Learning Blog

It happens to the best of us. I've served as a network administrator for over 10 years. So I'm quite familar with users telling me they forgot their password and they can't access his or her computer.

Worse yet what if it's the Administrator password that is locked? How do you gain access to such a machine.

Have no fear; Windows security isn't as "tough" as it looks, there are a few great tools out there that allow you to reset a lost administrator password.

If you've tried everything else, I recommend trying the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor by offline NT Password & Registry Editor.

It works by creating a boot CD that you boot into a special version of linux. The linux can mount your Windows drive and optionally reset the Administrator password. I recommend only choosing the option to 'blank the password'.

Steps:

1) Download the ZIP file here http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/cd080526.zip

2) Unzip the file, inside it you will find a file .ISO. This is the CD Boot image

3) Use your favorite CD Burning program to burn a CD from the ISO

4) Boot the CD and following the instructions

5) Reboot your computer when prompted.

When you restart your system may do a check of your disk; this is normal.

After your system is restarted, you can enter the username Administrator with a blank password and viola! you're in

Warnings:

• Do not try this if you are using an encrypted (EFS) disk. You may loose all your data!
• Only use this utility as a last resort, as it still might cause you problems and loose data if it doesn't work correctly and it has NO WARRANTIES
• If you or your system administrator has a policy that dis-allows blank passwords, then it still might not work!

Good Luck!