This hack will show you how to reset Windows
administrator password (for Win 2000, XP, Vista and Win 7) at times when
you forget it or when you want to gain access to a computer for which
you do not know the password.
Most of us have experienced a
situation where in we need to gain access to a computer which is
password protected or at times we may forget the administrator password
without which it becomes impossible to login to the computer. So here is
an excellent hack using which you can reset the password or make the
password empty (remove the password) so that you can gain administrator
access to the computer. You can do this with a small tool called Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. This utility works offline, that means you need to shut
down your computer and boot off your using a floppy disk, CD or USB
device (such as pen drive). The tool has the following features.
- You do not need to know the old password to set a new one
- Will detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts!
- There is also a registry editor and other registry utilities that works under linux/unix, and can be used for other things than password editing.
How it works?
Most Windows operating systems stores the login passwords
and other encrypted passwords in a file called sam (Security Accounts Manager). This file can be usually
found in \windows\system32\config. This file is a part of Windows
registry and remains inaccessible as long as the OS is active. Hence it
is necessary that you need to boot off your computer and access this sam
file via boot. This tool intelligently gains access to this file and
will reset/remove the password associated with administrator or any
other account.
The download
link for both CD and floppy drives along with the complete instructions
is given below
It is recommended that you download the CD version of the
tool since floppy drive is outdated and doesn’t exist in today’s
computer. Once you download you’ll get a bootable image which you need
to burn it onto your CD. Now boot your computer from this CD and follow
the screen instructions to reset the password.
Another simple way to reset non-administrator account passwords
Here is another simple way through which you can reset
the password of any non-administrator accounts. The only requirement for
this is that you need to have administrator privileges. Here is a
step-by-step instruction to accomplish this task.
1. Open the command prompt (Start->Run->type cmd->Enter)
2. Now type net user and hit Enter
3. Now the system
will show you a list of user accounts on the computer. Say for example
you need to reset the password of the account by name ADMIN, then do as follows
4. Type net user ADMIN * and hit Enter(Note: there is space between ADMIN and *)
.Now the system will ask you to enter the new password for the account.
That’s it. Now you’ve successfully reset the password for John without
knowing his old password.
So in this way you
can reset the password of any Windows account at times when you forget
it so that you need not re-install your OS for any reason. I hope this
helps.
