Logged out of local Admin account (PIN to password) without apparent reason

[Spiritos]

In short: I have a (local?) Admin account on a Win10 Home OS. Local with question mark because I wasn't sure it was a Microsoft account. After all, the name of the Admin account shows my email address and I've use it more than eighteen months with a PIN code login. Because I really have no need or interest in any additional apps and cloud-based MS products I never looked into that. Although I do have an Xbox 360 and perhaps out of curiosity I once did 'something' on my PC with my MS account I can not really remember -especially if my login account as such was local or not.

Last morning I wanted to sign in but to my surprise it was not asked for my PIN but for my password. All recent known to me I tried but none worked and showed the message that I should / could reset my Microsoft account password. This, of course I tried (2x) and neatly through both my iPhone as well as my e-mail account I got new verification codes and reset my password. However, could not / I can not login with this new password.

Called Microsoft helpdesk (45 min), explained my situation, the employee assured me that it was in fact a Microsoft account and not a local account because it was an e-mail address and again referred to the same already tried web page to repeat the previous trial (Trial 3). Again nothing.

Then I spent so far 9 hours non-stop to get access to my OS.

FYI: I have a dual-boot system (via UEFI) for music production (currently Win 8.1) therefore separated SSDs (3x) and HDDs (3x) and 2 seperate boot SSD's and as such can access the internet looking for troubleshooting options.

I have tried various means of several methods:

1. Hirens Boot CD: Did not start cause of ACPI problems (system not fully compliant)
2. Puppy Linux Distro Slacked: ACPI problems again,
3. Kali Linux: Process was seemingly flawless but results were absent.
4. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor: stuck on loading drivers.
5. Original Win 8.1 DVD (repair, command line, etc.) to no avail.

With the above means I tried the following scenarios:

1. 'seth' file replacement (copy X: \ windows \ system32 \ sethc.exe X: \ / copy X: \ windows \ system32 \ cmd.exe X: \ windows \ system32 \ sethc.exe)
2. Replace v.d. Utility Manager: move X: \ windows \ system32 \ utilman.exe d: \ windows \ system32 \ utilman.exe.bak copy X: \ windows \ system32 \ cmd.exe d: \ windows \ system32 \ utilman.exe)
3. Create New Account: net user <username> / add / net localgroup administrators <username> / add
4. Using Kali to alter the SAM file (chntpw -l SAM / chntpw -u "username" sam)

With nothing I gained access to my OS drive (CMD/registry) except Kali but although the process seemed fine it solved nothing (or the exact reason for failing is lost by boiling my brain).

Semi-solution: In the end I managed with a Win Repair Live Disc (no idea that I had it lying around or suspected I ever downloaded it) to access REGEDIT (none of the above and some other scenarios managed this).

Here I could finally change a registry value and activate the MS 'hidden admin' account (HKLM \ Admin \ SAM \ Domains \ Account \ Users \ 000001F4 and the value F, Row 11, 0038 to put 10).

So now I have access to my OS with this 'hidden' Admin account but (obviously) I miss programs, personal settings and it's a mess.I still want to regain access to my real account.

QUESTION: I can as a new Admin acces accountmanagement but can not delete passwords (as I believe was still an option in Win7 and as can be seen in several examples on Google). What I can uncheck is the option fot users (2 Admins now) to login without a password required meanwhile choosing a preferred account. However, if I click Apply, I get a window where I need to specify a user who is logged automatically. By default Administrator (new account?) id autofilled in as the user (but can be changed).

I do not know if and how it means that this also changes the need for entering the password for my original Admin account and whether I actually still can choose this one at login (prob not cause this setting is about setting a prefered account) or -once I'm logged in under my new account my original account is still available in settings to choose as the primary. Does anyone know this or does anyone have any other ideas how I can gain acces again to my original account? Btw, I also tried this in 'Safe Mode'.

PS.1 The only two reasons I can think of for this problem are a) that last night I just downloaded Samsung Magician to see if it had some use. I dont think I changed anything in the settings (although you can only optimization and the likes so choose a PIN / password / login problem that arises here dont seem logical, although the issues with ACPI with amongst others Hiren seem strange and might be related). Also patch tuesday installed some MS updates. Perhaps it was something in here but still, PIN/password issues seem unlikely.

