Avast Antivirus allows you to set a password to protect access to various areas of the program. If you forget your password, you can regain access to your Avast Antivirus program in two ways. Refer to the relevant section in this article to either reinstall Avast Antivirus or remove the aswResp.dat file.
This article is not related to Avast Account passwords, or the Passwords manager feature in Avast Antivirus. For more information, refer to the following articles:
Reinstall Avast Antivirus
If you are unable to remember your password, you can regain access to password-protected areas of Avast by reinstalling the program in Safe Mode.
- Start Windows in Safe Mode by following steps in the article below:
- Uninstall Avast Antivirus. For uninstallation instructions, refer to the following article:
- Reinstall Avast Antivirus. For installation instructions, refer to the articles below according to your product version:
- Latest versions of Avast Antivirus:
- Avast Premium Security (previously Avast Premier) | Avast Free Antivirus | Avast Omni
- Older versions of Avast Antivirus:
After reinstalling Avast Antivirus, you can access the program without a password. To set a new password, refer to the following article:
- Latest versions of Avast Antivirus:
Remove the aswResp.dat file
If you are unable to remember your password, you can regain access to password-protected areas of Avast by removing the aswResp.dat file.
Ensure that you are logged in to Windows with Administrator permissions before you begin.
- Start Windows in Safe Mode by following steps in the article below:
- Simultaneously press the
Win+Xkeys on your keyboard and select File Explorer from the menu.
- From the START menu select Computer.
- Double-click your Local Disk (usually C:) where Avast is installed by default.
- Follow the path
C:\ProgramData\AVAST Software\Avastto access Avast files on your local disk:
If you cannot locate the ProgramData folder in your system, follow the instructions on the Windows support page: - In the Avast folder, locate the
aswResp.datfile and delete it.
- Click Yes in the confirmation dialog that appears.
- Restart your PC. After your PC restarts, Avast is accessible without a password. To set a new password, refer to the following article:
- Avast Premium Security 19.x
- Avast Free Antivirus 19.x
- Avast Omni 1.x
- Avast Premier 19.x
- Avast Internet Security 19.x
- Avast Pro Antivirus 19.x
- Microsoft Windows 10 Home / Pro / Enterprise / Education - 32 / 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows 8.1 / Pro / Enterprise - 32 / 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows 8 / Pro / Enterprise - 32 / 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic / Home Premium / Professional / Enterprise / Ultimate - Service Pack 1, 32 / 64-bit