Locked out of your own PC? NHV Boot carries an Unlock Password utility that resets a forgotten Windows password from outside Windows — no reinstall, no lost files. Here is the exact flow, following NHV Boot's own official guide, including the one check you must do before you start.
A forgotten Windows password feels catastrophic and usually is not. Because NHV Boot runs from USB, it can open the account database of the installed Windows while that Windows is switched off, and change the password directly. The utility is called Unlock Password, it lives on the NHV desktop and in the PStart menu, and NHV Boot documents the procedure on its official site. This page follows that documented flow step by step. One warning before anything else: this method cannot work on a drive protected by BitLocker — check that first, because no tool resets a password through encryption.
NHV Boot's own guide states it plainly: verify the encryption status of the hard drive first. If BitLocker is enabled on the Windows drive, the password database cannot be edited from outside — that is the entire point of the encryption. Your route in that case is the BitLocker recovery key (from the owner's Microsoft account or IT department), not a password tool. If BitLocker is off, continue. Also be clear about whose machine this is: this procedure is for your own PC, or one you have the owner's permission to open — the same rule any professional shop follows.
Boot the locked PC from your NHV Boot USB and choose the 64-bit WinPE (Win11PE or Win10PE). On the desktop, launch Unlock Password — it is also listed in the PStart menu. In the utility, select the SAM – work with regular user accounts option and click Next. SAM is the Windows account database; this mode is the one that handles normal user accounts, which is what a locked-out home or office user has.
The utility automatically scans for and identifies the paths to the SAM file and the SYSTEM file on the Windows partition. Two prompts can appear during this stage, and the official guide's answers are simple: if a Trusted Boot Auto-Logon prompt appears, select No to skip it, and if you are offered Secret Questions information, select No to bypass that as well. One practical note from the field: drive letters inside WinPE are often different from normal Windows, so if the tool points at a partition that is clearly not your Windows drive, select the correct one by size and contents rather than by letter.
From the user account list, select the account you are locked out of and click Next. In the New Password field you have two choices: leave it blank to remove the password entirely, or type a new password to set one. Click RESET/CHANGE to apply. If the account is a Microsoft account, the tool will ask whether to convert it to a local account — select Yes; that conversion is what makes the reset possible, and you can sign back into the Microsoft account later from inside Windows. When asked about creating a password rollback file, select No to skip it.
Click OK on the success message, close the utility, and reboot — remembering to remove the USB so the PC starts its real Windows. Sign in with the new (or blank) password. Then finish properly inside Windows: set a strong fresh password, and re-create your PIN and fingerprint/facial sign-in in Settings, because Windows Hello credentials are re-enrolled after a reset like this. One honest footnote: ordinary files are untouched by a password reset, but files a user deliberately encrypted with Windows EFS can become unreadable after any forced password change — a rare case, and the reason shops ask before they reset.
Editions, USB creation, first boot and the full tool tour — everything in this guide, shown live on real machines.
▶️ Watch Full VideoNo — and neither can any other tool. NHV Boot's official guide says to verify encryption status first. With BitLocker on, the only legitimate route is the recovery key from the Microsoft account or IT department that manages the PC.
No. The reset changes only the account credential; documents, photos and programs stay exactly where they were. The rare exception is files individually encrypted with EFS, which are tied to the original password.
Yes, with a conversion: the Unlock Password tool offers to convert the Microsoft account to a local account, and the reset then applies. Afterwards you can sign in to the Microsoft account again from Windows Settings.