How can you recover a forgotten admin. password for XP

[LUZR4LIFE]

OK, I have a friend who forgot his password to log in to XP.

How can you recover the password or reset it? I have seen a few articles but I am hoping someone here has actually done it.

[Mr.Thunderbird]

Safe mode, then go to user accounts settings, and then find your locked user account, and THEN remove password

[Tarun]

Start > Run > cmd

net user USERNAME PASSWORD

Say I want to reset JoeUser's password to no password. I'd enter this into the command prompt:

net user JoeUser *

[Mr.Thunderbird]

that also works at schools btw xD

When you dont have access to safe mode xD

[heath28m]

For those of you who do not like to use or know how to use the command prompt..

I have a CD which can booted from called PC Beginner Tools 2007.

You boot from CD and then you can go in and remove or change any password that has been set even on the Administrator account in safe mode..

[PeaNut]

Another solution is to use ***Removed warez talk ***(which is a bootable disc of very useful utilities for system administrators) and use the utility named "Active Password Changer". It can clear disabled, locked out users, and also administrator passwords. (No public downloads, because that disc contains non-freeware progs too..., search on known torrent sites if you need it)

Warning! Never clear a user's password with such utilities who are known to have encrypted folders (EFS - see EFS@Wikipedia), because the encrypted data will be unaccessible after password clearing.

Edited February 9, 2008 by Kelsenellenelvian
***Removed warez talk ***

[Daniel.Silva]

Another solution is to use ***Removed warez talk *** (which is a bootable disc of very useful utilities for system administrators) and use the utility named "Active Password Changer". It can clear disabled, locked out users, and also administrator passwords. (No public downloads, because that disc contains non-freeware progs too..., search on known torrent sites if you need it)

Warning! Never clear a user's password with such utilities who are known to have encrypted folders (EFS - see EFS@Wikipedia), because the encrypted data will be unaccessible after password clearing.

I used to clean the Administrator and Users' password with this "bootable password cleaner". :icon_cool:

http://rapidshare.com/files/90468775/administrator.rar

But I didn't know about that encrypted folders warning"... :confused02:

[LUZR4LIFE]

Thanks, I will take a look at it. I have found a couple things that work.

[Tarun]

Cain and Able will work best unless you just want to reset it as I mentioned above.

Edited February 9, 2008 by Tarun

[LUZR4LIFE]

Thanks T, I will check that out also.

[Dave49]

So I'm wondering why one can set a password, if someone who doesn't know it can reset it and gain access to the system.

~Dave

[LUZR4LIFE]

So I'm wondering why one can set a password, if someone who doesn't know it can reset it and gain access to the system.

~Dave

I'm sorry but I do not understand

[Dave49]

I'm sorry but I do not understand

Well, as someone who does not know much about computers, I am wondering what good a password is if it can be discovered by anyone who wants to gain access to the protected system. Presumably you password protect your OS so that you are the only one who can use it. A password doesn't seem to be very effective if there are ways to find out what it is, and or reset it.

~Dave

Edited February 15, 2008 by Dave49

[LUZR4LIFE]

Well, as someone who does not know much about computers, I am wondering what good a password is if it can be discovered by anyone who wants to gain access to the protected system. Presumably you password protect your OS so that you are the only one who can use it. A password doesn't seem to be very effective if there are ways to find out what it is, and or reset it.

~Dave

OK, now I understand. Yeah, it does suck that it's not secure no matter.

[bushhog]

Passwords only stop honest people.....lol

[Wendigo]

When I was at college, I used to always crack the administrator's password all the time so I got banned. They gave me a standalone LAPTOP which was restricted and had the BIOS locked so I couldn't boot any OS but Windows XP. I couldn't take the battery out of the motherboard... BECAUSE THERE WAS NONE.....

Anyway, the point is that you can only have an uncrackable password if you're using a laptop with a BIOS Password, so it seems.

[UtCollector]

I would use Opcrack live cd to get the user loggon.