What Is the Default Windows Password?

Knowing the default Windows password could be very useful for times when you forget your password or need one to access a special area of Windows. For example, if admin credentials are needed to reach a secure part of Windows or to install a program, it would be helpful to have a default admin password.

No Default Windows Password

Unfortunately, there is no real default Windows password. There are, however, ways to accomplish the things you wanted to do with a default password without actually having one. For example, there are ways to find your administrator password or any password you might not know, which you can then use in place of that fabled default Windows password.

Did You Forget Your Password?

There isn't a magical password you can get that gives you access to an account that you've lost the password to. There are, however, several ways to find a lost Windows password.

1. Have another user change your password. If the other user is an admin that knows their password, they can use their own account to give you a new password.

   If you have access to another account on the computer, but you're unable to reset your forgotten password, you could just make a new user account and forget about the original (your files, of course, will be locked away in that inaccessible account, though).

2. Try to guess the password. It might be your name or a family member's name, or a combination of your favorite foods. Your password is your password, so you'd be the best person at guessing it.
   

   See these examples of a strong password. You might have used one of those techniques in your own password.

3. Have a program try to "guess" it. You can do this with software called "Windows password recovery tools." If you have a short password, some of these tools might work fairly quickly at recovering your lost password.

4. If all else fails, you might just have to do a clean install of Windows, but do not do this unless you've exhausted absolutely every other option.

   This is considered a destructive method because it will start you over from scratch, removing not only your forgotten password but also all of your programs, pictures, documents, videos, bookmarks, etc. Everything is removed, and the whole operating system begins again as completely fresh software.

Do You Need Admin Access?

Certain things you do on your computer require an admin to provide their credentials. This is because when the admin user was initially set up, they were given rights that regular, standard users don't have. This includes installing programs, making system-wide changes, and accessing sensitive parts of the file system.

If Windows is asking for an administrator password, chances are there's a user on the computer that can provide it. For example, if NormalUser1 needs an admin password to install a program because it's not an admin, the administrator user AdminUser1 can put in their password to allow the install.

However, unless the account was set up for a child, most user accounts were initially given administrator rights. In that case, the user can just accept the prompt for an admin and continue on without having to provide a new password.