Reset a Windows XP or Vista Password
If you've forgotten your user password for Windows XP or Vista, you can use the hidden Administrator account to reset your password. If you've locked yourself out of the Administrator account, there are still a couple of different ways that you can find or reset your passwords.
Contents
[hide]Steps
Resetting an XP Password
- Reboot your computer.
- Press and hold the F8 key before the Windows logo and loading bar appear. This should load the Advanced Startup menu.
- If your computer boots all the way to Windows, you will need to restart and try again.
- Select "Safe Mode" or "Safe Mode with Networking". Wait for Windows to load into Safe Mode.
- Select the "Administrator" account.
- If you don't see the Administrator account, or you are taken directly to the Safe Mode desktop, press Ctrl + Alt + Del twice and then type Administrator into the User field. Leave the Password field blank.
- Open the Control Panel. You can find this in the Start menu.
- Open the "User Accounts" utility.
- Select the user that you want to change the password for.
- Click "Change the password".
- Enter your new password twice. Click Change Password to confirm.
- Reboot your computer. This will exit Safe Mode and allow you to log in using the new password.
Resetting a Vista Password
- Find a Windows Vista installation or recovery disc. In order to perform this method, you will need to enter the Recovery Console, which can only be accessed with a Windows Vista installation or recovery disc.
- You can download a Windows Vista ISO file and burn it to a DVD. The installation disc doesn't need to be the one you use to install your operating system, but it does need to be for the same version of Windows.
- Insert the installation disc into your computer.
- Restart your computer.
- Enter your BIOS setup. When the POST screen (the screen that appears before the loading bar shows up and usually displays the computer manufacturer's logo) appears, press the button indicated by it to enter your BIOS setup.
- For a more detailed explanation, click here.
- Set your computer to boot from the disc drive and save the settings.
- Click here for a more detailed explanation.
- Restart your computer.
- Press any key to boot from the inserted disc. This will start the Setup program.
- Click .Next at the Install Windows screen.
- Click "Repair your computer". This is located in the bottom-left corner of the Install Windows screen. After clicking, wait a few moments while the Setup program locates your Windows installation.
- Highlight "Windows Vista" and click .Next >. Make a note of which drive Windows is installed on. This is typically the C: drive, but it may be on the D: drive.
- Select "Command Prompt" in the System Recovery Options menu.
- Type .copy c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe c:\. Press Enter.
- If your copy of Windows is installed on the D: drive, replace c: with d:.
- Type .copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe. Press Enter.
- Type .y and press Enter.
- This will give you the ability to load the command prompt from the login screen without having to start Windows.
- Remove your installation or recovery disc and reboot your computer. Allow Windows to reboot as it normally would.
- Click the Accessibility button in the bottom left corner of the Windows login screen. Instead of opening the Accessibility options, the Command Prompt will open.
- Type .net user Template:Var Template:Var. Press Enter. Replace Template:Var with the user you want to change, and Template:Var with the new password.
- For example: net user Administrator newpassword1
- If your username has a space in it, put quotes around it (e.g. net user "John Doe" password).
- Log in with your new password. As soon as you run the command, your new password will be ready to go. You can use it to log in immediately.
- Create a password recovery disk. Once you are back into Windows, you can create a password recovery disk so that you can avoid problems like this in the future. Using the disk will allow you to quickly retrieve your lost password. See Create-a-Windows-7-Password-Reset-Disk for detailed steps on creating and using the disk.
Cracking an XP or Vista Password
- Download OPHCrack. This is an open-source, free utility that can crack your Windows passwords using some advanced algorithms. The program has been made available for free by the developers and all of the code is public and peer-reviewed. OPHCrack comes in ISO format, which means it will need to be burned to a CD/DVD in order to work.
- Only download OPHCrack from its official SourceForge page. This is the version directly from the developers. Do not download any version of OPHCrack that comes in EXE format. Make sure to download the correct version for your version of Windows.
- Some antivirus programs will flag OPHCrack as a virus. This is because some of the tools it contains are classified as "evil software", since they are expressly designed for hacking. Using OPHCrack from the SourceForge page will not result in any viruses.
- If you can't access your computer because you are locked out, you will need to do this on another computer.
- Burn the OPHCrack ISO file to a blank disc. This will allow you to boot from the disc and load the OPHCrack software without loading Windows. This guide has detailed instructions for burning ISO files to disc.
- Boot your computer from your burned OPHCrack disc. Insert the disk into the computer that you need to crack and boot from the disc. This guide will show you how to configure your computer to boot from a disc. When configured correctly, OPHCrack will start automatically when your computer starts up.
- Select "Ophcrack Graphic mode - automatic" and press Enter. After loading files, OPHCrack will open the graphical menu.
- Wait for the passwords to be retrieved. Once OPHCrack starts, it will automatically begin attempting to retrieve all of your passwords. This could take some time, especially if the passwords are complex.
- Find your user name. In the User column, you will see all of the active Windows User accounts.
- Find your recovered passwords. Recovered passwords will be displayed in the "NT Pwd" column. If the column says "empty" for a user, then that user does not have a password.
- Write down your password, remove the disc, and reboot your computer. You can now log into Windows as you normally would, using the recovered password.
- Create a password recovery disk. Once you are back into Windows, you can create a password recovery disk so that you can avoid problems like this in the future. Using the disk will allow you to quickly retrieve your lost password. See Create-a-Windows-7-Password-Reset-Disk for detailed steps on creating and using the disk.
Warnings
- Running OPHCrack on a computer that you don't own or have permission to work on is considered hacking and is illegal.