How do I reset the postgres password for PostgreSQL on Windows? I have installed PostgreSQL on my Windows machine for development. Now I haven't used it for a while, and have forgotten the password for user postgres (default admin user in PostgreSQL). How can I reset the password for postgres in PostgreSQL on Windows?



I followed Milen's suggestion, but got this message when trying to reload the configuration file:

C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.1\data&gt;pg_ctl reload -D .
pg_ctl: could not send reload signal (PID: 3396): Operation not permitted


In Windows there is a menu option "Reload Configuration" that worked better, as shown below:
From the 9.0 FAQ, I lost the database password. What can I do to recover it?:

I lost the database password. What can I do to recover it?
You can't. However, you can reset it to something else. To do this, you

Edit pg_hba.conf to allow trust authorization temporarily - go here for its location
Reload the config file (pg_ctl reload)
Connect and issue ALTER ROLE postgres WITH PASSWORD 'newpassword'; to set the new password (for first time users note the semi-colon)
Edit pg_hba.conf again and restore the previous settings
Reload the config file again