PS. 2 If anyone suspects that I want to hack someone else's account, this is not the case. After all, the OS is on my SSD and all files and data on a HDD that is accessible with my new account now as well.

Sorry for the long post but I just emptied my brain before I'd forgotten everything.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, it seems obvious to me it's about a local admin account is -confusion cause of the e-mail seen at login plus my name and I've never delved too much into account management and now understand that you Admin and 'super' admin accounts. I also now understand that the methods Seth vs. Utilman are OS-dependent (Win 7/8 vs. Win10). Since my initial installation was an original Win 8 disc and the Win10 upgrade (only recently) through MS updates I kind of lost track here and also never for e.g. made a Win10 disk.

I also read that the attempted methods with current UEFI / SafeBoot func. also work differently. I still, however, find it strange that the most suggested solutions got stuck with me (ACPI problems, CMD line or inaccessible OS disk, files not visible or edit registry does not show, etc.).

UPDATE 2:

1. Via the Command Prompt: See NET USER acounts (even in Safe Mode). See only:
/ Admin - Computer - DefaulftAcccount
/Guest
/ Job completed with one or more errors.
2. Run: compmngmnt.msc Here I dont even see a folder with local users and groups. Only an Admin.
3. I opted for PIN code acces activation on my current 'meta' Admin account to see if I get the option to chose for PIN when login in under my older account but alas.. I can choose PIN/PW login with the new account but the option doesn't come up for my 'real' account.
4. I cannot even create a new users with my new Admin account, nor with config nor with dskmngmnt (in which I don't even see a subfolder 'users') but the latter is inherent to Windows 10 Home Edition.

I'm running out of options here. Also because I do not fully understand the correlation/difference between this new "super" Admin account and my regular I am afraid to fuck this up. Perhaps utility manager or seth and SAM scenarios still could work but as described the Linux distros / Hiren and alternatives do not even have access to the folders / files. Of course, I can also remove the entire account or do a clean install as a last resort, but I can not imagine that there is no simpler way.

Finally, I see that there are several freeware and commercial tools that provide a solution. I do not know if it can trust any of these though and moreover most can only remove accounts (which I can already do manually) instead of resetting the password, and then I lose all my settings and the like and a clean install almost seems more attractive.

Any knowledgeable people wlling to chip in?

 

[Spiritos]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Spiritos : "Can anyone confirm a conclusion about accountmanagement for me?"

I already posted an earlier thread (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-3122443/logged-local-admin-account-pin-password-apparent-reason.html) but realise it's too much information and by now my troubleshooting has progressed and some earlier situations have changed so I'll try to keep this short and sweet:

For no apparent reason I was locked out of my (only) local Admin account on Win 10 Home 64x.
Locked out because I've been using a PIN for nearly 2 years and suddenly I had to enter a password which I forgot and the loginscreen nor any troubleshooting gives me an option to choose for PIN anymore.

I gained acces to the meta-Admin account through a known exploit in the registry and in turn created a new "normal" Admin account and deleted the "meta" Admin account again, so now I have acces to the GUI of my OS and files (which btw. are on a 2nd HDD while the boot SSD is only Win10 and programs).

Tried dozens of things to gain acces to my "old" Admin account as it's tweaked, configured and all to my likings but to no avail. I've reached the point where I need to either accept it's lost forever or that I can squeeze some extra juice out of my overcooked brain.

Question:When logged in under my new Admin account I go to prompt and with: net users I look at all accounts. I was unsure if my locked account is visible since I'm unsure what it's supposed to be (when loggin in in the past I saw my full name, e-mail and Admin as Accountname) but under the "user" "computer" I do see my full name. Point is that the command net user [/domain] shows the date of last login which is nowhere near the time I lost acces and neither do the other accounts.

Does this mean the account is somehow deleted? And is this possible -even though I still see it as a login option when booting up (next to my other new Admin account)? So could someone confirm this conclusion?

That's all!

