{"id":6910,"date":"2016-05-26T17:10:54","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T17:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/?p=6910"},"modified":"2019-03-15T08:02:44","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T08:02:44","slug":"reset-windows-10-password-with-sticky-keys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/reset-windows-10-password-with-sticky-keys\/","title":{"rendered":"Reset Lost Windows 10 Password with Sticky Keys Method"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forgot Windows 10 user password? The first thing a normal user tries to do a fresh re-installation of Windows or take the PC to a repair shop. There’s lots of softwares to reset a forgotten password, but here we’ll show you a simple hack to reset forgotten Windows 10 password using the sticky keys method.<\/p>\n

How Does This Hacking Method Work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sticky Keys is part of Windows Ease of Access features that allows a user to tap the Shift, Ctrl, Alt or Windows key once to achieve the same effect as holding the key down. If you press the SHIFT<\/strong> key 5 times in a row at Windows login screen, the Sticky Keys application (sethc.exe<\/em>) will launch and ask if you want to enable sticky keys feature.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This hacking method works by replacing the sethc.exe<\/em> file with cmd.exe<\/em>. When you boots to Windows login screen, pressing the SHIFT<\/strong> keys 5 times will launch an elevated Command Prompt. From the Command Prompt, you have sufficient privileges to reset a lost password without knowing your current password. This method works flawlessly with all versions of Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10.<\/p>\n

Part 1: Replace Sticky Keys application with Command Prompt<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you’re locked out of Windows 10 or lose admin access to your computer, it’s impossible to replace the sethc.exe<\/em> file from within Windows. To achieve this, you have to boot from a WinPE or Linux-based disc. Here we’ll use a Windows 10 installation DVD to demonstrate how to replace sethc.exe<\/em> with cmd.exe<\/em>. Follow these steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Boot your locked computer using your Windows 10 installation DVD. If your computer doesn’t boot from it, you might need to change the boot order<\/a> and disable UEFI secure boot<\/a>.\n

    \"press-key-boot-from-cd\"<\/li>\n

  2. After loading the installation files from the DVD, you’ll be shown the language setup screen. Just press SHIFT<\/strong> + F10<\/strong> key combinations to launch the Command Prompt.\n

    \"\"\n<\/li>\n

  3. Use the dir<\/strong> command to find the drive where your Windows was installed. Note that the drive letter for your Windows partition could be D:\\ or other as C:\\ might be assigned to the System Reserved partition after booting into a Live CD.\n

    \"\"\n<\/li>\n

  4. Enter the following two commands one by one, press Enter after each. Replace c:\\ with the correct drive letter if Windows is not mounted on c:.
    \ncopy c:\\windows\\system32\\sethc.exe c:\\
    \ncopy \/y c:\\windows\\system32\\cmd.exe c:\\windows\\system32\\sethc.exe<\/code>
    \nThe first command backs up the sethc.exe<\/em> file, and the second replaces it with the cmd.exe<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    \"\"\n<\/li>\n

  5. Next, run the following commands to disable Windows Defender<\/a> as it may detect the sticky keys trick as a security alert called “Win32\/AccessibilityEscalation<\/i>“.
    \nreg load HKLM\\temp-hive c:\\windows\\system32\\config\\SOFTWARE
    \nreg add \"HKLM\\temp-hive\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows Defender\" \/v DisableAntiSpyware \/t REG_DWORD \/d 1 \/f
    \nreg unload HKLM\\temp-hive<\/code><\/p>\n

    \"\"\n <\/li>\n

  6. Now close everything and cancel Windows Setup. Remove the installation disc and reboot.\n

    \"\"\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Part 2: Reset Windows 10 Password from Login Screen<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Once you get back to Windows 10 login screen, press the SHIFT<\/strong> key 5 times in a row, it will open the Command Prompt in administrator mode.\n

      \"\"\n<\/li>\n

    2. Enter the following command to reset your lost Windows 10 password. Substitute the name of the account to reset and a new password as appropriate. If you don’t know your account name, just type net user<\/strong> to list the available user names.
      \nnet user user_name new_password<\/code><\/p>\n

      \"\"\n<\/li>\n

    3. Close the Command Prompt and you can now login with your new password. After logging in, remember to restore the sethc.exe<\/em> file we overwrote in step 4, and turn on Windows Defender real-time protection. Enjoy!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This sticky keys method is quite well known and could be used to break into any Windows-based computer as long as you have physical access. So you might ask how can I prevent someone from hacking my Windows password? Just set a BIOS password to lock the boot sequence so others can’t boot from CD\/USB.<\/p>\n

      To make password recovery easier than even before, we’ve developed a software for both beginners and advanced users –\u00a0 PCUnlocker<\/a>, which allows you to reset a forgotten Windows password or create a new admin account to access your locked PC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Forgot Windows 10 user password? The first thing a normal user tries to do a fresh re-installation of Windows or take the PC to a repair shop. There’s lots of softwares to reset a forgotten password, but here we’ll show you a simple hack to reset forgotten Windows 10 password using the sticky keys method. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10,1894],"tags":[2254,2719,2718,2717],"class_list":["post-6910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-others","category-tips-tricks","category-windows-10","tag-reset-windows-10-password","tag-sticky-keys-hack-windows-10","tag-sticky-keys-trick-to-reset-windows-10-password","tag-windows-sticky-keys-hack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6910"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13970,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910\/revisions\/13970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}