I recently needed to get into a Windows Vista machine, but I didn’t know the password.
Some versions of Windows will allow you to hold F8 on boot, choose Safe Mode, then access Windows via a hidden Administrator account with blank password. Failing that you can use the recovery CDs or use third part software designed to reset passwords.
I chose to use SystemRescueCD - a small Linux system designed for system recovery - because I happened to have it installed on a USB key.
- Install SystemRescueCD on to a USB key or CD.
- Hold F2 at boot to get into your BIOS settings, then change the boot order to boot from USB or CD drive first.
- Restart the computer with the SystemRescueCD key/CD inserted.
- When you’re at the command prompt, run
fdisk -l
to list the partitions on the hard drive. Identify the Windows device (it’s normally the largest NTFS one). I’ll assume it’s /dev/sda2. - Mount the Windows partition with
ntfs-3g /dev/sda2 /mnt/windows
. - Change into the Windows config folder with
cd /mnt/windows/Windows/System32/config
. - List users with
chntpw -l SAM
. Make note of the username of the account whos password you’d like to reset. I’ll assume that it’s MyUsername. - Load user account settings with
chntpw -u MyUsername
. If your username contains spaces then surround it in quotes. - Reset the password by choosing the ‘Clear (blank) user password’ option, then quit.
- Restart the computer and you should be able to log in as MyUsername with a blank password.