Windows 10 crashed; stuck in Recovery Environment without password

[Matt_183]

First time poster here. I will forewarn you that I'm clueless compared to most of this crowd, so please be patient.

A couple days ago my Windows 10 PC crashed. It simply froze as I was using it, and stayed that way for quite some time. (It may have been related to some networking changes that I had just made, although I'm not certain of that.) Ctrl-Alt-Del did nothing, so I rebooted with the power button. When I boot the machine now, it either takes me to the Windows login screen, which freezes hard in a second or two, or into recovery environment. I am attempting to return the machine to a restore point (or really any option that I can get to work, frankly) via the "advanced troubleshooting options" in recovery environment.

Unfortunately, every single one of those advanced troubleshooting options demands that I login using my Windows Live password before it will cooperate with me. I have no idea what my WIndows Live password is. I have been using a PIN since I set up Windows 10. I could reset the password online, but I suspect doing that will have no effect on the PC, and may only make matters worse. I only created one account on the machine.

I do not have a password reset disk or WIndows 10 installation media.

Can anyone tell me how I might be able to reset or circumvent the password under these circumstances, so that I can run the troubleshooting options in recovery environment?

 

[BadAsAl]

We won't help you bypass the password.
So when you setup Windows you used your Microsoft account to login to the machine and then you would have had to setup the PIN. So you need to figure out the password to get into the recovery environment.

Have you tried booting it in Safe Mode? From the Advanced Recovery go into Startup Settings and choose Safe Mode. See if you can login to Windows without it freezing.

Do you have all your important data backed up? Because you can also try doing a reset and returning it to a fresh build of Windows.

 

[Matt_183]

Thanks.

I have tried every old password I can think of, including a few that I'm not sure I have ever actually used.

I have tried booting in Safe Mode, although I have to get there by pressing F4 during a restart from recovery environment. (F4 during a cold boot does not work.) The startup settings option in recovery environment demands that I enter--you guessed it--my Windows Live password. In any event, yes, Safe Mode freezes.

Important data is backed up to a 4TB Seagate external hard drive (I learned that the hard way), but recovery environment won't let me perform a reset without a password.

 

[BadAsAl]

If it is freezing in safe mode as well then I suspect a hard drive issue. I would download Seatools for DOS and burn it to CD (obviously from another computer), then boot to it and run the short and long tests. Any errors indicate the hard drive is failing and you should replace it.

 

[BadAsAl]

If drive checks out ok, then you probably need to create a bootable Windows 10 installer (DVD or USB) and reinstall Windows using that.

 

[Matt_183]

OK. I will look into that. Thanks.

 

[Wilsons92]

If you don't have Windows installation media, you can perform a factory reset:
http://www.top-password.com/blog/3-ways-to-reset-windows-10-computer-to-factory-settings/