What to do if you forgot your password on your Windows 7 computer. An easy way to reset your account password for any version of Windows! Windows password cracking programs

From time to time, situations occur when a computer becomes inaccessible to its owner due to too serious security measures. Now we will discuss what to do if a person has forgotten the Windows 7 password. There are several options to solve this problem; we will consider them sequentially.

Forgot your Windows 7 password: what's the solution?

Let's start with the good news. The password can be reset and changed without reinstalling the operating system. Now we will look at several methods to reset your password. In some cases, you need to use a special program that runs from a special bootable CD or USB drive. Such software solutions, as a rule, support all server and desktop x64 and x86-bit Windows versions. You can also achieve the desired result using the Windows 7 or Vista installation disk. It can be said that this option easier to implement.

Windows 7: forgot password - download the program

To get started, download to your computer special program, which will help you reset your password and make changes to Windows registry, and in offline mode, without loading the operating system itself.

Creating a boot disk with a recovery program

The process is simple. Unpack required archive containing the program, you will receive an ISO image. Insert a blank CD into the drive and burn the image to disk. To do this, in a program that saves data on media, select “Burn disc from this image” (the name of the function may change depending on the selected program). As a result, on the disc you burn, you will see several files that contain the “.iso” format. Follow all program instructions that appear on the screen while recording.

Creating bootable flash media

This option is a little more complicated. First, unzip the archive and add its contents to the root partition of the flash drive. There will be no problems if other folders and files are already located there. Now you need to turn the media into bootable media. Open the command line, enter special team via “syslinux.exe”, you will also need to specify the letter of the partition with your flash drive. Press "Enter". If no messages about various errors appear, then everything completed successfully.

Implementation

Let's move on to the next stage. Now, to recover your Windows 7 password, you need to boot your computer using the created USB or CD media. Press the "F8" key after loading the "POST BIOS", a window will appear offering a choice bootable media. In some cases, this step may look different, since it directly depends on the model and manufacturer of the motherboard. Next, in the downloaded program, select the section with expanded Windows platform(system), and also specify the path to the required system folder. After that, follow further instructions running program. Most often, you just need to press Enter to perform the default actions. Enter the path pointing to system registry. Enter the username you selected to reset your password. After this, an exclamation mark will appear. Next, press the Y key. To be able to make changes, you must exit correctly. Windows system. When the password is reset, you will lose access to encrypted data if you created any. Remember that the only way to recover them is to remember your password. We do not recommend changing your password using such programs, as sometimes it may not work. However, erasing your password can always help.

Recovery using the official installation disk

If a user has forgotten his Windows 7 password, an installation disk with the operating system can help him. This method Works only in Windows 7 and Vista. The solution works just fine. First of all, boot the computer from the inserted into the drive installation disk operating system. Once the files are copied, you will be prompted to set your language preferences. Leave everything as is, click the “Next” button. In the window that appears, instead of the “Install” option, click in the lower left corner the item called “System Restore”, so “Windows” will proceed to search for installed operating systems in order to restore them. You may encounter a message indicating that problems have been detected in the current boot options. You can ignore it by clicking the “No” button. Going to a new window, select your system, click “Next”. A window will open with a list of various settings and system components to restore. You could say they don't really matter. Go to the very bottom and click on “Command Prompt”. Next on the line, enter the command facing “sethc.exe”. Press the Enter key. Replace the required utility. Press "Enter" again. Close your window command line, in the available menu, click the “Reboot” button. After this, perform a standard boot from your hard drive. After the login window appears asking you to select a password and user, press the “Shift” key 5 times. This should bring up the command prompt. In it, enter a special command indicating the user and new password and press “Enter”. Close the Command Prompt and click Restart. That's it, the password has been changed. Put the files back where they belong. After this, you can enjoy receiving a new password. Then follow the instructions. So we looked at what to do if the user forgot the Windows 7 password. We hope our tips were useful to you. There are other methods, but we will not consider them, since they are more complex.

How many times have you forgotten your passwords for a coded door at the entrance of a friend, your e-mail or an account in some VKontakte? But if in this case services and recovery services could help you, then in the case when you forget your password from your computer, only specialists will help you... If your hands are "growing out of the right place", then you can try to do something yourself. The easiest way out of this situation is to reset the Windows 7 administrator password.

