Windows Password Help
 

Question-

On the main log in page for Windows XP- a young man I know forgot his password and his hint doesn't mean anything to him - so he has managed to lock himself out of his system.

How does one get back in to reset those things?

http://www.loginrecovery.com/ Should do the trick. Their free service takes 2 days for them to get back to you, though. There are othe options, but they risk data corruption.

You can also try [yurl=http://www.openwall.com/john/]John the Ripper. Use the above tool to retrieve the encrypted password file, then use John the Ripper to crack it.

From the XP login screen Type:

Ctrl-Alt-Del twice in a row.

This should bring up a login screen.

Type username: Administrator

and leave the password field blank.

That works on a lot of home PC's.


If it gets you in you can then change the login password for any user via the user admin screen.

And while your there, please put a password on your admin account.