Lost Password in XP

If i remember correctly unless you created a password recovery disk, the outlook might be grim, i had a similar problem a few years back, rather than spend countless hours searching for a solution, i just reformatted and reinstalled, i know that doesnt really help you, especially hearing bad news, maybe someone else on these forums has an idea,

There are several ways to get into a computer without a password.  First, try the old trick of powering it up and waiting until the login screen comes up.  Press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice and you'll see the old style login boxes.  Type Administrator in the top box.  Be sure the A is upper case and the rest is lower case.  Don't put anything into the password box.  Press ENTER or click OK.

If no Admin password was set, that should get you in.  Once in, go to the regular user's profile and set the password to whatever you want.

If that fails, try the stuff in your PM box.

For XP, if nothing else works, you should be able to find a legitimate commercial app that will help you 'break in to your own computer.' I saw it done once several years ago, but it required floppies and I can't remember the app's name. I do remember it was around $60.

Well the SAM file isnt that hard to bruteforce and dont take long unless you have a very long and advanced password.

I know i have done it on my own machine. Probably are some nice dos-boot disk or similar that can gethold of your sam and crack it really fast.

Good Luck

 

Well. I am in as Administrator. Thanks for getting me in. If i can not figure out the old password at least i can make a new user account.

 

Thanks MottiKhan

Does it request password info in safe mode?

I did not try it in safe mode. 

All i did was what MottiKhan said .  Put Administrator in user and left Password blank. That started the computer up as Admin. Then went to user account that i lost password and changed the password. Done, Every things good.  Way to easy.

http://www.grape-info.com/doc/win2000srv/security/ntpasswd.html 

Grab that.

It resets Admin passwords as well....cos if you've forgotten that one you're very likely up the proverbial without a paddle...;)

Good tool to have 'just in case'....particularly when the password is actually corrupted and thus impossible to know.  [it happens]

My password is imaginary.

But that means I can't type it in...

My password is ******

hey!

You stole mine, fuzzy!

I'm glad to see that you got it working, WeatherBound.   

Ouch!  Now my brain hurts.   

Mine password is ****** or It is ********.  Dang, I get a year older and My brain looks like ***********.

Password Hint - Me. And still could not figure it out. Ouch

Mine password is myname or It is password. Dang, I get a year older and My brain looks like that greysquigglythinginmyskull.

So how many of you use Pa55w0rd and think you are safe?

How to create a hugely long extra safe password you can remember? Just think of a phrase... This is an easy one as an example, but you get the idea

Th3QuickBr0wnF0xJump50v3rTh3142yD0g

Easy to remember, not so easy to crack.

We used the following process this weekend and were able to reset the password for each user.  It worked like a charm and was suprisingly easy -- the process takes a little while (maybe an hour in total) but most of it is sitting around waiting time.

http://brettlive.com/2007/04/18/what-if-you-forget-your-admin-password-in-xp/

 

shadesofgrey ....my method is faster/easier...and no need for XP CDs, etc, either...;)

Really?  It looked really complicated.  But I, admittedly, don't know a whole lot about computers -- I was just excited that I finally (after five years) had something relevant to contribute to the computing section of JU.  (yes, yes, it's the little things...)

Get this, install it,  download the relevant pack for XP, burn it to a disk and restart your computer.  It will recover all windows passwords for all accounts in about 3 - 5 minutes.  No technical knowledge needed and its free.

 

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

I've been using a 15 character password for ages, and I have this thing for non-alphanumeric characters.

I should really set up a 127 character password for XP, though...

For myself, I got hold of a Linux based Password Reset File that works for Vista, XP, and 2000. You can get a CD version or a floppy version. Just go to scroogle.org and search for "XP Password Reset" "Linux". It should come up. I use it all the time to reset passwords that people forgot on Windows. Oh, and it is better to use it and just blank the password to nothing then go in and create a new one for said account. On a non related thing, I took the liberty for myself to mod your Dark Vista Desktop to the programs and such I use myself. I love what you did with it. I have no plans to upload it to wincustomize since it is your work and all I did was change some properties and program targets as well as the wallpaper. If you'd like to see my work I did, it is on my profile as my Desktop screen. Keep up the great work and be well.