Options

There are several ways to solve this problem. Today we will talk about resetting the administrator password, which can be done with direct access to the computer, so these tips will not be useful to you for hacking someone else’s PC or server.

1. Mechanical.
2. Using the created software.
3. Using the operating system distribution.

Any of these options is equally good and bad at the same time. Some of them are larger and better suited for laptops, while others are ideal for a desktop computer. In addition, passwords are different, so if you protected your computer with a password using the BIOS, even now it is not in complete safety and there are ways to overcome this protection stationary personal computer. However, this method will not help you in the case of a laptop, because simply disassembling and putting it back together in working order is a very difficult task, not to mention making any changes.

Via BIOS

To immediately dot all the i's, it is worth saying that resetting the Windows 7 administrator password through the BIOS is not possible. Some concepts should be separated. You will not be able to reset the passwords on the user account by any operations in the BIOS, but if you have completely denied access to the computer using the I/O system and have forgotten the password, then here are a couple of tips for you.

It should be immediately noted that these methods are quite dangerous for your computer and work with 100% reliability only on stationary PCs. Yes, and these tricks can only be done with direct access to the system unit.

So, a quick reset of the Windows 7 administrator password is carried out as follows. Unscrew the cover of the PC system unit, having first disconnected it from the power supply, and find a coin-cell battery on the motherboard. You should remove it for a few seconds and then put it back in place. This way, you will reset all temporary BIOS settings on your computer, including the password.

Second method

Also, resetting the Windows 7 administrator password set in the BIOS can be done a little differently. You will need the instructions from your motherboard. In the diagram you need to find a special jumper, with which you can reset the BIOS settings. The jumper looks like a pair of exposed contacts. In order to reset the password, you will have to change the jumper on the jumper and turn on the computer. It will not start, but all settings will be set to default. Remove the jumper and turn on the PC again. When you first boot, you will be thrown into the BIOS control panel. Don't touch anything, just press the exit button and save your existing settings.

With disk

It is worth noting that if you have set a password for the user, then simply removing the battery is not enough. If you still have the operating system distribution, then you can use the following couple of tricks to reset your password local administrator Windows 7.

So, first, remember the process of installing your OS. If you did it yourself, then certain moment you should have been asked if you want to set a password for the “admin panel”. This entry is usually inactive and hidden from prying eyes, and users work on an account with extended rights. If you lose your account password, the administrator can always delete it himself. But what kind of “administrator” can we talk about? home computer? Therefore you have to use a user account system administrator, which is installed on the system by default.

To launch it, do the following. Insert the installation disk and on the first welcome screen press the combination “Shift+F10”. This will allow us to bring up the command line. Next, we need to launch the registry editor with the “regedit” command. After this, we perform the following manipulations in the editor.

1. Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and click "File" - "Load hive".
2. Find the SAM file in Windows folder- Swstem32 - config.
3. In the new branch that appears, go to the folder 000001F4. It is located in SAM - Domains - Account - Users. The "F" parameter needs to be changed.
4. Double click on it. We are interested in line 0038. In it we need to change the number located in the very first column. "11" -> "10".
5. We exit and save.
6. Select the root folder of our branch and click the “File” menu button, then “Unload hive”.

After all the manipulations have been completed, you can restart the computer. Now you can log into your administrator account and reset your Windows 7 administrator password manually using operating system tools.

Another variant

There are still ways to log into a password-protected account. The fact is that you can reset the Windows 7 administrator password directly from the console running as an administrator. Now you will be offered a rather complicated method, but one that allows you to leave a small loophole for the future.

Perhaps you have come across a program that is responsible for sticky keys? When you press "Shift" or "Alt" many times in a row, you will receive a message asking you to turn off sticky. The fact is that this function It also works in the user selection menu when we just turned on the computer. So if we replace it with something useful, we could benefit from it. For example, calling the command line.

To do this, repeat the steps in the previous paragraph and enter the operating system installation menu. Launch the command line. By default, your operating system should be installed on volume "C:\". If not, just replace it with the desired letter. After launching the line, enter a sequence of commands.

1. "Copy C:\windows\system32\sethc.exe C:\" - a copy of the file with the code that reacts to sticking is created.
2. "Copy C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe C:\windows\system32\sethc.exe" - copy the contents of the file that launches the command line to the sticky file.

