Password Not Recognized

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My husband’s computer updated itself on 9/10 after he shut it down (Windows 10 Home).  When he went to log in, he got the message “The password is incorrect.  Try again.”  We restarted several times to no avail.  I came to this trusty Windows 7 computer and started doing some searches, actually hoping it might be a general problem related to this particular update.  But I found nothing recent.  After looking on several sites, I tried using the on-screen keyboard in case the keyboard strokes weren’t being recognized, but that didn’t work.  I thought about starting in Safe Mode, but decided to try a system restore instead.  Ironically it accepted the password there!

The computer then accepted the password.  I knew another update would be forced on us, but I hoped that if the issue was related to this particular update that it would be fixed.  No luck.  It must have updated itself again last night, even though he did not turn it off, and now we are again seeing “The password is incorrect.  Try again.”

I see no point in doing another System Restore, but before I spend a lot more time messing with it, I thought I would see if anyone here had a solution for me.

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You may be experiencing the “disappearing Profile” bug.
Try forcing the computer down with the power button (hold it down till the computer shuts off) two or three times when you get that message and see if that gets you back into the right Profile.

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woody, WSBirdLady

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PKCano, thank you for your suggestion, but several hard shutdowns didn’t work.  Nor was I able to start in Safe Mode.  After going buggy-eyed rereading all the suggestions I looked up three days ago, I did another System Restore.  This time I added another user account with Administrator privileges, and unchecked the box under account sign-in options that says “Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device and reopen my apps after an update or restart”. I believe this is part of the “Improved Boot-Up Experience” that was recently added. (I cringe when Microsoft “improves” things!)

At any rate, we will not be turning off the computer for the next few days, until it decides to try the update again.  I will let you know what happens–fingers crossed!

 

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woody

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The computer shut itself down again and would not accept my husband’s password when he tried to log in this morning.  I was able to log in with the second account I had created, but now it is acting like a brand-new computer out of the box, wanting me to set Microsoft preferences, accept Microsoft Office agreements, etc.

I changed my husband’s password and tried logging him in, but no luck.  I have no desire to do like one desperate individual on a Windows forum who does System Restore every time this happens!

Do I just proceed with the new account?  I would rather recover his account if possible.

Are there any other solutions to the “disappearing profile bug”?

 

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I did not mention earlier that he signs in with a local account, not a Microsoft account.  I set up the second account as a local account also.

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woody

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[woody]

It sure sounds like the disappearing profile bug. Mayank Parmar has noticed the bug’s reappearance lately, too.

https://www.windowslatest.com/2020/09/15/windows-10-september-2020-update-issues/

Symptoms: Your password doesn’t work, the icons on your desktop change, and your desktop wallpaper changes. If you’re seeing those problems in addition to the password problem, you got bit by the disappearing profile bug.

Only solution I know is to reboot – sometimes as many as 8 times, and prefereably into Safe Mode.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by woody.

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WSBirdLady, PKCano

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Symptoms: Your password doesn’t work, the icons on your desktop change, and your desktop wallpaper changes. If you’re seeing those problems in addition to the password problem, you got bit by the disappearing profile bug.

A disappearing profile doesn’t affect the password.

If your password doesn’t work you’re not able to sign in to see any desktop changes.

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WSBirdLady, woody

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It does if the issue is more complex. The missing Desktop is only a symptom.

cheers, Paul

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WSBirdLady, woody

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This post on the  main blog may be releated:

https://www.askwoody.com/2020/win10-version-2004-systemwide-password-amnesia/

 

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Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.  I threw in the towel and we are now using the new account.  A friend who has set up and done troubleshooting on many computer systems for individuals and businesses suggested that the profile was probably corrupt, and said it would probably be easier to use the new account.  It has been a bit annoying to have to set everything up the way it was, but it was easy enough to copy files from the backup to the new user.  I am religious about backing up files, fortunately.

I haven’t deleted the old user account yet, in case I need anything to be copied to the new user.  I did postpone updates until October 21, so hopefully the next update attempt won’t mess anything up.

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woody

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