Jeff said:
I know this is a Vista group, but I am hoping someone can help me. I have
xp, and two different windows 7 OS's on my hdd for eval. My wife has put
a
logon password on one of the 7 installs and forgot it. I can, of course
get into that install from the other one, but have no knowledge of how to
remove
or change the password on the other install. Any help would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks in advance, Jeff
Standard answer for Windows 7 and Vista:
You can change your password to something you will remember from another
administrative user's account. If you only had one administrative user
account and you've forgotten the password, you can use one of the methods
below instead. You might then want to follow the general recommendations for
setting up user accounts that I'll give you at the end of this post.
Doing all this requires a certain level of computer skills. You know
yourself best and whether taking the machine to a competent local computer
tech (not a BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place) is the better solution
for you.
Method 1 - If you have an installation DVD (not a recovery DVD) you can boot
the system with it. Select the default language, then choose "Repair your
computer". Then select "Command Prompt". At the command prompt type:
net user administrator /active:yes
net user [insert your user account's name here] [insert new user password
like 1234 here]
[Note: Do not type the brackets!]
Now you will be able to log into your user account using the password you
set; i.e., 1234.
Vista only: If you don't have a Vista installation DVD you can either make a
bootable Vista Repair DVD from the file at this link:
http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/
Method 2 - Or you can use NTpassword to change your user account's password
to a blank. In both cases you will need third-party burning software such as
Nero, Roxio, or the free ImgBurn (
http://www.imgburn.com) to burn the .iso
as an image, not as data.
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
3. Log into your administrative user account (not the Built-in
Administrator) which will either require no password or something simple
like "1234".
If you used Method 1, after you have logged into your administrative user
account you should disable the built-in Administrator again for security
purposes:
Start Orb>Search box>type: cmd
When cmd appears in Results above, right-click it and choose "Run as
administrator" [OK]. Now you will get the command prompt. At the command
prompt type:
net user administrator /active:no [enter]
Exit the command prompt.
General Recommendations For Setting Up Users In Vista and Windows 7:
You absolutely do not want to have only one user account. Like XP and all
other modern operating systems, Vista and Windows 7 are multi-user operating
systems with built-in system accounts such as Administrator, Default, All
Users, and Guest. These accounts should be left alone as they are part of
the operating system structure.
You particularly don't want only one user account with administrative
privileges on Vista/Win7 because the built-in Administrator account
(normally only used in emergencies) is disabled by default. If you're
running as Administrator for your daily work and that account gets
corrupted, things will be Difficult. It isn't impossible to activate the
built-in Administrator to rescue things, but it will require third-party
tools and working outside the operating system.
The user account that is for your daily work should be a Standard user, with
the extra administrative user (call it something like "CompAdmin" or "Tech"
or the like) only there for elevation purposes. After you create
"CompAdmin", log into it and change your regular user account to Standard.
Then log back into your regular account.
If you want to go directly to the Desktop and skip the Welcome Screen with
the icons of user accounts, you can do this:
Start Orb>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter]
Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by
UAC
Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the
desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct password
for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if
there is no password (null).
Malke