After entering the last command, you must restart your personal computer (laptop). In the user selection menu, when you are asked to enter a password, we activate the sticky function by quickly pressing a few keys. The command line will open, and enter the command “net user UserName NewPassword”. As you might guess, instead of UserName you need to specify the name of your user, and instead of the second parameter New Password. After this, you will be able to log into your account on personal computer. If you want to return everything to its place, you can turn on the command line from Windows and enter “copy C:\sethc.exe C:\windows\system32\sethc.exe”.

But how to reset the Windows 7 administrator password without a disk?

Utility

In the case where the operating system distribution kit is missing, there is always the opportunity to reset the password special utility. You will need a program to reset the Windows 7 administrator password. For example, Offline NT Password and Registry Editor. We write it to a disk or flash drive and reboot the computer, choosing to boot from external media. Resetting the Windows 7 administrator password from a flash drive is quite easy to learn if you can read and know English. So let's begin.

1. After launch, a table with hard disks will appear in front of you. Enter the number of the one on which the OS is installed.
2. Determine the path to the SAM accounts file. "C:/Windows/System32/config".
3. Enter "1" twice in a row.
4. We select the user we need in the table. The administrator password reset program only works with Latin, so if the name is not displayed correctly, you can enter its RID in the format 0xRID.
5. Once again enter "1".
6. The following is a sequence of commands: exit, save changes, do not continue.
7. Reboot the computer by pressing "control-alt-divide".

The Windows 7 administrator password reset program did its job. You can enter your "domain" on the computer.

Warning

Finally, it should be noted that any changes that you make to your computer when trying to reset the Windows 7 administrator password, you do at your own discretion, and all responsibility falls on your shoulders. After them, most likely, no service will accept your computer under warranty. especially after opening the cover of the system unit. After all, it is very difficult to prove that you did something with the operating system, but the opened “seals” on the system unit will look very eloquent. This means you will have to pay specialists a round sum for quite simple actions. When following these instructions, be extremely careful, and if something is not clear, it is better to clarify or look for additional information.

Bottom line

We hope this article helped you with your problem, no matter which method you used, be it a remote battery or a super-sophisticated utility from an unknown manufacturer. The main problem you may encounter is data security. Unfortunately, some information may well be lost during this process. Therefore, try to get it from friends or download a version of the operating system on LiveCD. Then you can simply save all the data that is important to you.

In this article, we did not consider the simplest but longest method - a complete reinstallation of the system. Unfortunately, sometimes there are situations in which it becomes completely impossible to access your computer, and reinstalling Windows becomes the only possible option.

We remind you that attempts to repeat the author’s actions may lead to loss of warranty on the equipment and even to its failure. The material is provided for informational purposes only. If you are going to reproduce the steps described below, we strongly advise you to carefully read the article to the end at least once. The editors of 3DNews do not bear any responsibility for any possible consequences.

Windows has long used the SAM system to store and manage all user passwords. All information in it is well protected, so in order to find out the password, you will have to spend a lot of time and resources, especially if it is quite complex. Most often, however, there is no need to find out the password at all - just reset it or change it. Several utilities have been developed for this, one of which we will use. Another important point- it is obvious that when the OS is running, it will not allow you to just get into the password storage. Therefore, you need to make sure that your computer supports booting from a CD/DVD or USB media in order to launch the necessary utilities.

The most famous of them is Offline NT Password and Registry editor, which can work with passwords and the registry of Windows XP/Vista/7. Download the USB or CD version of the utility, burn the downloaded image to disk, or use our tips for creating a multiboot flash drive. The utility does not have a graphical interface, but you shouldn’t be afraid of this - everything in it is quite simple and clear. In addition, the desired option is often offered by default, so you only need to press the Enter key.

Boot from removable media Offline NT Password and Registry editor. You are unlikely to need additional boot options, but in some cases you will have to empirically select those that will help the utility start. The next step is to select the partition number on which Windows is installed. You will have to navigate first of all by its size. In principle, until the very last moment the program does not make any changes to Windows, so in case of an error, you can simply start the password reset procedure again.

Then the utility will ask you to specify the path to the folder where the SAM files are located (in fact, this is a registry hive). The default is X:/Windows/System32/config, this is what the program offers at the beginning. Then you need to select the first item (Password reset), since we are going to reset the password.

