Have you ever one day sat in front of your computer with that blank stare on your face wondering what the heck your password was to log in to your Windows account? This is a very common scenario for a lot of computer users. While you maybe able to type in your password with your eyes blindfolded right now, whose to say you can do the same after coming back from a month's vacation? It can happen to anyone. Now unless you don't have a password set on your account, than you have nothing to worry about but that of course is highly not recommended. Instead of having to reformat your computer just because you can't log in, I will show you a simple method to reset the password on your Windows account to save you the hassle.
That screenshot should look awfully familiar if you've ever forgotten your Windows log on password. In this tutorial, I will show you how you can reset your current account password to a blank state. Before I begin though, there is one very important announcement I have to make. By following with this tutorial, you will not be able to access any of your encrypted files (using the Encryption File System) ever again! If you have not made a backup of your encryption keys and cannot log in, well my friend, you are out of luck. If you have never heard of the Encryption File System or know even how to encrypt your files, then this may not apply to you. Usually, you can find out if your files are encrypted or not by looking at the text color of the filenames. Encrypted files are labeled in green text. If you don't ever remember seeing that, than you have nothing to worry about. Below is a screenshot comparing the two. The files on the left are in their normal state while the files on the right are encrypted. At the end of this guide, I will also point out how you can recover your password the next time around while still giving you access to your encrypted files.
The utility that I will be using is called the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. While the name does sound pretty intimidating, it's really simple to use. However, I can't guarantee you that things will go accordingly to what I describe here. Good news is that throughout my use of this utility on numerous different computers, the process was the same with every file still intact after resetting the password. What I do want to warn you about before we start is that I have only used this utility to reset passwords on computers that the users own. I do not condone using this method to break into someones Windows account when the computer itself is not owned by yourself. Also, if you use this utility for any other purposes, I do not know what the consequences are so please be careful when doing this. Let's begin!
You can download the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor here.
# Downloading and burning the ISO
You will first need to download the small ISO file (about 3.53MB) to your computer. Afterwards, you will need to burn the resulting ISO file to a blank CD. You can use whatever burning application you currently have to accomplish this whether it be Nero, Roxio or CDBurnerXP.
# Setting your computer to boot from the CD drive first
Insert the CD into the drive and reboot the computer. You will need to enter the BIOS to set the boot priority. Look for the correct key to press when you first turn on your computer to enter the BIOS.
# Main menu
You will now be presented with the main menu screen. I forgot to mention that this utility is strictly non-graphical so there won't be any icons or pictures to click on. However, it's so easy to use that you won't need it.
# Going through the configuration menus
The authors who wrote this utility are really smart people. They know that they cannot trust us, the users, to make the correct choice, especially when it comes to editing something as delicate as the registry itself. Therefore, they have configured it as easy to use as possible by actually helping us make the decisions themselves. All you need to do is press 'Enter' for each question they ask! The first question is telling the utility which hard drive you will be working on. Basically, which drive contains the user account(s) that will need to be reset. If you have only one hard drive installed, then just press Enter to continue.
The next question will be to select the registry location. Simply hit "Enter" to select the default.
The next question will be asking which part of the registry do you want to load. Because we are doing a password reset, we want to choose choice number one.
The next step will be telling it what you actually want to do. Choose choice number one to reset user data and passwords.
# Resetting the password
Now we get to finally reset the password! We basically just choose the account that we want to reset and instruct it to make it 'blank' (no password). As you can see, all of the computer accounts are listed. We need to look at the first column, labeled RID, to identify the account. In my example, I want to reset the account labeled 'Evolution'. The RID for that account is 03eb. Therefore, I type in 0x03eb. Remember, you must type in '0x' before typing in the actual RID number for the account otherwise it wouldn't work. Or you can also just simply type in the actual username of the account.
Now it will ask us what we want to do with the account. You have a couple of options but it's usually safe to just choose option number one to blank out the password. If for some reason your account is locked out because you failed to type in the correct password after so many tries, select option number 4 first and then option number 1.
# Saving the changes and exiting the utility
Immediately, it will inform you that the password has been cleared and blanked out! However, the changes haven't been committed to the registry yet so we need to save the changes. Repeat the steps for any other account you want to blank out. When you are done, type in the exclamation symbol to instruct it that you want to quit.
Next you will need to type in the letter 'q' to actually quit. It is here that you will need to save the changes. When asked if you want to write the files, type in the letter 'y' for yes.
That's it! When it ask if you want to run the utility again, type in 'n' for no.
# Restarting your computer and attempt to log in
Now that the changes have been committed, restart your computer (take out the disc first) and wait for the log on prompt to appear. Now, either type in your username and press Enter or click on your account's picture to log in. Because your password is blank, it should take you directly back to your desktop. Whoo hooo!!!
# Create a new password and a password reset disk
Now that you can log in again, create another password by going into your Control Panel and click on the Users applet. This time, make a Password Reset Disk! This is either a floppy disk (for XP users) or a USB thumb drive that gives you the capability to reset your password within the log on screen. The advantage of creating this disk is so that the next time you do forget your password again, you can use it to create a new password while retaining access to your encrypted files. For more information on this topic, you'll want to go to this website for XP users or over here for Vista users. Remember, once you have created the reset disk, place it in a safe location!
The method I have just described to reset your password certainly isn't the only method. However, in my opinion, it simply is the easiest. There are many tools that attempt to brute force your password but this is certainly a lot more easier and a lot more faster.
