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Wayne asked: “I’ve got an HP Pavillion laptop that I can’t get going. I forgot the password. I reset it and forgot what I reset it to. I need to know if there is some way I can get into it and change my password so I can use my computer.”
Wayne, HP has been making Pavillion models since 1995, so we may have good news for you or bad news. It all depends on what model you actually have.
Regardless of model, you can always bypass the Windows login screen if you planned ahead and made a recovery disc or flash drive, but… no one ever does, and since you’d know it if you had and you’re still asking us this question, you probably did not.
It all depends on what model you actually have.
Assuming you didn’t, if you happen to be running a newer version of Windows, Windows 8 or newer, and you set up your account as a Microsoft cloud account, you should be able to recover your password online and log in.
If you did not, unfortunately, you’re out of luck. Microsoft has been more serious about security lately, and it’s not that easy to bypass passwords anymore. They make the recovery disc and cloud account methods available to users, but if you don’t opt in, there’s not that much to do.
If you’re on an older version of Windows, you may be able to use other methods, here’s a step guide that may help you, but again that will only work on older versions of Windows.