PS. no, it's not a MS-account but it could very well be "patch tuesday" things up so and Win 10 Home has no diskmanagement acces to the user folder so that's not an option either to check.

 

[Spiritos]

As I expected this was way too much info to digest for anyone so I can understand the lack of response. In any case after 8 consecutive days of troubleshooting I still was unable to either access or copy the profile. The latter probably due to the 255-260 character limit in Windows (even though I thought this limitation was removed in Win 10) which prevented the copying of .DAT files with long alphanumerical names. I finally resorted to a Win restore and although I prefered a less dramatic solution this worked out fine.

Still, I did find many other threads mentioning problems with the login module from Win 10 in earlier builds (last one in november 2015) where PIN suddenly was no longer available so it does seem this module is prone to irradic behaviour when updating MS.

This thread can be closed.

 

[Colif]

I have to agree with Microsoft, your normal account with the email address would be your Microsoft account. Since you already reset the password twice I won't link the web site.

I had a problem recently were auto logon wouldn't log my microsoft account in, ignored the password entirely and logged me into a guest account with no access, the solution they offered was to make a local user (Like you have) and copy all the old users folders onto new one in c/users but then I also knew the password for old admin account and could change this user to admin.

want a win 10 installer to add to collection? Get it Here

A fresh install is about only way you to get right user back again. I would suggest a reset but keeping files/settings means it would remember your current password settings. Since you changed password, it should have the new one set now so there is that, but since PIN just randomly stopped working your user may be corrupted. Fresh would let you set it all up correctly.

 

[Spiritos]

Actually I feel the MS helpdesk gave me very bad advice. Simply by me saying I usually see my e-mail adress when logging in they concluded it was a MS account. What they failed to ask was if it was a MS e-mail -which it wasn't, It was the e-mail from my provider (as you know you can also register a user with phone and/or another non-MS e-mail. This simple follow up question could have saved me costly minutes on the phone and some hours troubleshooting.

But anyway, that's water under the bridge now. Btw. I also did use the Media Creation Tool to boot from the ISO but thanks anyway.

I did a reset and you get 2 or 3 options (depending on which Win10 version) where you can choose to either keep or delete your personal files. I deleted everything since my OS SSD is just that and all my personal files are on another internal HDD.

I'm curious though, did you manage to copy the user folder? And did you include the hidden NTUser files and /appdata folder? Just for future reference, I could copy 99% of the user folder but the last 1% were .DAT files which were too long so I'm really interested in how you managed to copy.

 

[Colif]

When you registered for the win 10 upgrade, what email address did you give? You can use any email address to get a "Microsoft" account, it is what they link your digital entitlement to. Mine is linked to a Gmail account

I copied them over while logged into the old admin account and it didn't refuse any files for me.

Reset deleting everything is essentially a fresh install so hopefully you okay now. If it happens again I would fresh install, I know I will if my problem happens again but as I haven't re enabled autologon it may never be a problem. I just got used to a password again.

 

[Spiritos]

I see. Didn't know a regular dutch provider e-mail could also be used to register as MS. However I already checked myself early on by resetting the password for my dorment MS account online three times. And I checked with OneNote on my iPhone where I indeed had to change the password. However the new passwords wouldn't let me log in on my OS. So I'm positive it wasn't a MS account.

Strange you didn't run into any problems copying the userfolders... Can't explain why it didn't work for me.

The reason I was (and am) reluctant to a complete fresh install is the fact I have a dual-boot configuration, initially with 2 x Win 8.1, but with one shared OEM license! I updated my mainstream OS to Win 10 some months ago and both OS-es worked just fine, just as they do now. I know the license is tied to the mobo but stricty speaking (according to EULA) I would need 2 licenses and now with the upgrade I am unsure how this would work out as for maybe de-activating the Win 8.1 license for eg. MS isn't exactly communicative about the "phone home" mechanism. I know there's this algorythm that runs prior to booting which checks ur license/productcode/hardware without dialing in to the MS activation servers but in some threads people mention for KMS once every 180 days.

Anyway, all seems fine (for now) and should I encounter some activation issues in the future I will address them when needed.