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Reset Your Password on Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server, Windows NT using USB Drive

In my earlier article, I described various tools that can be used to reset Windows password. To use these tools, I have to create a bootable CD from the ISO image given.

I have encountered one problem recently whereby one of the laptop passed to me has no floppy and the external CD-ROM is missing. Worst still, nobody knows the Windows Adminstrator login password.

Luckily, the notebook supports booting from USD hard drive. After going through the tools that I have, I managed to reset the password using my thumb or pen drive.

The tool that I used is Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. To do this is very simple.

  1. Download the bootable CD or ISO image from the website.
  2. Using another computer, create a bootable CD from the image.
  3. As described in the README.txt in the bootable CD, do the following
       
    To make a bootable USB drive / key:
    
    1. Copy all files from this CD onto the USB drive.
       It cannot be in a subdirectory on the drive.
       You do not need delete files already on the drive.
    2. Install the bootloader:
       On the USB drive, there should now be a file 
       "syslinux.exe".
       Run this from a command line, like this:
    
    
            j:\syslinux.exe -ma j:
    
    replace j with some other letter if your USB drive 
    is on another drive letter than j:
    If it says nothing, it did install the bootloader.
    
    Please note that you may have to adjust settings 
    in your computers BIOS setup to boot from USB.
    Also, some BIOS (often older machines) simply 
    won't boot from USB anyway.
    
    

In case your notebook does not support booting from USB hard drive, here are some useful links

HP Drive Key Boot Utility

How To Boot From A USB Flash Drive

Thanks to the developer for this awesome tool !!


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RSS Feed for This Post17 Comment(s)

  1. windows | Mar 6, 2009 | Reply

    Forgot Your Windows Password?
    A lot of people think that after having lost their Windows admin password, they absolutely have to reinstall their OS. Let me tell you something: They are wrong! Here I’m posting a few methods / utilities which can be used to recover Windows password:

    1st Method:

    The first thing which you check if you forget login password. When we install Windows, it automatically creates an account “Administrator” and sets its password to blank. So if you have forget your user account password then try this:

    Start system and when you see Windows Welcome screen / Login screen, press ++ keys twice and it’ll show Classic Login box. Now type “Administrator” (without quotes) in Username and leave Password field blank. Now press Enter and you should be able to log in Windows.

    Now you can reset your account password from “Control Panel -> User Accounts”.

    Same thing can be done using Safe Mode. In Safe Mode Windows will show this in-built Administrator account in Login screen.

    2th Method:

    There are many 3rd party utilities which claim to recover forgotten Windows password:

    Windows Password Recovery Tool Service: windowspasswordsrecovery.com

    WWindows Password Recovery Tool is a program that works instantly to remove any lost or forgotten password. Simply boot your PC from the supplied Boot CD, and get access to forgotten Windows and administrator passwords in just seconds. Their method is so much faster/easier, and works great!

    http://windowspasswordsrecovery.com

  2. mubyjn | Mar 9, 2009 | Reply

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  5. T B | Jul 8, 2009 | Reply

    Dude,

    Whoever made this application and directions is the bomb. You guys are doing a great job and I am a Network Engineer with limited desktop experience.

    I appreciate this shit.

    Thanks

  6. happykaka | Sep 17, 2009 | Reply

    http://wiki.e107.org/?title=Bypass_Windows_XP_Password there is an article about how to reset windows password. It must be helpful for those who have been locked out of computer

  7. bombermanneo | Nov 17, 2009 | Reply

    To windows :
    Thank you for your tool.
    it works great.

  8. Linky Wu | Dec 23, 2009 | Reply

    There’s a way to reset the password and it doesn’t involve reformatting and reinstalling Windows. The solution is called Windows Password Reset 7.0. It can reset almost all Windows passwords in seconds. It is a great windows password recovery tool . you can log in again just in one second. It also support windows 7 password reset.

  9. chenc | Dec 26, 2009 | Reply

    Free trial Windows Password Recovery Tool—Windows Password Unlocker is highly recommended
    1.Download Windows Password Unlocker from Password Unlocker Official site.
    2.Decompress the Windows password unlocker and note that there is an .ISO image file. Burn the image file onto an blank CD with the burner freely supported by Password Unlocker.
    3.Insert the newly created CD into the locked computer and re-boot it from the CD drive.
    4.After launched the CD, a window pop up with all your account names(if you have several accounts) select one of the accounts that you have forgotten its password to reset it. Just one press, you have removed the password.

  10. zeus | Jan 19, 2010 | Reply

    Forgot windows vista password?Do not be so anxious. I know a tool which can help reset windows vista password, need no to reinstall the windows OS, its safely and easily.By using "Any Windows Password Recovery 3.0 " ,could be helpful.

  11. Cilna | Jan 26, 2010 | Reply

    good article

  12. Eliva | Jan 26, 2010 | Reply

    I trust advanced windows password recovery 4.0 to recover windows password. It removed my forgotten windows password instantly with no reinstalling and no data lose. besides It’s easy to newer.

  13. darkplayer | Jan 26, 2010 | Reply

    Great article!! I’ve always used “Offline NT Password & Registry Editor”, on CD, but I needed one on a bootable usb to access a “Think Client”. This article made it possible for me.

    Thanks.

  14. Chris | Jan 27, 2010 | Reply

    You can reset windows user account password in safe mode(F8 when booting up). But if you forgot administrator password, you must reinstall windows OS or use windows password recovery disk.
    http://www.windowsloginrecovery.com

  15. anabert | Jan 29, 2010 | Reply

    I usually use Advanced Windows Password Recovery 4.0 to reset Windows password, It worked great for me, with no reinstall and no data loss.
    http://digg.com/software/Advanced_Windows_Password_Recovery_Password_Reset

  16. Zach | Feb 10, 2010 | Reply

    If you lost windows password. I think the best solution is making a windows password recovery disk with the third part utility. The disk works perfectly to recover windows password to “Blank”.It is also useful for administrator password recovery, you can wrote it to an blank CD or USB flash drive to recover administrator password. Booting up and clearing a password takes a minute or two works like a charm.
    more info: http://www.windowsloginrecovery.com

  17. ftruly | Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    If you forgot windows password,i know a windows password recovery http://www.anypasswordrecovery.com/ tool which can help you bypass windows password easily,then left the password blank.

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