Reset Your Forgotten Windows Password
You’ve forgotten or lost the password to all administrator accounts on your Windows XP, 2000, 2003, Vista or 98 computer and need to get in somehow.
OK, firstly if you’re a Windows XP user, I’d highly recommend you try this article first: Lost/Forgotten Windows XP Password.
If that doesn’t work out for you, come back here and continue with this solution.
Symptoms:
- You have changed your Windows password and have forgotten the new password
- You have not created emergency reset disks
- There are no other administrator accounts on the system
Explanation:
This problem occurs when the password for all administrator accounts to any of the above systems is forgotten or typed incorrectly when being changed.
Solution
Warning – If you have files that are encrypted then these will not be accessible after resetting your password
Disclaimer – proposedsolution.com or the author accept no responsibility for data loss as a result of using this tool
You need the following:
- A PC/Mac you can access and use to create a CD or DVD.
- A writable CD
or DVD
- CD or DVD Drive and software capable of writing a CD from an ISO file
- The software (downloadable below)
You can also create either a bootable floppy disk or use a USB drive instead of a CD/DVD. or See readme.txt within the software download for details.
Instructions
Video Instructions: You can now watch a 60 second video of steps 6 to 18 by clicking here.
- On a working PC/MAC, Ways download Offline NT Password & Registry Editor by clicking here (this will open in a new window/tab)
- Extract the ISO file to your hard disk
- Using your CD/DVD burning software create a bootable CD or DVD from the ISO file. You can see instructions on how to burn an ISO to a CD or DVD in Mac or Windows here.
- Insert the newly created Miami Dolphins Jerseys CD/DVD into the PC that you want to reset the password on and switch it on.
- If you are prompted to press any key to boot from CD then press any key. If at this point your PC refuses to boot from the CD/DVD then ensure that the system is capable of booting from CD/DVD and if it is ensure that your startup devices are set correctly in the system BIOS. (Setup utility)
- At the [boot] prompt press enter (if required). (video instructions – steps 6 to 18)
- The next prompt will display your partitions and you must choose carefully the correct partition that your windows installation is on. If you have only one the accept the default of [1] and press enter
- If windows was shutdown incorrectly you will get a warning. At this point you can reboot into windows (if you can access windows as a Standard user) or select Y to force changes
- You wholesale jerseys will now be asked for the path to the cheap mlb jerseys registry. Unless you are an advanced user who knows differently, select the default path by simply hitting Enter
- Now you are asked which part of the registry to load. Enter 1 for password reset and hit Enter
- Next you are asked what to do. Enter 1 to ‘Edit user data and passwords’ and hit Enter
- Now you will be presented with a list of users on the systems. Select one of the users with ‘ADMIN’ next to it by typing in the actual username in the ‘Username’ column and hit Enter
- You will now be presented with information about the user id and also the User Edit Menu. Type 2 and hit Enter to set a new password for the user you selected in step 11
- Type new password and hit Enter
- Type ! and hit Enter to quit
- Now type q and hit Enter to quit
- Type Y Bevestigingsmail to the question ‘About to write file(s) back! Do it? and hit Enter
- Type N and hit Enter to ‘New Run? question
- Remove the CD/DVD from your PC and restart the computer
- All going well, you will be able to login to Windows as normal with your newly set password
RAJESH says
Tried the same procedure and cleared the password of the machine as mentioned in the procedure for windows vista home premium application. But the software did not work and my windows asks for the password eventhough we have cleared the same using the procedure as described.
Rosco says
Hey Rajesh…Did you get any error messages or did the procedure go as described? Make sure Windows is cleanly shut down before trying it i.e. boot to the login screen and then choose to shutdown and let Windows shutdown properly. Then try. Also make sure you actually set a new password instead of setting a blank password.
PAUL says
Whe i get to this section
“You will now be asked for the path to the registry. Unless you are an advanced user who knows differently, select the default path by simply hitting Enter”
and i hit enter (as default) its asks me the same question again -what is the patch to the registry directory?
Any ideas whats wrong?
william says
I followed all the ats everything went righ but yet when i type in the new pass it says its incorrect. I know SOMETHING changed because my userpic got reset to a sunflower but yet it still doesnt work. I’ve repeated the steps 3 times so far and still no avail. Please help!
Rosco says
Hi William,
Are you using Windows XP?
If so, you should try the following solution which is very effective:
https://proposedsolution.com/solutions/forgotten-or-lost-windows-xp-password/
Let me know how you get on.
R.
happykaka says
https://wiki.e107.org/?title=Forgot_Head_Admin_Password#Solutions_for_recovery_windows_admin_password there is an article about how to reset windows password. It must be helpful for those who have been locked out of computer
Reign says
This is the best. i had a vista machine that I bought from dell that was giving me problems with the screen and the harddrive had crashed so I restored the vista installation and created a new admin password. I then bought another notebook and had not used the old one for a while and forgot the admin password.
used this tool to get rid of the old password.
For some reason the instructions to change the password did not work, So I just pick the option to make the admin password blank and that worked and the system log me right it.
Thanks for the get work.
Rosco says
No problem Reign. Thanks for leaving a comment. It makes my day!
R.
Karlo says
For some reason when i get to the part when you select “Edit user data and passwords” it wont let me select it. It just keeps repeating. . . any ideas?
Rosco says
Hi Karlo, so when you type 1 and press enter does it ask you the same question again?
Constance says
I am trying to get the password of a vista home basic acer computer for the estate of a deceased person. When running the software, it cannot load partition (error mounting drive) but loads partition 2. It then prompts for the path windows/system32/config and keeps redisplaying this prompt when I press enter. Please help.
Rosco says
Hi Constance,
What does it display at step 7 where it you see the message “Candidate Windows Partitions found:?”
Please tell me any further messages displayed after you enter 1 or 2.
Regards
Ross
Pierce O'Brien says
Rosco,
Managed to reset a Windows Vista Password using this method as outlined above, and it was done and dusted in less than 2 minutes. I have spent the last 48 hours researching this topic on the web, and was about to spend 35 dollars on a dedicated software solution, when – totally by chance – I came across this article.
Anyway, I hope that you are well and I owe you pints next time you are in town.
Pierce
Rosco says
Hey Pobby…
Good to hear from you.
Always glad to save you some cash 😉
Hope all is well…probably won’t be back in town for a while!
Rosco
Maureen@windows user account password remover says
I forgot my user password.This information very helpful.Thanks
Ami says
Followed each step. Even told me my password had changed but when I tried it I was told it was incorrect. Pls help
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Neil says
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor refused to mount hard drive and say it’s hibernated, so I can’t use it. Eventually I used PCUnlocker and it worked well.