Then everything is simple. Select the first item (Edit user data and password) and enter the user name or identifier in the format 0xabcd, Where abcd is the RID listed in the first column. RID is useful if the username is not displayed correctly or cannot be entered. For example, when using Cyrillic.

All that remains is to specify item 1 (password reset) or 2 (password change) for the selected user. Exit password editing mode by entering Exclamation point and pressing Enter.

Everything is almost ready. Enter q, press Enter, and then agree to the changes by entering y and pressing Enter again. We refuse to continue working in Offline NT Password and Registry editor ( n), remove the flash drive or CD and press the treasured combination Alt+Ctrl+Del to reboot. Done - the password is reset!

It was an easy way to reset Windows password 7. There shouldn’t be any difficulties with him. You just need to be careful and careful. Problems can only arise if there is no necessary drivers to work with hard drive. Then you will have to put them on a floppy disk (if, of course, you find a living representative of this almost extinct species and a working drive for it) or on a USB flash drive and at the first stage select the fetch additional drivers item.

For the second and third methods, you only need the Windows 7 installation disk and nothing else. A more complex option involves enabling an initially hidden account"Administrator" by editing the registry from the installation Windows environment 7. In the future, you will be able to log in to the system using this account and edit any other account in the OS. By default, “Administrator” does not have a password, which only plays into our hands.

So, boot from the installation disk and press Shift+F10 to open the command line, where we enter regedit and press Enter to launch the Registry Editor.

Selecting a section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, and in the menu select “File” → “Load hive...” (File → Load hive...). We need to open the SAM file, which is located in the folder \Windows\System32\config on the partition where Windows 7 is installed. When opening, you will be asked to enter the name of the hive to load - enter any.

Now you need to select a section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hive_name\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\000001F4 and double click on the key F. An editor will open in which you need to go to the first number in line 038 - this is 11. It must be changed to 10. Be careful and do not make a mistake - you only need to change it, without adding or deleting other numbers!

Now we need to select our bush HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hive_name\ and in the menu select “File” → “Unload hive...” (File → Unload hive...), and then confirm unloading the hive.

That’s it, you can reboot by removing the pre-installation disk and log in under an administrator account. In the panel Windows management in the user management section you can change the settings of another account. Including changing the password.

Remained last method, incorrect. Why wrong? Because we'll do the substitution system files, and this is an ignoble matter. What is the main idea? It's simple - the OS has the function of detecting sticky keys enabled by default. You've probably encountered it at least once, and if not, just quickly press Shift at least 5 times, and you will see this wonderful window:

This window belongs to a small auxiliary program sethc.exe, which is located in the Windows system directory. Moreover, it even starts on the welcome screen, when you are asked to select a user and enter a password. But it can be replaced with something useful. Eg, cmd.exe. Naturally, not directly in the running OS, but after booting from the installation Windows disk 7 and pressing Shift+F10.

You need to start by identifying the drive letter on which Windows is installed. The easiest thing is to simply view the contents of the root partition with the command dir. C: will most likely be seen as D:, but not necessarily.

Having decided on the volume letter, we execute two simple commands - with one we copy the original file, just in case sethc.exe to the root of the disk or wherever you like, and change the second one to cmd.exe.

Copy d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe d:\copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

We reboot, quickly press the Shift key (or Ctrl, or Alt) several times and observe the command line window. You need to enter another command in it, substituting the name accordingly the desired user and a new password. Other options for this command can be found in the official help.

Net user username new password

If you want to return everything to normal, you need to boot from the installation disk again, open the console and run the command:

Copy d:\sethc.exe d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

However, you don’t have to restore anything, but leave this little trick in the system just in case. In addition to the methods listed above, there are many other methods for resetting or recovering a password in Windows, but we will not consider them now. Once again we urge our readers to be attentive and careful when working with the internals of the OS, and even better not to bring the situation to a “surgical” intervention in SAM. Good luck restoring access to your accounts!

Creating a password for the administrator account in Windows is a reliable way to protect personal data stored on your computer from other users. However, passwords are often lost or forgotten. To restore or reset them, you can either reinstall operating system, or try to restore access to your account using special means.

