How to recover my lost password?

[Eric]

For XP, my password for administrator is lost. Does anyone have any
suggestion on how to recover it? so I don't need to re-format my PC.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Eric

 

[peter]

Tried Hypnosis?? memory recall ??
have you looked all over the house?? maybe its just hiding in some unused
dusty corner??

peter

 

[Nightowl]

For XP, my password for administrator is lost. Does anyone have any
suggestion on how to recover it? so I don't need to re-format my PC.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Hi Eric

It depends on what exactly you mean by "administrator". Do you mean a
user account that has admin privileges, or the built-in Administrator
account?

If it's the first one, try logging in using the built-in Administrator
account, then you can set a new password for the other account to
replace the forgotten one.

If you have XP Pro: at the Welcome Screen press Ctrl-Alt-Delete twice
and a login box should pop up. Enter Administrator for user name and a
password if you had set one (by default it is blank).

If you have XP Home: boot to Safe Mode and you should see the
Administrator account appear as a choice on the Welcome Screen.

However, if the lost password was *for* the built-in Administrator
account, you will need to use a password reset utility like this one:
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Hope this helps. Good luck (and don't forget to write your new password
down somewhere safe

 

[Xandros]

Download the opcrack "livecd" and create a self booting CD that will reveal
your accounts and passwords. You can then record them to enter when prompted
http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

or you can download this file and follow the instructions to create a
bootable CD (or floppy) which will remove the admin password leaving it
blank http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/tools/ntpassword/ntpasswordhack.zip

Personally I like ophcrack because it doesn't make any changes to the system
but if the password is complex it may not work in which case the other app
will be necessary.

 

[Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM]

For XP, my password for administrator is lost. Does anyone have any
suggestion on how to recover it? so I don't need to re-format my PC.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Eric

Are you sure it had one?
Did you try leaving the password blank?

 

[keng]

For XP, my password for administrator is lost. Does anyone have any
suggestion on how to recover it? so I don't need to re-format my PC.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Eric

 

[ju.c]

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, Bootdisk/CD (Freeware)
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

quote/
- This is a utility to (re)set the password of any user that has
a valid (local) account on your Windows NT/2k/XP/Vista etc
system.
- You do not need to know the old password to set a new one.
- It works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer
and boot off a floppydisk or CD or another system.
- 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.
/quote


ju.c