Change a Computer Password Using Command Prompt
A command prompt is a command you issue to your computer using a built-in program. To change a computer password using Microsoft Command Prompt, read this article.
10 Second Summary
1. Boot your computer in Safe Mode.
2. Open Command Prompt.
3. Type net user and press Enter.
4. Type net user followed by your username, and hit Enter.
5. Carefully type the desired password and press Enter.
6. Retype the password and hit Enter to confirm.
Steps
- Reboot the computer
- Right after the bios is finished, hit F8 (or F2,F10,F12)
- Select 'Safe mode' or 'Safe mode with networking support'
- Windows will boot up to the login screen. Click administrator, 9/10 there is no password.
- Open Command Prompt. You can go to Start > Run and type cmd.exe or simply search for cmd using the Windows search function.
- Type net user and press Enter. This will bring up a list of user accounts. Look here for the name and exact spelling of the account whose password you wish to change.
- Type net user name goes here *. Do not neglect any of the spaces (particularly the one before the *) or the command won’t work.
- Press Enter. Once submitted, the command will give you the option of typing a new password for the user.
- Carefully type the desired password and press Enter. The characters will not display as you type, so make sure the Caps Lock isn’t on and be very thorough with the spelling and punctuation.
- Retype the password to confirm. This should weed out any typos.
- Press Enter. The new password should go into effect immediately. If you get an error message or your access is denied, the account you’re working on doesn’t have high enough authorization to change any passwords. See Tips for possible solutions.
Tips
- On a Windows XP and below computer, you can access the secret administrator by pressing F5 during bootup (the timing can be tricky and you may have to try more than once) to get into Safe Mode (the secret Administrator account that only shows up in Safe Mode). From here, you can follow the steps above.
- If your account is not authorized to change passwords, you might have success with enabling the computer’s secret administrator account. (Type net user into Command Prompt again. See an account there named “Administrator” that isn’t usually displayed when you boot the computer up?) The secret administrator account is usually inactive, but active and inactive accounts can also be modified using Command Prompt.
- To make an account inactive, type: net user name goes here set /INACTIVE
- To make an account active, type: net user name goes here set /ACTIVE
Warnings
- Be careful when using command prompt – it has more power than you think. One wrong move can seriously mess up a computer.
- If you do not have an administrative account, you will be denied access.
- Do not do this on a computer that isn’t your own, particularly if it belongs to a school or business you attend or work for. If you are caught, you will most likely be suspended/expelled or fired.