Attention! In Windows OS, the Security Account Manager (SAM), which is highly reliable and resilient, is responsible for protecting personal data from unwanted attacks. Therefore, it is almost impossible to crack a password, especially if it is complex.

Ways to recover your Windows 7 login password

You can recover the administrator password in Windows 7 using:

• boot DVD disc or flash drives with Windows 7 OS;
• programs ERD Commander.
• Offline NT Password and Registry editor utilities.

Restoring access to your account using a boot disk

To reset the administrator password using this method, you will need an installation disk (flash drive) with Windows 7. In this case, the system assembly must be exactly the same as on the computer.

The resuscitation process will look like this:

1. The first step is to ensure that when the OS starts, information is first read from the installation disk, and then from the hard drive. To do this, press Del while restarting the computer. BIOS entry button for different manufacturers motherboards may differ (F2, F12, etc.).
2. Once on the main window of the basic input/output system, go to the Advanced BIOS Features section and opposite First Boot Device We set the drive installed on the PC (CDROM). After this, save the changes made.
3. Install in DVD-ROM boot disk with Windows and restart the computer.
4. There is no need to change anything in the initial installation window, since these settings are applied when installing Windows.
   
5. In the next window, select “System Restore”.
   
6. After scanning the storage medium for installed systems The corresponding window with the search results will appear. If the old OS is found, click “Next”; if not, it means you are using a disk with the wrong Windows build option.
7. In the recovery options window, select “Command Prompt”.
   
8. After entering the regedit command, the Windows registry opens. The SAM database is located in the HKEY_LOGICAL_MACHINE registry directory. We find this branch and use the drop-down menu to “load the hive”.
9. Following on specified path, are looking for system file and open it.
   
10. The program will ask you to specify a name for the partition being created. You can choose any name.
    
11. In the created directory, find the CmdLine file and assign it the value cmd.exe, and the SetupType file – 2.
12. After making changes, the created hive can be unloaded.
    
13. After the system reboots, a command line will appear in which you should enter net users “Administrator name” “new password”.

Resetting your password using ERD Commander

ERD Commander – free program, which allows you to revive the Windows OS in many cases (your computer is blocked by viruses, the password for the administrator account is lost, important data is accidentally erased, etc.).

Before you start the password reset (recovery) operation, you need to download this utility and mount a bootable USB flash drive or disk from it. You should also change the order in which information is read in the BIOS. How this is done is described above.

Having completed the preliminary settings, you can proceed directly to recovering the administrator password:

Using the Offline NT Password and Registry editor utility

This program has a reduced graphical interface, but this does not in any way affect its functioning and efficiency. The procedure for resetting the administrator password will be as follows:

1. Download the utility, make a bootable USB flash drive from it, and set the BIOS to prioritize reading information from the USB flash.
2. Insert the flash drive into the appropriate slot and restart the PC.
3. After loading the program, we do not change anything in the first window. Press Enter.
4. In the second window, select the Windows OS system partition (1, 2, etc.). Here you should focus on the volume of media.
   
5. Specify the path to the SAM folder. The standard path is written automatically, so just press Enter.
   
6. Then press “1”, thereby selecting the password reset procedure.

But then a problem happened - the owner forgot the administrator’s access code and when he tried to log in, he saw a message about the incorrectly entered password and the impossibility of logging into the system. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that Windows stores all passwords in a securely protected partition on the hard drive using the SAM system. For security reasons, accessing it and finding out the password is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. On the one hand, this will protect you from third-party interference, but, on the other hand, it greatly ruins your life if you forget the access combination. The most affected Windows users 7, since this version of the OS only offers work with a local account, unlike more new Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Here the user can attach an account to the computer Microsoft entry and in case forgotten password will be able to reset it through the website from any device. PC owners on seven can only remove the administrator password.

Fortunately, everything is not as scary as it might seem at first glance. If you follow our detailed instructions How to reset the Windows 7 administrator password when using a local account, as well as how to find out the password, you can easily solve your problem in a short time without outside help. So let's get started.

Method 1. Using an installation disk or recovery image

To do this, you will need a boot disk or flash drive with Windows, or a previously created recovery disk (this can also be a flash drive). If you may not be able to figure out the second one, since you are unlikely to constantly create fresh recovery disks, then the installation image can be downloaded from a large number of sites.

