original password?
Once you have reset your password, log into your computer with the new credentials you have obtained. Click on the Start Button, and then click on Settings or the Settings icon located here…
Then you will want to click on “Sign in with a local account instead” located on the Your info tab to the left.
Enter your Microsoft account password first, then you will want to re-enter the credentials how they were before the update. (Your original password)
You will then sign out of the Microsoft account. You should notice when trying to sign back in that it has reverted to the original sign in screen (Picture might be different) and you will be able to sign into the computer with your original password again!