I use Windows 7. Yesterday, for reasons unknown, it stopped accepting my password and I can no longer log on and get to my applications. I didn't change the password. I didn't forget it. Windows just stopped accepting it.

Is there anything that I can do short of buying a new computer? I would be eternally grateful to anyone who can provide me with some help.

Thanks.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 477?auth=1

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... vista-when

https://www.howtogeek.com/96805/how-to- ... nstall-cd/

These are three different options. Hopefully one of them will work for you.

Maybe a silly question, but before you do anything too drastic - are you sure the caps lock key (or one of the other modifiers) isn't on?

Thanks Mark. I've tried something from Microsoft that didn't work, but I'll be checking your links later on. Thanks very much for them.

Yeah, Ted. Nothing like that, unfortunately. That would be easy.

I read on another forum that your problem might be a corrupt profile. The fix is to create a new profile or reinstall Windows. Either way, it sux.

I've had nothing but troubles with Windows update getting corrupted on both 7 & 10. That's one of the reasons I'm so big on staying with XP as long as possible. 2 days & constant running of fixits & troubleshooters to do the monthly Win 10 updates is my norm, & 7 was worse for me in that regard than 10.

I've never had a problem with Win 7. It runs better than XP.

Ditto, and Windows 10 the same. Never had to even think about it with either OS. Windows 10 updates are totally seamless, as long as you let the OS do it's thing.

I wish. From what I've read, with both OS's I'm not the only one this has happened to, but obviously I am also not in the majority.

To be honest, I strongly suspect the multitude of "security modifications" and antimalware/spyware software you run probably play a factor in your issues.

You may be right; though all I run on the 7's/10's is Malwarebytes & Greatis Reg Run. I just bought them as refurbs to learn 7 & 10.

Well, here's some good news. I'm back on that computer now. Thanks everyone for your suggestions I really appreciate them.

I unplugged the mouse and I unplugged the keyboard. I plugged them back in the voila! Here I am. I have no idea what the heck happened. I certainly didn't jiggle or move those plugs the other day. I just thought that i'd give it shot and thank goodness it worked. Let's hope that things remain good with this.

And for those who don't back up their work everyday. well, start to do it! Thank goodness I do or I would have some lost some important things.

The only bad thing is that I'm now afraid to turn off the computer!

Larry, I've ran into that problem/solution before. In my case, it was either a USB bus or USB device going bad & shorting the USB ports on boot up. In my case it was also extremely intermittent, several years later I'm still using that pc, & if it freezes on the bios screen I know I have to unplug all USB devices & sometimes also unplug the pc from the wall. In my case it almost never happens anymore.

MS's move to the monthly bloated cumulative update is problematic in regards to control and troubleshooting. I'm not a big fan of 10, but not a big fan of the tiles, particularly when it comes to the system configurations. Clumsy and not as precise as control panel applets (grateful they maintained them). Mostly work with Server 2016, which is the same core as 10. Their Sept update was a bitch to install on a number of clean builds, and October's was BSOD quite a number of systems and was replaced (both were somewhat common in the forums).

LARRY - I take it there is not another account. Does it display a reason, like bad password? Do you have bitlocker enabled? Safe mode the same?
First do you have a backup of your data? If not, and assuming you are not using bitlocker or other encryption, you can access the physical hard drive by attaching it to another computer. (I am a stickler for back ups...makes the potential uh-oh not be a UH-OH...but one's mileage may very).

Maybe you have heard of Hiren's Boot CD? It's the tool to use for a ton of TS. It's mostly cli, but a little careful reference to the website, and one can usually resolve most issues...
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/resetting-windows-password/
is one example.

Suggestion: create a second account on the computer, even if you never use it. That way, you can at least get back on and reset the password for your regular account in case it ever locks out completely.

We use Hiren's at work regularly to reset locked out computers. It's more of a domain thing, where we (admins!) don't have access to the local admin password (because why on earth would we need that? Stupid policies.) But it's still a really handy tool to have in any case.

One thing about Windows 10 I absolutely HATE is the bizarre hybrid settings within the OS. Type in printers, and get the new Win10 printers window. But you can't actually do what you need to do from there, so instead click the handy link to the old-school printers settings window, where you can do the usual things. Such a mess. There are other similar things, like removing programs having two different places, where some show up in one and not the other. The next Windows iteration really needs to combine these functions. It's so frustrating.

I think that I read something about that somewhere. If I do that,, would I be able to access MY documents and other files and folders (the ones that are n my account)?

I also read that if i can't enter the password the usual way that I could somehow do so by having a backup(?) on a USB drive? Do you know how to do that?

Thanks in advance.

If you create another admin account, all that is correct. For the second part, if you create a backup key (something MS walks you through the process of) you can do that too.

Great! Thanks very much for your help and advice Jeff and everyone else too.

i have been relatively happy with windows 10 other than the last "big" update which literally crashed my microsoft surface. completely gone, i had to rebuild the whole thing while on the phone with a guy form microsoft, it took hours.

Has MS CS finally gotten a clue as to how to fix things? I haven't had the courage to call in years, because talking with folks in a 3rd world country that know less about the subject than I do is a recipe for frustration in my case.