1. Insert the disk or flash drive into the PC, and in the BIOS, mark the media as a priority when booting. This is necessary so that loading occurs from external media, and not from the built-in one. hard drive.
2. Depending on the version of Windows, click Diagnostics - Advanced options - Command Prompt or System Restore - Next - Command Prompt.
3. When the command prompt opens, add regedit and press Enter.
4. Click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE section to highlight it, then click File - Load Hive.
5. In the window that opens, go to C:\Windows\System32\config (if the system is installed in a different partition, the address will be slightly different) and open the System.
6. Name the loading partition any name, for example, 555.
7. In the registry editor, look in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\555\Setup section and find the CmdLine and SetupType parameters there. Double-click on each of them and change the indicators to the following:
   • CmdLine - cmd.exe.
   • SetupType - 0 change to 2.
8. Select the 555 partition you created, then click File - Unload Hive.
9. Take out the flash drive or disk, close all active utilities, select “Reboot” in the main window of the recovery wizard.

After restarting, when you log in, the command line will be expanded. With its help we will perform further operations.

Password reset

To reset your password, use this command:

net user login password

This command is relevant if you remember the exact spelling of the username. If you forgot, then type net command user, after which all accounts saved on the PC will be displayed.

Create a new account

If you do not have any administrator account installed, you will need to create one by entering a few commands. To do this, enter them one by one on the command line:

net user login password /add

net localgroup Administrators login /add

net localgroup Users login /delete

The first command first creates a new account, then assigns it to the administrators group, and then removes it from the users group. After applying all the commands, close the Command Prompt.

By creating a new account with a new password, you will be able to log into Windows without any problems.

Note! You won’t be able to find out your password this way, you can only reset it!

Method 2. Using third-party utilities

Offline NT Password Editor

If the first method involved using standard Windows features, then the second suggests using third-party utilities that allow you to reset the Windows 7 administrator password. One of the most acceptable is Offline NT Password Editor, which allows you to get full access to the OS system partition. You can either remove or change the password, or activate the administrator account. Not presented in the utility GUI, but nevertheless, dealing with it is not at all difficult. Each step is numbered and indicates what you need to do. So, what are the steps you need to follow to reset your password using this utility?

1. On another computer or laptop, go to the developer’s website, in the Bootdisk section, scroll to Download and download the version you need. The file name consists of numbers and letters. If you want to create a boot disk, download the file with cd in the name, but if you use a flash drive, then usb.
2. If you are using a disk, write the downloaded image using a burning program, and if using a flash drive, then perform the following manipulations:
   • Copy the contents of the archive to a USB flash drive without creating any additional files.
   • Expand Command Prompt as Administrator.
   • Use the command f:\syslinux.exe -ma f:, where instead of f write the letter under which the flash drive is identified Windows Explorer. If it doesn’t give any error, it means everything was recorded as expected.
   • Insert your external media into the computer, set it in the BIOS as the first one to boot, and turn on the computer. The utility interface should start instead of the Windows Welcome window.

Step 1

The first step is to select the hard drive partition on which Windows is installed. The program provides a list of disk partitions indicating their size, which is what you should focus on. If you remember that the system is usually installed on drive C, which is several times smaller than drive D, it will be quite difficult to make a mistake. Enter the numbers with the section number and press the Enter button.

Step 2

After this, the utility asks which part of the registry needs to be loaded. Select 1 - Password reset, press the corresponding number and confirm with Enter.

Step 3

Changing or resetting a password by editing user data in the registry. The utility will launch chntpw Main Interactive Menu, in which item 1 - Edit user data and passwords - is immediately selected. Confirm your selection by pressing the Enter button. If you need to change the password, select 2 - Edit (set new) user password.

In the menu that opens, chntpw Edit User Info & Passwords, all computer accounts are displayed, with their code designation in hexadecimal notation (RID column). We are interested in the administrator account; most often it is displayed first in the list and is selected by default. If the account name is displayed in English letters, type it in the input field under the table; if in Russian, then use the information from the RID column. The entry in the input field will be in the format 0xABCD, where instead of ABCD you need to put the value from the table. The selection is confirmed with the Enter button.

Next, the User Edit Menu is displayed with a list of actions that can be performed with the administrator account. Select 1 - Clear (blank) user password and confirm with Enter. The program should report a successful password reset.

