I forgot my Windows logon password!
What should I do? Reinstall? NO!
So how do you recover it? You can’t, BUT you can reset it…
There’s a nifty utility called Offline NT Password & Registry Editor (aka ntpasswd) that will reset Windows NT/2K/XP passwords. It runs from self-booting diskette or CD. Please note that it will not recover AD passwords, and may render EFS encrypted files permanently unreadable.
To save wasting CD’s with small applications you can actually find this utility and a whole range of other useful recovery tools together on the Ultimate Boot CD (aka UBCD).
As if that isn’t enough Winternals (the same people who make Sysinternals Freeware) offer a peice of software called Administrator’s Pak which you can purchase from them. This software creates a bootable CD called ERD Commander which contains a utility called Locksmith which allows you to reset lost passwords.
ste said,
October 25, 2007 @ 2:51 pm
So what if you have loads of stuff you need to get off your account?
is it gone?
I forgot both user-name and password
I guess im screwwed lol
chris crooks said,
June 25, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
hi, last night i signed out of my laptop, signed on to my other account (which is not an administrative one) and when i tried to sign back into my main admin account, i realised i had forgotten my password.
any advice?
i really need to get back into my account so that i can use my files etc. i do not want to reinstall vista
please advise.