Since you use your Microsoft account as your Windows 11/10/8 credentials, and since Microsoft manages those accounts online, you can easily reset your lost Windows password from any browser, on any computer or device, including your smartphone. Creating a password reset disk, which is actually probably a flash drive and not an old-fashioned floppy disk, is something you have to do before you lose your Windows password, not after. This will only work if one of the other people you share your computer with has a Windows log-on account that’s set up with administrator access. One account usually is, so give approach this a try with as many accounts as you can. Obviously, you’ll have to pass on this idea entirely if you’re the only user on your computer. You’ll have to do a little command-line work but all you’ll need is access to your Windows installation or recovery media—and a little patience. On the other hand, the automatic password reset and recovery tools are probably going to be faster solutions from start-to-finish for most of you, than using this method. A clean install of Windows is a complete erasure of your hard drive, followed by a reinstallation of the Windows operating system. We have some great step-by-step tutorials linked below but the clean install process is time-consuming and you lose everything in the process. If you skipped the previous two ideas above because they sounded too complicated, please know that a clean install is much more involved.
