Password hint was integrated across all Windows platforms by developers for the users’ ease. The password hint feature is initially presented while setting up your Windows 10 login password.
However, what if you forget your password and the hint you set up confuses you more than it helps? What if you never provided one or turned it off because you thought it wouldn’t be needed? Would you be able to change it?
Understanding what the password hint feature is and how you can use it, change it, or hide it, can be beneficial. Especially if your computer has more than one user.
What Is Password Hint On Windows 10
Password Hint on Windows 10 is a users’ failsafe should you ever forget the current password and need access to your account. Typically, a user will set up their password hint while also entering in a new account password.
Plenty of users tend to leave the input area blank as they feel that a hint is not necessary. Sometimes, the hint a user has entered has nothing to do with the password at all.
Unfortunately, once a password hint has been set, it will remain that way until either a new password is set or you reinstall the Windows operating system. Thankfully, the process of changing your password and, subsequently the password hint, isn’t too difficult at all.
How To Change Password Hint On Windows 10
The process of changing your password and password hint might seem overly complex for such a small task. Understand that in order to change the password hint on Windows 10, you will need to come up with a new password as well. Changing your password hint is very simple to do, and you’ll have multiple ways in which to do it.
Method 1. Change Password Hint On Windows 10 via Settings App
The first way in which you can change the password hint on Windows 10 is through your Settings. The steps to do so are as follows:
Step 1. Open the Settings app by either pressing the Win + I keys simultaneously or left-clicking the Windows icon at the lower left of your desktop screen and clicking Settings.
Step 2. Once you have the Settings App window pulled up, select Accounts from the available options.
Step 3. From the left menu, click over to Sign-in options. Open the Password section drop-down menu and click the Change button.
Step 4. Enter your current password in the new window. Click Next.
Step 5. In the new window, add a new password, and re-enter that password into the areas provided. Just below that, you’ll see a place to enter a password hint.
Step 6. Do so, click Next, and then log out of your account.
You can now view the password hint from the login screen on Windows 10.
Method 2. How To Change Password Hint On Windows 10 via Control Panel
What is probably the most familiar way to change your account password, and therefore have access to a new password hint on Windows 10 is through the Control Panel. What you’ll need to do is:
Step 1. Navigate to the Control Panel either by pressing Win + X keys simultaneously or type Control Panel into the Windows Taskbar search bar and selecting from the options provided.
Step 2. This step will vary depending on how your View by: icons are set. To make things easier, set the View by to Category. Then, select Change account type under User Accounts.
Step 3. Select the user account you’d like to change from the options in the list by double-clicking on it.
Step 4. In the new window, you’ll have options to: Change the account name, Change the password, Change the account type, and Manage another account. Choose the Change the password option.
Step 5. Like the previous method, you should now see a few boxes where you’ll have to enter your current password, new password, new password again and the password hint.
Step 6. Type in all of the required information and click the Change password button.
You can now log out from Windows 10 and attempt to log in again. So long as you entered the appropriate information in the correct box, this time, you’ll see a password hint option available to you.
How To Remove Password Hint On Windows 10
Sometimes a password hint is not necessary. This is true either because your PC has only one account or your password is too easy to remember (very poor safety practice). Regardless, if you no longer wish to show a password hint at the login screen, you can easily remove it one of three ways: via Command Prompt, Control Panel, or Local Users & Groups.
One of these choices (Control Panel) has already been mentioned above. For this, you only need to leave the password hint section blank when changing your password on Windows 10. The other two are done through different means.
Here’s how to remove a password hint on Windows 10 via Command Prompt:
Step 1. Type cmd into the Windows 10 Taskbar search bar to pull up the Command Prompt option. Right-click it and select Run as administrator from the menu.
Read More: How to Run Command Prompt as Administrator in Windows 10
Step 2. While in Command Prompt, type in the following command:
net user UserName NewPassword
Step 3. Replace the UserName with the actual username of the account and NewPassword with a specified password for the account.
Step 4. Once you have the new information typed in, press Enter, and the account changes will go through without a password hint on Windows 10.
Here’s how to remove a password hint on Windows 10 via Local Users and Groups:
Step 1. Pull up the Run dialog via the Win + R keys, and enter lusrmgr.msc into the box. Hit Enter to open Local Users and Groups.
Step 2. In the left side pane, under Local Users and Groups (Local), click the Users folder.
Step 3. In the center pane, right-click the user account whose password you’ll want to remove the password hint. Select Set password… from the options in the window.
Step 4. From the new pop-up window, choose Proceed.
Step 5. Complete the process by entering in a new password and clicking OK.
You can now log out of Windows 10 to see that there is no longer a password hint option present on the login screen.
Remember that when you’re changing your password to always come up with something highly secure. You can do this by making the length no less than 12 characters, with an assortment of letters, numbers, and symbols. The more complex the password, the more the password hint on Windows 10 will come in handy.
