Forgot Acer Laptop Password? How to Reset Password on Acer Laptop for Windows 10/7?

Forgetting Acer laptop login password could be a headache as you cannot access your personal data and continue where you left off. If you are running into this situation, don't worry as there are many proven ways to reset Windows password on a locked machine. That's what our tutorial is all about.

We will walk you through the steps on how to fix if you forgot Acer laptop login password. Before proceeding with our step-by-step guide, there are a couple of things you need to know about Windows passwords.

 

 

Password Types on Acer Laptop

Windows allows you to set up two types of passwords when you first power it on. These include computer BIOS password and Windows login password. They are quite the same, but differ from each other in terms of security privileges. So, let's break them down.

BIOS is non-volatile firmware that's specifically designed to perform hardware initialization before your computer boots up. BIOS features a setup utility which provides Windows users with ability to view and manage their computer's hardware settings, such as changing the boot order or setting up CPU virtualization.

You can set up two different types of passwords using the BIOS Setup Utility, including Setup password and System password. If you enable Setup password in BIOS, you'll need to provide that password the next time you enter the BIOS Setup Utility. On the other hand, turning on the system password prevents anyone from powering up your machine.

bios password

A Windows login password is the type of password you set up for separate user accounts, for those who you want to share your PC with. You can create as many as you like. Generally, there are three types of login password: local account password, Microsoft account password and domain account password. Our main focus in this tutorial is how to reset forgotten password on Acer laptop for local account. However, we will also include password reset tutorial for Microsoft account and BIOS.

windows login password

In short, BIOS password comes in handy as it prevents someone from booting up your device. In contrast, a Windows password is more like a traditional account user password that's unique to a specific user. One more thing. As the BIOS password is linked with your hardware, so you will have to go through a dreadful process if you forgot or lost the password.

In the section below, we will show you the steps on how to reset or recover Acer laptop password. These methods may be applied to every laptop model out there.

Method 1. Reset Acer Laptop Password Online (Only for Windows 10 & 8)

You will be asked to link to a Microsoft account to Acer laptop when you are trying to install Windows 10 or Windows 8. It is a default feature recommended by Microsoft. After connection, you can use Microsoft account to login Acer laptop as well as other Microsoft powered services.

sign in with ms account windows 10

If this was your case, then Microsoft has its own way to reset Windows account password. This approach is safe and won't require any third-party software installation on your machine. However, one major drawback is that it sometimes does not work for local account.

To do this, head over to Microsoft's account recovery page, then enter the email that's tied to Acer laptop for login. After that, Microsoft needs to verify your identify by sending a security code to recovery mailbox or cell phone. Open your mailbox or messaging app, locate the code, and enter it into the input field. Once the verification gets passed, set a new password for that account and confirm the action.

reset windows 10 password online

Note that this approach only works if you have access to your computer. If you are stuck in the login screen, you can click on the ˇ°Forgot the passwordˇ± button and follow the on-screen prompts to reset Windows 10 or Windows 8 password.

CONS:

1) Only able to reset password of Microsoft account.

2) Second device to access Microsoft account recovery page.

3) Acer laptop should be connected to Internet.

 

Method 2. Reset Acer Laptop Password without Disk (USB or CD)

The above suggestion is ideal for users who uses Microsoft for logging in Acer laptop. However, most of people are still using local account for login, which does not require additional settings to make it work. You can add a new local account during Windows installation or in Control Panel.

Honestly, there are at least ten different ways to reset password for a Windows local account, we will introduce the easiest one first, which saves a lot of time.

Windows Password Reset Tool is a reliable and easy-to-use software for resetting forgotten password on Acer laptop. It is more powerful than other methods we are going to share in following section thanks to its rich suite of features. You can easily reset Acer laptop password without disk as it has built-in function to create a new password reset USB or CD.

Step 1. Make sure you download the tool on a secondary computer and install it. Now open it and you will be welcome with two options for creating a password reset disk. Choose your option and insert your USB flash drive or DVD into the computer.

install WinGeeker

 

Step 2. Click Burn button and the process should begin. Once done, unplug your USB drive or DVD and insert it into your locked Acer computer.

run and make a reset disk

 

Step 3. Boot your locked Acer laptop from USB by pressing F2 key during the boot-up process. This will go to BIOS settings. Now, go to Boot section and set USB as the 1st boot device. Save the settings and reboot Acer laptop.

set boot from USB

 

Step 4. When you see Windows Password Reset Tool user interface, please select an user account you wish to reset the password for and hit the Reset Password button. This feature will set the old password to blank in seconds.

reset windows password

 

Step 5: Eject password reset disk from Acer laptop and reboot the device. At this stage, Acer laptop will go to Windows desktop directly without any password.

 

Method 3. How to Reset Password on Acer Laptop with Command Prompt

If you don't want to install any additional software to get it done, then you can reset Acer laptop forgotten password with Command Prompt utility, which is a built-in tool in all Windows versions. This free tool is able to complete all kinds of advanced tasks by using pure text commands.

The only requirement is that you need a Windows 10 installation to reset the password. Assuming you now have a Windows 10 installation USB, please proceed with the steps.

Step 1. Insert the disk into your computer and boot Acer laptop from USB by pressing F12 key, which brings up Boot Option Menu. You can now choose USB as the active booting device for this time.

