Many times we face this problem when we or our friends forget Windows password and can't log into Windows. So here we are posting a few methods / utilities which can be used to recover Windows password:
DISCLAIMER: Following information should be used only if its your system and you have forgotten account password. Don't use this information to access a system which is not yours without permission.
1st Method:
The first thing which you check if you forget login password. When we install Windows, it automatically creates an account "Administrator" and sets its password to blank. So if you have forget your user account password then try this:
Start system and when you see Windows Welcome screen / Login screen, press <ctrl>+<alt>+<del> keys twice and it'll show Classic Login box.
Now type "Administrator" (without quotes) in Username and leave Password field blank. Now press Enter and you should be able to log in Windows.
Now you can reset your account password from "Control Panel -> User Accounts".
Same thing can be done using Safe Mode. In Safe Mode Windows will show this in-built Administrator account in Login screen.
2nd Method:
If the above mentioned trick doesn't work, try following trick which is actually a loophole in Windows XP Setup and a big security hole:
A. Boot using Windows XP Setup CD and follow the instruction like Accepting EULA, etc.
B. When it asks to repair your existing Windows installation, accept it and press "R" to run the repair.
C. Setup will start repairing your Windows and will start copying files, etc.
D. After a few minutes setup will restart your system and when it restarts don't press any key when it shows "Press any key to continue..." otherwise Setup will start from the beginning. Don't press any key and setup will resume where it left.
E. Now it'll start doing other tasks and will show a small progressbar with a few details in left side.
F. Look carefully at the details and when it shows "Installing devices", press <Shift>+F10 keys in your keyboard.
G. It'll open a Command Prompt window. Now type nusrmgr.cpl and press <Enter>.
H. It'll open the same "User Accounts" window which you see in Control Panel.
I. Now you can remove or reset any account password without any problem.
3rd Method:
You can use various bootable rescue CDs as mentioned in following link:
Download FREE Bootable Rescue CDs from Kaspersky, BitDefender, Avira, F-Secure and Others
There are also a few 3rd party utilities and rescue discs to help you recover your Windows password:
UBCD for Windows:
UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem. UBCD4Win is based on Bart's PE. Bart's PE builds a Windows "pre-install" environment CD, basically a simple Windows XP booted from CD. UBCD4Win includes network support and allows you the ability to modify NTFS volumes, recover deleted files, create new NTFS volumes, scan hard drives for viruses, etc.
Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD):
Ultimate Boot CD runs independently of any operating system. It will boot from any Intel-compatible machine, regardless of whether DOS/Windows/Linux/BeOS is installed on the machine. However, you do need an operating system and a ISO-capable CD writer software to create the Ultimate Boot CD from the downloaded ISO image file.
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor:
This is a utility to reset the password of any user that has a valid (local) account on your NT system. You do not need to know the old password to set a new one. It works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer and boot off a floppydisk or CD. It'll detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts. It is also an almost fully functional registry editor.
4th Method:
Windows XP and further versions also provide another method to recover forgotten password by using "Reset Disk". If you created a Password Reset Disk in past, you can use that disk to reset the password. You can create password reset disk using Control panel -> User Accounts applet.
5th Method:
If all fails, then simply reinstall Windows and create new accounts. To recover lost data, you can use Data recovery tools available on net but the chances will be very low to get data back.
That's all we can suggest. If you have any other method / tool, feel free to post here.
Also check:
How to Reset / Remove / Bypass a BIOS or CMOS Password?
This article was posted by VG in following section: Troubleshooting, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.
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Tariot
what if u can access administrator because of an account restriction
Matt
I usually use the "Windows Password Reset Kit 1.5" to reset Windows password, It worked great for me, with no reinstall and no data loss.
sridhar
thank u very much......
anand
yes the second method is a loop hole in xp the same thing can been seen in linux
people who are aware of this
Any how good job folks
Thanks
Anand Nair
Clueless
WoW i forgot the password to my computer and had no idea what to do, the first method is magic. Thanks
Norb
I don't understand how any of the Windows methods help. If you can get to user accounts under Control Panel and select" Change My Password", you're required to type in your old password before it will let you change it. If I could do that, I wouldn't need instructions. If you select "Remove My Password", it won't let you remove your password until you type in your old password. How do the first methods help? What am I missing here?
DK
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor works great. It helped me to reset the local admin password. In my case, I had a laptop which was part of a test domain. I removed it from domain and realized I could no longer login with the cached information and I forgot my local administrator password. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, helped me to reset my local admin account. Great article. Thanks.
Rylai
A Windows Password Reset Disk could do all the job for you, it can reset your lost or forgotten Windows password safely and quickly without login, you can create a Windows password reset disk with the tool Windows Password Breaker, then reset your password.
Omar
Thanks A lot by far the best info there is the first step is all I needed for windows XP professional once again thanks. Keep the good work going
Christina
Thank you so much! The 1st method worked just fine! Best regards.