Step 4

Saving the changes made (Step Four: Writing back changes). Press successively! and q to exit the previous menus, after which the utility will offer to save the changes by issuing the request “About to write file(s) back! Do it? Enter y, and at the next prompt type n.

To reboot, enter the command reboot or click on the small button on system unit computer. The system will start you up without asking for a password. You can install it yourself in the account management menu.

ERD Commander

Another fairly advanced utility for resetting the Windows administrator password. First, you will need to create a bootable USB flash drive with the utility on your work computer. For this:

1. Prepare a flash drive with a capacity of at least 1 GB, and also download the following four files: HPUSBDISK.zip, Ghost32.exe, Grub4dos.zip, ERD Commander image file in gho format.
2. Insert the flash drive into the computer, then run HPUSBdisk.exe, select your drive in the Device window, select File system as FAT32, and then click the Start button. The flash drive will be formatted, so make sure you save the important information stored on it somewhere.
3. Unpack the Grub4dos.zip archive and run grubinst_gui.exe, then select the flash drive in the Disk field and click the Install button at the very bottom. If the procedure completes successfully, you should see the following message: “The Mbr/bs has been successfully installed. Press to continue..." Now you can safely move on to the next stage.
4. Run Ghost32.exe - click Ok - Local - Disk - From Image, then select the ERD.gho file and click on it.
5. In the window that opens, select the flash drive, click Ok - Ok - Yes and wait until the bootable flash drive is completely created. This usually takes 10–15 minutes.

Now you have to work with bootable flash drive ERD Commander. Here's what to do:

1. After connecting the flash drive to the computer, set the boot priority through the BIOS so that the flash drive comes first, and turn on the PC.
2. Select your version of Windows. If you confuse the system bit size, then it’s okay, just at the next stage the utility will give an error and you can repeat the procedure from the beginning.
3. After waiting for the download, select the installed operating system, click Next - Microsoft Diagnostics - Password Change Wizard.
4. You will see a window with a list of users and fields for entering a password. Select the administrator account, write down the new password and confirm it.
5. Remove the flash drive from the USB connector, boot into normal mode and use the new password.

Note! You won’t be able to find out your password this way, you can only delete it or set a new one!

Method 3. Substitution of system files

You've probably heard about the sticky keys feature. Simply press the Shift button 5 times quickly and a window will appear asking you to activate the mode. The file sethc.exe, located in the system, is responsible for it. Windows section. Interestingly, you can activate it even in the password entry window when Windows startup. But since the situation is that the user has forgotten it, we need to replace it with the cmd.exe file, which is responsible for opening the command prompt. How to do it?

1. Boot from external Windows media, in the installation window, click System Restore - Command Prompt.
2. Apply the following commands sequentially:
   • copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\- to create backup copy sethc.exe utilities.
   • copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe- to replace the file sethc.exe with cmd.exe.
3. Restart your computer normally.
4. When the password window appears, press the Shift button five times, which will open the Command Prompt.
5. To change your password, type the command net user login password, after which reboot again and now you will definitely be able to get into the system.

Note! You will not be able to find out the password this way, only delete it!

How to find out your account password

In this paragraph, we will learn how to hack the administrator password or simply find out it. Indeed, in many cases it is simply easier not to reset the password, but to simply assume that it is forgotten. To do this, we need the Ophcrack utility, which has the capabilities we need. It is capable of working in a graphical and text interface and, according to the creators, is able to find out almost any password stored on your system. How to use it?

1. Go to the official website and download the appropriate version: in the form of a program installation file if you can log into the system, or a Live CD to create bootable media if you can’t log into the system because you forgot your password.
2. Launch installation file or boot from a flash drive or disk and select the graphical or text interface of the utility.
3. Wait until the utility reads and displays the system passwords. Depending on the power of the computer, this may take different times.

That's all. As you can see, there is nothing complicated and if your password is not too complex, then the program will help you find it. You will then be able to log in again and enter your access code. Practice shows that if the password is very complex, consisting of a combination of large and small letters, as well as numbers, then the program may not cope.

Conclusion

We hope that our instructions helped you in a situation where you forgot your Windows account password. You now know how to reset it and install a new one. If you still have questions, ask them in the comments.