Reset Windows Vista password

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.

  1. Install SystemRescueCD on to a USB key or CD.
  2. Hold F2 at boot to get into your BIOS settings, then change the boot order to boot from USB or CD drive first.
  3. Restart the computer with the SystemRescueCD key/CD inserted.
  4. 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.
  5. Mount the Windows partition with ntfs-3g /dev/sda2 /mnt/windows.
  6. Change into the Windows config folder with cd /mnt/windows/Windows/System32/config.
  7. 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.
  8. Load user account settings with chntpw -u MyUsername. If your username contains spaces then surround it in quotes.
  9. Reset the password by choosing the ‘Clear (blank) user password’ option, then quit.
  10. Restart the computer and you should be able to log in as MyUsername with a blank password.

References

Last modified: 10/01/2017 Tags: ,

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