Resetting Windows Password

Thu, Jun 3, 2010 HOWTOs Tested on: NT 3.51, NT 4 (all versions and SPs), Windows 2000 (all versions & SPs), Windows XP (all versions, also SP2 and SP3), Windows Server 2003 (all SPs), Windows Vista 32 and 64 bit (SP1 also), Window 7 (all variants). Some also say that it works on Windows Server 2008 too. If used on users that have EFS encrypted files, and the system is XP or Vista, all encrypted files for that user will be UNREADABLE! and cannot be recovered unless you remember the old password again. If you dont know if you have encrypted files or not, you most likely dont have them (except maybe on corporate systems). Boot your computer with Hirens BootCD and follow the steps below for resetting your password:

1. Enter Offline NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 Password Changer

With Up & Down keys select Offline NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 Password Changer and press Enter.

2. Wait for Offline NT Password & Registry Editor to Load

On the screen below, youll see is several lines of text that quickly run down the screen. You dont need to do anything here. Wait for Offline NT Password & Registry Editor to load.

1. Select "NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 Password Changer"

2. Linux files are loading...

3. Choose the Correct Hard Drive Partition

This step in the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor process is to select the partition that contains the Windows installation that you want to delete a password from. Many computers have a single operating system installed on a single partition on a single hard drive, making this a very easy choice. If thats the case for you, just press ENTER to accept the default partition. Otherwise, type the number corresponding to the correct partition from the Candidate Windows partitions found list and then press ENTER. If more than one partition is listed and youre not sure which one to pick, chances are the larger partition is the one with Windows installed. Every Windows 7 PC will have more than one partition listed.

4. Confirm the Windows Registry Path

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor now needs to know the exact location of the Windows Registry. Except in the rarest of occasions, the default location will be the correct one. Just Press ENTER to accept the default Windows Registry path without writing anything else.

3. Choose the Correct Hard Drive Partition

4. Confirm the Windows Registry Path

5. Choose the Password Reset Option

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is now asking which part of the registry it should load. Press ENTER to accept the default choice of Password reset. The Offline NT Password & Registry Editor tool can perform various functions aside from resetting passwords but since thats the focus of this particular walkthrough, thats all well discuss.

6. Choose the Edit User Data and Passwords Option

Now that the registry is loaded and available to the program, Offline NT Password & Registry Editor needs to know exactly what you want to do. Press ENTER to accept the default choice of Edit user data and passwords. This will load the necessary options for the actual password reset.

5. Choose the Password Reset Option

6. Choose the Edit User Data and Passwords Option

7. Enter the Username to Edit

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor now needs to know which users password youd like to delete (erase, clear, blank, remove, call it what you like). A default user is listed between the brackets at the prompt. In the above example, you can see that its the Administrator user. If the default user is the user youd like to remove the password from, simply press ENTER. Otherwise, enter the username and then press ENTER.

8. Type 1 to Clear (blank) user password and then press ENTER

At the bottom of the screen youll see the User Edit Menu with several options to choose from. Type 1 for Clear (blank) user password and then press ENTER. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor shows some interesting information about the username you entered in the last step the full name, what groups the user belongs to, how many failed login attempts have taken place, how many total logins have been completed, and more. If you see a check in the Passwd not req. box, this means that a password is not a requirement for this particular user. It does not mean that a password is not required to access the account in Windows. In other words, its saying that it is possible to erase this users password.

7. Enter the Username to Edit

8. Type 1 to Clear (blank) user password and then press ENTER

9. Type ! to quit the User Edit Tool

Assuming there werent any problems, you should see a Password cleared! message after entering 1 in the previous step. Type ! to quit editing user and then press ENTER. You must confirm these changes in a later step before they are actually complete. If you quit Offline NT Password & Registry Editor now then the password reset will not take place!

10. Type q to Quit Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

Enter q and then press ENTER to quit the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor registry editing tool. Important: Youre still not done! You need to confirm your password reset change in the next step before it will take effect.

9. Type ! to quit the User Edit Tool

10. Type q to Quit Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

11. Type y and then press ENTER to confirm Password Reset Changes
At the Step FOUR: Writing back changes menu, Offline NT Password & Registry Editor asks if you want to write file(s) back.

Type y and then press ENTER. You should see an EDIT COMPLETE message appear on screen. If you do, it means that Offline NT Password & Registry Editor has written the password changes to your computer!

12. Confirm That Youre Finished Using Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor gives you an option here to rerun the program. If youve been following along with this guide and everything seems to have worked properly then theres little reason to repeat anything. Press ENTER to confirm the default option of not rerunning the password reset.

11. Type y and then press ENTER to confirm Password Reset Changes

12. Press ENTER to Confirm That You're Finished Using Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

13. Remove Hirens BootCD and Restart the Computer

Thats it! Youve just completed the entire Offline NT Password & Registry Editor password removal process.

13. Remove Hiren's BootCD and Restart the Computer Note: If you receive a job control turned off or a cant access tty error, dont worry. As long as the EDIT COMPLETE confirmation message was posted to the screen after you confirmed the password reset changes then your password was successfully reset. You should still be able to see the confirmation on the screen at this point. Remove Hirens BootCD from your CD/DVD drive and then manually reset your computer. In the next step, youll finally get to logon to Windows without entering a password! Now that your password has been removed using Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, no password is required to log on to Windows. If you are the only user on your computer, Windows will boot all the way to the desktop on the next reboot and will skip the logon screen altogether. If youre on a multi-user computer (as many families are), the logon screen will still appear after starting Windows but when you click on the user that had the password removed, you will not be prompted for a password and will instead enter Windows automatically. Having a secure password is important so please dont continue to use Windows without one. As soon as youve gained access to your computer again, configure a new password one you can remember a little easier!

Launching Hirens BootCD from USB Flash Drive

Mon, Jan 10, 2011 To launch Hirens BootCD from USB flash drive, first of all, your BIOS settings should be configured in order to change the boot order of your computer to USB drive. If you are having problem on changing boot order in BIOS, please refer Change the Boot Order in BIOS document. Please note that some computers may not support booting from USB drive and the steps below only works for the versions of Hirens BootCD 9.7 or newer.

Step1: Formating USB Flash Drive

Please note that, all data on your usb flash drive will be lost. Before doing this step, dont forget to backup your files on the usb flash drive. 1. Connect a 512 MB or above flash drive. 2. Download and run USB Disk Storage Format (34 KB). Follow the steps in the screenshots below:

Step2: Installing Grub4Dos to USB Flash Drive

Download grub4dos.zip (187 KB) to desktop. Follow the steps below:

1. Right click to the zip file and click 'Extract All...'

2. Click Next

3. Click Next to extract archive contents 4. Click Finish Now open grub4dos folder created on your desktop. Run grubinst_gui.exe inside of grub4dos folder and follow the steps below:

1. Run grub4dos

2. Click 'Run' on if you face with a Security Warning window

3. If you are not sure which disk is your USB Flash Drive, select the drive with the same size with your USB flash drive.

4. Installation of grub4dos completed. Press Enter to close the window.

Step3: Copy Files to USB Flash Drive

1. Put Hirens BootCD (9.7 or newer) into the CD Drive. 2. Copy everything from CD to USB Flash Drive. 3. Copy grldr and menu.lst (from HBCD folder of the CD) to the usb drives root folder. Finally contents of your USB Flash Drive should look like as below:

Final View of USB Flash Drive Contents

Troubleshoot
Please check FAQ page for the frequently asked questions.