Product Guide
Unlock Pro
Removes the sign-in password from a Windows account so you can get back into your own computer. Your files, programs and settings all stay exactly where they are.
First: check this is the right tool for your lock screen
Windows has several different kinds of password, and they look similar but work completely differently. Unlock Pro handles one of them. Two minutes here saves a lot of frustration.
Unlock Pro handles this
- The normal Windows sign-in screen, showing a person's name and a password box
- Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8 and 7
- Accounts marked Administrator, Standard or Guest
- “The password is incorrect” on an account you own
- An account that's locked out or disabled
These are called local accounts — the password lives on the computer itself.
Unlock Pro cannot handle this
- BitLocker — a blue screen asking for a 48-digit recovery key
- BIOS / UEFI password — appears before the Windows logo
- Hard drive / HDD password — also before Windows loads
- Wi-Fi, email, browser or website passwords
- Encrypted drives you don't have the key for
- Work or school accounts managed by an IT department
- Apple Macs, Chromebooks, tablets and phones
Does your sign-in screen show an email address?
If the screen shows something like yourname@outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @gmail.com or @live.com, that's a Microsoft account. The password is stored on Microsoft's servers, not on your computer.
The easiest fix costs nothing and needs no software:
- On your phone or another computer, go to account.live.com/password/reset.
- Reset the password using your recovery email or phone number.
- Sign in on the locked computer with the new password. It needs to be online — connect it to Wi-Fi at the sign-in screen using the network icon in the bottom-right corner.
Unlock Pro can also convert a Microsoft account into a local account, which gets you in without the internet — see step 4. Try Microsoft's own reset first: it keeps everything linked to your account intact.
Using Unlock Pro
Haven't started your computer from the drive yet? Do that first — the five steps are here. Everything below happens after the Repairo desktop appears.
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Confirm your Windows installation is listed
The top box shows the Windows installation Unlock Pro found — usually C:\Windows. Click it once to highlight it.
Nothing listed at all? Your drive may be encrypted or failing. Jump to that below.
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Find your account in the lower list
Every account on the computer appears here. Click the one whose password you've forgotten — the name you actually sign in with.
What the columns mean:
Meaning of each column in the Unlock Pro account list Column What it tells you User Name The account name shown on your sign-in screen. Group Admin can change anything; Other or Guest is limited. Pick your own account, whichever it is. Live ID Yes means it's a Microsoft account. See step 4. Password <blank> means there's no password at all — you can just press Enter at the sign-in screen. Locked Out Yes means too many wrong attempts. Unlock Pro clears this. Disabled Yes means the account is switched off and won't appear at sign-in. Unlock Pro can enable it. Don't recognise any of the names?
Ignore DefaultAccount, WDAGUtilityAccount and Guest — Windows creates those itself and nobody signs in with them. Your account is one of the others.
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Click Reset \ Unlock
It's the last button along the bottom. Confirm when asked. It takes a second or two.
You'll be told the password has been cleared. If you're offered the choice, clearing the password is more reliable than setting a new one — you can set a fresh password normally once you're back in Windows.
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If your account shows “Live ID: Yes”
That's a Microsoft account. Resetting it here converts it into a local account with no password, and you'll be able to sign straight in.
Know what changes before you do this
Your files, desktop and installed programs are all untouched. But the account stops being linked to Microsoft, so OneDrive sync, Microsoft Store purchases and settings sync will need you to sign in again afterwards. If you can get to account.live.com/password/reset on your phone, that route avoids all of this.
Once back in Windows you can re-link the account under Settings → Accounts → Your info.
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Shut down, remove the drive, and start normally
Use the Shutdown PC icon in the top-left corner of the Repairo desktop. Wait until the computer is fully off, then pull the USB drive out.
Press power. At the sign-in screen, click your account and press Enter with the password box empty. You're in.
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Set a new password straight away
Your account currently has no password at all, which isn't where you want to leave it.
Settings → Accounts → Sign-in options → Password → Add. While you're there, set up a PIN and add a recovery method so this never happens again.
If something doesn't go to plan
No Windows installation is listed, or the account list is empty
Usually one of these:
- The drive is encrypted (BitLocker). Most likely on a work laptop or a newer Windows 11 machine. Unlock Pro can't read an encrypted drive without the recovery key. More on BitLocker →
- Windows isn't installed, or the installation is too damaged to read. You may need to reinstall — our 4-in-1 Toolkit covers that.
- The hard drive is failing. If the computer has been slow, freezing or making noise, this is likely. No software can fix a dying drive.
- Windows is on a different disk. If there's more than one entry in the top box, try each in turn.
Some computers also need Intel RST or RAID mode switched to AHCI in the BIOS before the drive becomes visible.
It said it worked, but the password is still being asked for
- Leave the box completely empty and press Enter. Don't type anything at all.
- Check you picked the right account. If there are several, look at the bottom-left of the sign-in screen — other accounts are listed there. Reset the one you actually use.
- Windows may be asking for a PIN, not a password. Click Sign-in options below the box and choose the key or password icon instead.
- Did the computer really shut down? If you restarted rather than shutting down, Windows may have restored its old state. Shut down fully, wait ten seconds, then power on.
Still stuck? Run Unlock Pro again — using it more than once causes no harm.
My account isn't shown on the sign-in screen any more
The account is probably disabled. Boot the Repairo drive again, select the account, open User Info or Options, and clear the Disabled flag.
Alternatively use the New User button to create a fresh administrator account. Sign in with that, then recover your files from C:\Users\YourOldName.
Some of my files now say “access denied”
Rare, but it happens if you'd previously encrypted individual files or folders with Windows' built-in EFS encryption (a right-click → Properties → Advanced → Encrypt contents option, usually deliberate).
Windows ties that encryption to the old password. Use the Restore button in Unlock Pro to put the original password file back, then get in another way — or contact us and we'll talk it through. Ordinary files are never affected.
Is this legal? Will it damage my computer?
On a computer you own, yes — it's entirely legitimate. This is the same class of tool repair shops use daily. It's for your own machine, or one you have permission to work on. Using it on someone else's computer without their permission is not something we support.
It doesn't damage anything. It clears one stored password value. Your files, programs, Windows licence and settings are untouched, and it makes a backup you can restore with the Restore button.
Still not solved?
Message us with the make and model of your computer and a description or photo of what's on screen, and we'll walk you through it. Free, no time limit. How to reach us →