I think you are on to something. I am not the best at computers, and I did something incredibly stupid three weeks ago, I deleted my admin account on my computer, leaving me with just a regular user account. Apparently it is possible.
Bottom line was I couldn’t create another admin account because my regular user account would always ask for a password, which didn’t exist. I learned there was a “secret” admin account for Windows, but I couldn’t access this either as you had to get to it from your powershell or cmd line, which of course, needed admin privledges.
After a quick google, I found a site telling me how to go in through Linux. I downloaded a Ubuntu disc and ran that O/S off the DVD and easily got in and fixed the problem by creating a new admin account.
Total time about 15 minutes. So I think it’s possible for less than experienced computer people to use another O/S for recovery.