Lost Administrator Password

[Guest]

Is there any way to find the password to the administrator account if you
made a new password for it but didn't write it down? I have the password
written in the administrator account, in a notepad document but I forgot to
write it down on actual paper and I can't remember it now because it's just
all basically letters, numbers and symbols.

 

[Guest]

xp home edition, you can boot in safe mode and change password.
xp pro, unless you can log on as someone else with admin priveleges you may
as well reload windows.

 

[Vantage]

there are various password resetting utilities out there (basically boot
from the CD or floppy) and you can reset the admin password. I use
Winternals, which is like $250. maybe do a google search and see what you
can find

 

[Guest]

If you have another account with Administrator priveleges, you can open that
notepad file through that account if you haven't made the Administrator's
files private. If you can't open the file, the instructions below will help
you to make it so that you can edit the Administrator account through the
Users control panel by editing the registry. I hope it's easy enough to
understand. =)

Click Start, Run, and type in "regedit" (without the quotes). Press OK.
Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows
NT/Winlogon/SpecialAccounts/UserList. Right-click in the right frame and
choose New, DWORD Value. Name the new value "Administrator" (again, without
the quotes). Double-click the value to edit it, and change the number in the
Value Data field to 1. Then make sure Decimal is selected under Base. Press
OK. Close the Registry Editor and open Users in the Control Panel. You should
now be able to edit the Administrator account from there. Good luck!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Some questions:
- If the OP had a second admin account, why perform
your registry hack? She could simply reset the original
admin's password!
- If she does not have a second admin account, how can
she get into the registry?
- Your registry hack makes accounts visible on the initial
logon screen. How should this help her with a lost
password?

 

[Guest]

I apologize if I've made a mistake. The registry hack does make the Admin
account viewable/editable in the Control Panel, though. And from what I've
seen, the Administrator account isn't normally accessable is it?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The administrator logon may not be ***visible***
but it is always ***accessible***, by pressing
Ctrl+Alt+Del twice in succession. All of this has
nothing to do with passwords - if the OP does
not remember her password then she cannot
change any of the admin account details.

 

[Black Bart]

On a working system - maybe on a friends computer - go to
http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm
there you will find a list of FREE password recovery/wipe utilities.
IMHO it is usually best to set a Blank password using one of the
above, then go in and reset it within windows.

Be aware that most of these 'crackers' are based on Linux and therfore
use the Command Line Interface, so read the instructions on screen
VERY carefully!

Black Bart

 

[MWR]

I have a similar problem which has me going around the bend...

I cannot log on to Win-XP Home as the login-box opens with a message that I
am unable to logon because of account restrictions before I even have a
chance to enter a password (which was a blank before the trouble started).
This came after I tinkered with the registry to remove an unwanted user's
name that could not be deleted from the user list. The result is a corrupted
registry, the stuff I was always warned about...

To bypass this problem, I have tried just about every lead and downloaded
files to burn a bootable CD (Austrumi, CD050303, EBCD) and I simply cannot
get the laptop to boot from the CD even though I set it for first boot in
the BIOS setup.

What am I doing wrong? What must I do to these files so that they become
executable on boot?

Manfred


Btw,

I also spent a stupid $30 on downloading a disk from PCBeginners.com which
did boot but soon comes to an endless loop that accepts no input. The
"support" person tells me to read the manual. Whatever you do, DO NOT expect
help or buy from this bogus outfit. Their programs are compiled for profit
from open sources and the CD offers no useful guidance whatever, in one
word, dreck.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have a similar problem which has me going around the bend...

I cannot log on to Win-XP Home as the login-box opens with a message that I
am unable to logon because of account restrictions before I even have a
chance to enter a password (which was a blank before the trouble started).
This came after I tinkered with the registry to remove an unwanted user's
name that could not be deleted from the user list. The result is a corrupted
registry, the stuff I was always warned about...

To bypass this problem, I have tried just about every lead and downloaded
files to burn a bootable CD (Austrumi, CD050303, EBCD) and I simply cannot
get the laptop to boot from the CD even though I set it for first boot in
the BIOS setup.

What am I doing wrong? What must I do to these files so that they become
executable on boot?

Manfred


Btw,

I also spent a stupid $30 on downloading a disk from PCBeginners.com which
did boot but soon comes to an endless loop that accepts no input. The
"support" person tells me to read the manual. Whatever you do, DO NOT expect
help or buy from this bogus outfit. Their programs are compiled for profit
from open sources and the CD offers no useful guidance whatever, in one
word, dreck.

You might be able to restore your ability to log on by renaming
the file c:\windows\system32\config\sam to something else. On
Win2000 this has the effect of removing all accounts and letting
you logon as "administrator" with a blank password.

To rename this file, try booting the machine with your WinXP
CD, then get into the Recovery Console mode.

 

[coal_brona]

Hi,

Yes, I suppose you can really reset your password using Active@
Password Changer tool. That is a small yet mighty utility that can
easily reset lost or fogotten passwords. That helped me before, so try
it out.


http://www.password-changer.com/