Forgot your password on Windows XP? Here's what to do!

[imported_krish]

1. Restart you computer

2. When booting, press F8 and select "Safe Mode"

3. After getting to the user menu. Click on a user and this time it will not ask you for a password

4. Go to Start>Run and type "CMD" (without the quotes).

5. At the command prompt, type in "cd C:\Windows\System32" (without the quotes), I am assuming C is your System/Windows Drive

6. For safety purposes first make a backup of your Logon.Scr file.. You can do this by typing in "Copy to Logon.scr to Logon.bak" (without the quotes)

7. Type "copy CMD.EXE Logon.scr"(without the quotes)

8. Type this command, I will assume that you want to set Administrator's password to "MyNewPass" (without the quotes)

9. Next, type this in (I am assuming that you are still in the directory C:\Windows\System32) , "net user administrator MyNewPass" without the quotes

10. You will get a message saying that it was successful, this means Administrator's new password is "MyNewPass" (without the quotes)

11. Restart the PC and you will login as Administrator (or whatever you chose to reset) with your chosen password and Enjoy!


Removing the battery will not reset the bios password. If I ever needed to lock my computer down I would use the system lock in the bios. Windows XP Admin pass can easily be bypassed with a Linux boot disk. Or even a DOS boot disk... :lol:

[Rob]

Will this work for the main Administrator password, or only for user passwords?

[kidiotb]

To obtain the administrator passwords there are a few utilities out ther online.Search for them and if you cant find any then ask here i will post one,i think i have one with me

[Will.Spencer]

You might start at How can I recover a lost Windows Administrator password?

[kidiotb]

Cool, I did not notice that one!! Thanks i would like to save it on my disk ) Thanks again.

[kareja]

the FAQ is quite useful. I have many friends asking for this.Some wants to know the pwd of the systems in my college i would direct them here.