Incorrect Password error after automatic update

[bospaladin]

Windows did an automatic update, as it is wont to do, after failing every day for quite a while. The user account was unable to be accessed; it would give an "Incorrect Password" error even though we are 100% positive of the password as it's the same for a few things and we've been able to log into the Windows account every day for the last year with this password.

Attempted to access the PC using the administrator account. After a reboot, the old user account is completely gone and the Administrator account says "Your account has been disabled. Please see your system administrator."

Have tried logging on in safe mode and looking for the files. They were in a windows.old folder. I moved them back to the C:// drive in an attempt to get it to recognize the user again. That has not worked. Tried using cmd to reactivate the administrator account, but that has also not worked. Any attempt using the Troubleshooting menu to recover, restore, wipe drive etc refers only to the administrator account, doesn't have the former user account, and doesn't seem to allow us to make changes anyway.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi bospaladin,

various options here:

https://www.howtogeek.com/222262/how-to-reset-your-forgotten-password-in-windows-10/

 

[bospaladin]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, however:

The password was not forgotten in the first place but if you continue to read the post, the user account no longer exists and I can’t seem to get it back, so I couldn’t even try to log in in the first place if I wanted to.

 

[Wolfie]

Alright,

did you look at this section of the guide in the link?: "Create a New User to Save Account Files".

Try creating a brand new account and see if it helps.

 

[bospaladin]

I can’t log in under any account at all to create a new user account. If I get in under the administrator account in safe mode and use cmd to make a user account, it tells me it can’t add the user to the local group (essentially, it can’t save the changes). When I reboot, it goes back to the Administrator screen where it says “Account is Disabled. Please contact your System administrator.”
Nothing I have done has changed that.

 

[ram1220]

Just an idea but can you boot up into safe mode and uninstall the latest update? I had a major problem a few Win 10 versions ago and that's what I did to get my computer back to what it was before Microsoft screwed it up.

 

[bospaladin]

I tried that; unfortunately, because it looks like the entire old install of windows was overwritten, it says there’s no restore points, it errors if I try to revert to last version, and a reset PC with keep files fails.

I’m about to just erase and install windows now :’(

 

[Wolfie]

I’m about to just erase and install windows now :’(

Select "Upgrade" during the install and you should (all being well) find a folder called "Windows.old" in your file explorer, all your docs/pics etc should still be in there and you can copy and paste them and eventually delete the Windows.old folder!.

 

[Samier]

I can’t log in under any account at all to create a new user account. If I get in under the administrator account in safe mode and use cmd to make a user account, it tells me it can’t add the user to the local group (essentially, it can’t save the changes). When I reboot, it goes back to the Administrator screen where it says “Account is Disabled. Please contact your System administrator.”
Nothing I have done has changed that.

Boot your computer from Windows install disk, click "Repair your computer", then restore the whole system to a backup point before the automatic update.
https://www.howtogeek.com/239312/how-to-restore-system-image-backups-on-windows-7-8-and-10/

Or try this trick to access command prompt from Windows install disk, edit the registry offline to activate the disabled local administrator.