Step 2. When Windows 10 setup utility finishes booting up, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt and enter the following commands (Press Enter after each command).

move d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe d:\

copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe

Step 3. Unplug the disk and enter the command (wpeutil reboot) to reboot your device. Once you see the login screen, click the Utility Manager button at the bottom right corner, next to the Power button to bring up Command Prompt.

Step 4. Use this command to reset the local admin password: net user [username] [password]

reset acer laptop password command prompt

Step 5. Now, close Command Prompt and plug in the installation disk, and then restart.

Step 6. From the Windows Setup screen, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt. From here, enter the command:

d:\utilman.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe

Step 7. Once you are done, close Command Prompt, unplug the disk and reboot. Now, you can sign into your account.

 

CONS:

1) Has to create a Windows bootable USB.

2) Spend more time on understanding and inputting the commands.

Wrong command could break the internal structure of Windows OS.

 

Method 4. How to Reset Acer Laptop Forgotten Password via Kali Live USB

Your heard right, Linux Live USB is able to reset Windows password by using a set of text commands. The theory behind this method is that Linux is capable of accessing FAT32 and NTFS partition on a local hard drive. Hence, you can use a Linux Live USB to read Windows partition and modify the SAM file, which is the place where user name and password are stored in Windows OS.

In this case, we will use Kali Linux as example because it is designed for advanced penetration testing. For those who may not know, Kali Linux is a big name when it comes to resetting Windows password as it is safe, fast, and free.

One annoying thing is that you need to make a Kali bootable USB drive so that you can boot your computer from it. Here are the steps.

Step 1. Once the download is complete, you need to a program to create a Kali bootable USB drive. In this guide, we are going to use UUByte ISO Editor, a reliable tool for creating bootable USB from ISO in Windows.

Step 2. When you have UUByte ISO Editor installed on your computer, launch it, then select Burn and import the ISO file you downloaded earlier. After that, select your USB drive you inserted into your computer and hit the Burn button.

Step 3. Once you have a bootable Kali USB drive, plug it into your computer and boot from the USB. You need to press a special key (F12 ) at startup on Acer laptop to enter into boot menu. You can change the boot order so that your machine boots from a USB drive instead of its internal drive.

Step 4. When you see Kali Linux Boot menu, select the 3rd option from the main menu.

kali linux boot menu

Step 5. Enter the username as root and password as toor on the next screen. Head over to your File Manager and follow the path: /Windows/System32/Config to locate SAM file. From here, right-click a blank space and select 'Open Terminal Here' from the list.

Step 6. From the Windows Setup screen, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt. From here, enter the command: d:\utilman.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe, press Enter and type Yes.

Step 7. Type the command: chntpw -l SAM to show a list of usernames found in the SAM

kali linux chntpw

Step 8. Press '1' to clear out your old password for your selected account.

Step 9. Press 'y' to save the changes. After that, reboot your machine and unplug the USB drive. Now, you can log into your computer without a password.

 

CONS:

1) Require a bootable Kali Linux USB.

2) Take time for downloading Kali ISO image (over 3.3GB).

3) Hard-to-understand text commands.

 

Method 5. Reset Acer Laptop Password Using Hiren's Boot CD PE (Windows 10/8/7)

Hiren's Boot CD PE is a redesigned version of Hiren's Boot CD, a text based toolkit that contains a larget set of free programs. The original software was a great tool for bypassing Windows password, but it has not received any new updates since 2012. The new version is based on Windows 10 x64 and is shipped with a graphics user interface this time, which takes the best of original one while adding support for Windows 10.

To reset Acer laptop password with Hiren's Boot CD PE, you need to create a bootable USB from Hiren's Boot CD ISO. To do this, grab a USB drive, re-partition it to make space for Hiren's Boot CD PE. After that, burn the ISO file to USB drive.

Step 1. Now, boot your computer from Hiren's Boot CD PE and go to Start Menu > Security > Passwords > NT Password Edit.

Step 2. Locate your SAM file and open it (C:\Windows\System32\CONFIG\SAM).

Step 3. Click your username and hit 'Change Password'. From here, enter your new password and click OK.

NTPWEdit from hiren boot cd pe

 

CONS:

1) Download ISO burning program to create Hiren's Boot USB.

2) Not working on laptops with latest Windows 10 OS.

 

Bonus: How to Reset Acer Laptop BIOS Password

There are a number of ways to reset BIOS password, but most of them are pretty complicated. We are going for the easiest one in this guide that involves finding the backdoor password. In fact, every laptop has its own backdoor code that allows you to quickly regain access to your system in case you lose your BIOS password. Here are the steps:

Step 1. If you enter the wrong password several times, you should see the System Disabled message. Under the message, you will see a series of numbers and letters. Note this down.

reset bios password acer laptop

Step 2. Head over to BIOS password recovery for laptop website (bios-pw.org) and enter your code. This website can generate a backdoor password based on the code you provided.

Step 3. The website will try to find a backdoor password that works with your Acer laptop. You will be given several passwords to try.

get bios password acer laptop

Step 4. Reboot your locked computer and try entering the code.

Note that if you don't see the code when your system is disabled, visit this website to for default BIOS backdoor password. If nothing works, contact your manufacturer and ask for it.

Wrapping Up

It is not a big deal even you have forgotten Acer laptop password. The password can be easily reset by a number of means for both login and BIOS password. For Microsoft account login, you can reset the password via live.com. For local account, Windows Password Reset Tool is currently the best option. However, if you prefer free tools, then Command Prompt, Kali Linux or Hiren's Boot CD are good candidates.

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