Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
If you've lost your Facebook log in password there are a couple of ways to recover it, or at least recover access to Facebook.
I stupidly forgot my Facebook log in password and can't get on. Now what do I do? Can I have Facebook send it to me?
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No, unfortunately Facebook won't email you your password. I would hope that like most sites doing proper security they don't actually know your password but instead just have a way to know that you've typed it in correctly.
There are two approaches that are worth looking into.
The official way, and the ... well, the not-so-official way. Even if you don't use the not-so-official way you should know about it, since it actually represents a possible security threat.
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Facebook log in password reset
Just below the log in password entry field on Facebook's sign in page is a link:
Click on that and you'll be taken to a page containing something like this:
The first step is to enter the distorted words presented in the CAPTCHA - this is used to prevent automated hacking attempts by "proving" that you're human.
Then, enter the email address you use to log in to Facebook, or your mobile phone number as registered in your Facebook account, and press Continue. Facebook will then ask for final confirmation:
After pressing Reset my password Facebook presents the next step in the process:
And sure enough, in email you should find, after a short time, email such as this:
In this example I'll take the confirmation code that was presented in that email (1089b2b8 in this example, yours will be different), enter it into the last page that Facebook presented above, press Submit and:
Having confirmed that I am the rightful owner of the account, by having accessed the email associated with the account, Facebook now allows me to set my own new password.
That's the official, and proper way to regain access to your account: by proving ownership of the email account (or mobile number, which works similarly) and then setting a new password.
Facebook log in password recovery
I need to make it clear that if you want to recover your existing password you simply might not be able to.
That being said, if you've had your browser remember the password for you, it might be frighteningly easy.
I'll use Firefox as my example.
Click on Tools, Options and then in the Security tab click on the Saved Passwords... button:
This lists all the sites for which Firefox has saved your password. You can narrow it down by typing "Facebook" in the Search box as I've done here.
Click on Show Passwords. After a little extra paranoia:
the Saved Passwords dialog box is updated with an extra column: the actual password, visible for all to see:
Naturally I've blurred my password here, but in reality it's clear as day.
If you use Internet Explorer you'll need to download a separate tool. Nirsoft has several password recovery tools including "IE PassView" which will expose the passwords saved by Internet Explorer.
All this assumes, of course, that you've allowed your browser to save your passwords for you. If you have not, then this technique will not work.
Security Issue
The security issue I mentioned?
If you allow your browser to save passwords, anyone with access to your machine can perform the browser password recovery steps outlined above to discover what those passwords are.
Make sure that your machine is secure.
Article C4388 - August 4, 2010 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
April 3, 2013 2:25 AM
@Akindoyin
If you don't have access to at least one of the email addresses you have associated with your Facebook account, then you probably won't be able to get your account back. Facebook allows you to associate several email addresses with your account so that you can recover it if you happen to close one of your accounts. You might try using one of your other email accounts, in case you may have added that as an alternate and had forgotten that you did.
April 5, 2013 12:26 AM
dear sir,
i have open my facebook account with my mobile number but my number is not working as well as lose that number and i forgot my facebook password can you pleased help me how can i recover my facebook password? is their possible to recover password throught my friend email help me please.
April 5, 2013 8:35 AM
@Gunapati
Unfortunately, unless you have access to one of the email addresses or mobile phone numbers associated with your Facebook account, you won't be able to recover the account. If it were possible to do this with another email account, it would be easy to hack a Facebook account.
April 12, 2013 7:07 AM
I somehow logged myself out of my Facebook on phone forgot my password and tried for hours to reset my password everyone went to email got code number and it says the code I entered wasn't a 6 digit code which i knew was I called Facebook technical support this morning they said I have some Microsoftware problems that needs fixed or can't ever have access again then started saying how much they would charge me.......what is going on???
April 20, 2013 4:40 PM
Dont knw how i forget my facebook pass word
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