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It happens often, we leave our beloved pc in our home and go for a vacation, and after coming back we forget the admin password for it to enter. And your so loved PC turns against you by not letting you enter. The scenario can be anything but the problem is frustrating and same for all.
Today, we will discuss how to get away with even after you forget your Windows (XP, 2003, ME, Vista, Win7) administrator password. However we will discuss about the small tool that will help us in getting the work done. We are not going in details on how this works and keep it for a future post.
Requirements:
• Windows Pc in which you want to reset the password.
• A blank CD/DVD Or an USB Pendrive.
• Another PC where you can copy the software provided here to CD/DVD Or the Pendrive.
• A basic know how about how to change the Bios Boot Priority.
Tell Me the Steps Quickly…
Step 1 :
Download the given software here as Disk Image Or for Pendrive Here. If you download the Disk image you just need to burn the image to a blank disk and you are all set to go. However if you download the files for Pendrive, unzip the folder and copy all the files to your pendrive . Then go to START>>ACCESSORIES>>CMD and right click on it and Select Run As Administrator(Offcourse your are doing it in another Pc with Admin Privelage). Now you will need to install a file called syslinux.exe in the pendrive. To do that type this in the CMD panel i:\syslinux.exe -ma i: where i is the drive that was assigned to your pendrive. Wait for sometime if nothing is displayed and the cursor returns then all went fine.
Step 2:
Now move to the PC you want to reset the password, either insert the CD/DVD or the Pendrive what you opted for and select its as the first boot device. Once you have booted into it you will see the welcome screen. Press enter to continue to the next options. Then it will detect all the partitions you have and will ask you to select the Windows partition. Select it and press enter, it will verify if it’s a NTFS partition and will move to the next step.
Step 3:
In the next step it would be asking you the path for the SAM file, if you are unaware of it choose the default path because you haven’t changed it. Once that is done, it will show you all the user accounts that are associated with the computer, and will ask you to choose the one you want to modify. Select the Admin account you forgot password of, and once selected, it would provide you with the list of actions you want to perform on it.
Step 4:
Select the option you want to perform like clear password or change password or upgrade an user etc. Once you are done with that you would be getting a confirmation form it stating the function was successful. Once you receive the message, save the new password in the file again and come out of the system in steps as shown there. Reme
mber, even if the reset was successful and you do not save the password
back, the reset would not be carried out in real.
Step 5:
After you are completed with all the above steps successfully and saved the password, you can now restart the PC and happily login to your Workstation again.
Note: This article is for educational and rescue purposes. Do not use for illegal purpose.
Software Used: Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
