I think I just found a hole in my Catch22 bucket - Microsoft Account lost password.

[David]

On a recently upgraded W8.1 -> W10 system I have managed to get myself a
Microsoft Account.
I have also for the moment lost the password, as it isn't the expected
usual one.

I expected to be able to go into another Administrator account and change
the password (like back in the good old days).
However that option doesn't seem to be on offer these days.

So, how do you reset the password?
Well, you use the "Forgot Password" option and it asks you for your email
address then sends a reset code to the email address.

Just a minute.
If this is my only PC and I can't log in then how do I pick up the email
with the reset code?

This seems a logical fallacy.

Presumably you are assumed to have another device such as a mobile phone
to get the email.

Life is complicated enough at the moment. :-(

Gah!



Dave R

[GB]

Post by David
On a recently upgraded W8.1 -> W10 system I have managed to get myself a
Microsoft Account.
I have also for the moment lost the password, as it isn't the expected
usual one.
I expected to be able to go into another Administrator account and change
the password (like back in the good old days).
However that option doesn't seem to be on offer these days.
So, how do you reset the password?
Well, you use the "Forgot Password" option and it asks you for your email
address then sends a reset code to the email address.
Just a minute.
If this is my only PC and I can't log in then how do I pick up the email
with the reset code?
This seems a logical fallacy.

What would you like instead?

Post by David
Presumably you are assumed to have another device such as a mobile phone
to get the email.
Life is complicated enough at the moment. :-(
Gah!
Dave R

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Post by David
On a recently upgraded W8.1 -> W10 system I have managed to get myself a
Microsoft Account.
I have also for the moment lost the password, as it isn't the expected
usual one.

You really shouldn't have a "usual" password...

Post by David
So, how do you reset the password?
Well, you use the "Forgot Password" option and it asks you for your email
address then sends a reset code to the email address.
Just a minute.
If this is my only PC and I can't log in then how do I pick up the email
with the reset code?

It seems *pretty* reasonable these days that anyone with a Win10+
machine will also have a phone, and also that any email address that a
single-computer-owning person might use is accessible as a web
interface. Not foolproof, but good enough for Microsoft QA.

Mind you, Windows 11 continues to be good enough for MS QA, so it's not
a high bar.

Cheers - Jaimie

[Philip Herlihy]

Post by David
On a recently upgraded W8.1 -> W10 system I have managed to get myself a
Microsoft Account.
I have also for the moment lost the password, as it isn't the expected
usual one.
I expected to be able to go into another Administrator account and change
the password (like back in the good old days).
However that option doesn't seem to be on offer these days.
So, how do you reset the password?
Well, you use the "Forgot Password" option and it asks you for your email
address then sends a reset code to the email address.
Just a minute.
If this is my only PC and I can't log in then how do I pick up the email
with the reset code?
This seems a logical fallacy.
Presumably you are assumed to have another device such as a mobile phone
to get the email.
Life is complicated enough at the moment. :-(
Gah!

...

If the MS Account is one you've only just created then you could simply create
a new one.

Otherwise, the account you want to use is authenticated by MS and you may be
able to recover it by attempting to log on to hotmail.com or live.com or any of
the MS family sites. There is an option to enter an email address (fine if you
can get to an Internet cafe and log on to a useable account you've designated
as a Microsoft Account, or a phone number or Skype name. If you haven't
supplied any of those, and the email account uses the same (forgotten)
password, you may be out of options. In any event, you'll need to be able to
answer the "security questions" you set up when creating the MS account.

[David]

Post by Philip Herlihy

Post by David
On a recently upgraded W8.1 -> W10 system I have managed to get myself
a Microsoft Account.
I have also for the moment lost the password, as it isn't the expected
usual one.
I expected to be able to go into another Administrator account and
change the password (like back in the good old days).
However that option doesn't seem to be on offer these days.
So, how do you reset the password?
Well, you use the "Forgot Password" option and it asks you for your
email address then sends a reset code to the email address.
Just a minute.
If this is my only PC and I can't log in then how do I pick up the
email with the reset code?
This seems a logical fallacy.
Presumably you are assumed to have another device such as a mobile
phone to get the email.
Life is complicated enough at the moment. :-(
Gah!

...
If the MS Account is one you've only just created then you could simply
create a new one.
Otherwise, the account you want to use is authenticated by MS and you
may be able to recover it by attempting to log on to hotmail.com or
live.com or any of the MS family sites. There is an option to enter an
email address (fine if you can get to an Internet cafe and log on to a
useable account you've designated as a Microsoft Account, or a phone
number or Skype name. If you haven't supplied any of those, and the
email account uses the same (forgotten) password, you may be out of
options. In any event, you'll need to be able to answer the "security
questions" you set up when creating the MS account.

This is a long term account on an ages old W8.1 machine which has just
been upgraded to W10.

The email address associated with it is an NTLWorld account.
[Yes, still does my head in that you can nominate an email account as your
Microsoft Account and the MA won't share any password details with the
email account because it is just a tag and has completely different
credentials.]

Microsoft just use the account to send notifications and reset codes.

You effectively need a second device to pick up any emails, if your
primary device has you locked out.

Cheers



Dave R

[Philip Herlihy]

Post by David
You effectively need a second device to pick up any emails, if your
primary device has you locked out.

I always configure any Windows machine with a second account (often just a
local one) in case a profile is locked out or corrupted. Bacon saved several
times...

[David]

Post by Philip Herlihy

Post by David
You effectively need a second device to pick up any emails, if your
primary device has you locked out.

I always configure any Windows machine with a second account (often just
a local one) in case a profile is locked out or corrupted. Bacon saved
several times...

So do I.
However I can no longer reset the password from within Windows, as I could
in earlier versions.

Cheers



Dave R

[Philip Herlihy]

Post by David

Post by Philip Herlihy

Post by David
You effectively need a second device to pick up any emails, if your
primary device has you locked out.

I always configure any Windows machine with a second account (often just
a local one) in case a profile is locked out or corrupted. Bacon saved
several times...

So do I.
However I can no longer reset the password from within Windows, as I could
in earlier versions.
Cheers
Dave R

That's because it's not being authenticated against data held on the PC, but
against an online service (though I believe there is a cache in case you have
no connection - this would be enabled after successful login).

But if you could access another account on the PC, then you'd have access to an
Internet browser, from which you could reset that password.