How to Bypass Windows 8.1 Admin Password If You Cannot Log on

“Hi there, I am using windows 8.1 pc and accidentally my brother changed my local admin password, but the password was forgotten. Now the tragedy is, I cannot login to my Windows 8.1 that I don’t have another local user account on this PC. Is it necessary to re-install my Windows or perform a factory reset? Please help.”

If you also meet problem like this, please take it easy. You don’t need to factory reset your PC at all. Here’s how you can bypass the Windows 8 password screen while keeping all your files and settings. There are about three methods available for bypassing Windows 8.1 administrator password and work on all versions of Windows 8.1 including 32 and 64 bits.

Method 1: Bypass Windows 8.1 Local Admin or Built-in Administrator Password with Rescuer.

Method 2: Use Command Prompt to Bypass Windows 8.1 Password.

Method 3: How to Bypass Windows 8.1 Admin Password in Safe Mode.

Note: If you are using an Microsoft account in Windows 8.1 and lost the password, you can easily bypass Windows 8.1 Microsoft account’s password by resetting it from Microsoft’s website.

Method 1: Bypass Windows 8.1 Local Admin or Built-in Administrator Password with Rescuer.

Password Rescuer from Wimware is one of the best password recovery software, which can help bypass local/domain admin password for Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP and Windows server 2019, 2016, 2012, 2008, 2003 etc. It also can be used to recover lost password for many files and documents such as Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, PowerPoint, ZIP, RAR and PDF. (Free download Password Rescuer here)

Here I will show you how to use Password Rescuer Personal to bypass Windows 8.1 administrator password by resetting it instantly. All you need to prepare are an accessible computer and a USB flash drive.

Step 1: Use Password Rescuer to create a bootable USB on an accessible computer.

1. Download and install "Password Rescuer Personal" on an accessible computer. Upon launch the software. There are three options for you to recover password. Select “Remove Windows administrator and user passwords”.

2. Next, plug a blank USB flash drive into the computer and then select “Windows Password Rescuer”.

3. Check “Burn to USB”. Pull down the drive list and select your USB drive. Then click “Burn” button to create a bootable disk.

4. Once burning completes, close the software. Transfer the USB disk to your locked computer that you want to bypass Windows 8.1 password for it.

Step 2: Use the bootable USB to bypass Windows 8.1 administrator password on your locked computer.

1. Plug the bootable USB into your Windows 8.1 PC. Press power button and then hit F12 or “Fn+F12” to open boot menu. Select “USB HDD” to continue boot. (Step-by-step guide about how to boot computer from USB)

2. Once your Windows 8.1 PC successfully boots from USB. Windows Password Rescuer will run automatically and load all Windows system in your computer. Just click “Windows 8.1”.

3. All local user accounts of Windows 8.1 will be shown in list. Click “Administrator”.

4. Click “Reset Password” button. You will see a confirm message, select “Yes”.

5. The administrator’s password will be deleted and shown “Blank” in list.

6. There, click “Reboot” button. When you see a confirm message pops up, unplug your USB and then click “Yes”.

7. The computer will restart and automatically log into administrator without password. You can use the bootable USB to bypass any Windows password on any of your computer and you don’t need to update the disk at all.

Method 2: Use Command Prompt to Bypass Windows 8.1 Password.

If you want to open Command Prompt in Windows 8.1, you must firstly log on with an admin account. In this tutorial, I will show you how to use just a Windows 8.1 install disk to open the Command Prompt from back door and then use it to easily bypass Windows 8.1 local admin password by running several simple commands. If you have a Windows 8.1 install disk, go through the steps bellow.

Step 1: Insert your Windows 8.1 install disk into your locked computer.

Step 2: Restart the computer and then select boot from CD/DVD from boot menu.

Step 3: When you see the following message on the screen, hit a key as soon as possible.

Step 4: When Windows setup window appears, select English and then click “Next”.

Step 5: Click “Repair your computer” in the left-corner.

Step 6: In the “Choose an option” screen, select “Troubleshoot”.

Step 7: Next, select “Advanced options”.

Step 8: Select “Command Prompt”.

Step 9: In the command window, complete the following commands to replace “utilman.exe” with “cmd.exe”. Then restart the computer.

1. Type in “d:” and then press “Enter”.

2. Type in “cd windows” and then press “Enter”.

3. Type in “cd system32” and then press “Enter”.

4. Type in “ren utilman.exe utilman_bak.exe” and then press “Enter”.

5. Type in “copy cmd.exe utilman.exe” and then press “Enter”.

6. Type in “wpeutil reboot” and then press “Enter”. The computer will restart automatically.

Step 10: When the Windows 8.1 login screen appears, click “Ease of access” to open command window.

Step 11: In the command window, type in “net user” and then press “Enter”. All local user accounts of Windows 8.1 will be displayed.

Step 12: Now you can use a simple command to easily bypass the Windows 8.1 administrator password. Type in “net user Administrator 123456” and then press “Enter”. The administrator’s password will be replaced with “123456”.

Step 13: You will now be able to sign into administrator with the new password.

Method 3: How to Bypass Windows 8.1 Admin Password in Safe Mode.

When you forgot Windows 8.1 local admin password, you can try to use the built-in administrator to reset the forgotten password. Usually, the built-in account was disabled by default, but you can find out it in Safe Mode. If you have the password or you never created a password for the built-in administrator, now you can boot Windows 8.1 in Safe Mode and easily reset any other local user account’s password just from Control Panel.

Step 1: In the Windows 8.1 login screen, press “Shift” key while click “Restart”.

Step 2: Once your PC restarts, on the “Choose an option” screen, tab or click “Troubleshoot”.

Step 3: If you don’t see the “Startup settings” option on the “Troubleshoot” screen, tab or click “Advanced options”.

Step 4: On the “Advanced options” screen, tab or click “Startup Settings”.

Step 5: On the “Startup Settings” screen, click “Restart” and then you can change Windows options which are list.

Step 6: Now press a number key to choose “Enable Safe Mode” from the options on the screen. Then it will restart automatically.

Step 7: For a moment, built-in administrator will be shown on the login screen. Enter your password to sign in. If you the administrator’s password is blank, it will automatically sign in and get to the Safe Mode.

Step 8: In Windows 8.1 Safe Mode, click “Window” icon to open “Start” menu. Click the search icon and then type in “control panel”. Select “Control Panel” from search result.

Step 9: On the control panel screen, select “User Accounts”.

Step 10: Click “Manage another account”.

Step 11: Click your target user account from list.

Step 12: Click “Change the password” from left list.

Step 13: Now you can choose a new password for your user account without old password. Then click “Change password”. The old password will be replaced with the new one.

Step 14: To use the new password to log on, just press “CTRL-ALT-DEL” keys and then select “Restart”. Windows will restart in normal mode and then you can use the new password to sign in to your user account.