How to Reset / Recover Forgotten Windows NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 Administrator Pas

"Disclaimer: Following information should be used only if its your system and you have forgotten account password. Don't use this information to access a system which is not yours without permission.

Many times we face this problem when we or our friends forget Windows XP password and can't log into Windows. So here we are 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 ctrl+alt+del 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.

2nd Method: Windows XP and further versions also provide another method to recover forgotten password by using """"Reset Disk"""". If you created a Password Reset Disk in past, you can use that disk to reset the password. To know more about it, please visit following links:

How to create and use a password reset disk for a computer in a domain in Windows XP

How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your Password Expires

3rd Method: If the above mentioned tricks don't work, then try following trick which is actually a loophole in Windows XP Setup and a big security hole:

A. Boot using Windows XP Setup CD and follow the instruction like Accepting EULA, etc.

B. When it asks to repair your existing Windows installation, accept it and press """"R"""" to run the repair.

C. Setup will start repairing your Windows and will start copying files, etc.

D. After a few minutes setup will restart your system and when it restarts don't press any key when it shows """"Press any key to continue…"""" otherwise Setup will start from the beginning. Don't press any key and setup will resume where it left.

E. Now it'll start doing other tasks and will show a small progressbar with a few details in left side.

F. Look carefully at the details and when it shows """"Installing devices"""", press <Shift>+F10 keys in your keyboard.

G. It'll open a Command Prompt window. Now type nusrmgr.cpl and press <Enter>.

H. It'll open the same """"User Accounts"""" window which you see in Control Panel.

I. Now you can remove or reset any account password without any problem.

4th Method: In fact, there are some convenience ways to help us to be far from that nightmare, as long as you paste ""windows password"", ""xp password"", ""administrator password"", ""vista password"", ""windows xp password"", ""forgot windows password"", ""windows administrator password"", ""windows password recovery"", ""windows password reset"", ""windows password Recovery"", ect to google, there would be many related results. One of the most reliable way is to take use of windows password Recovery which is a current windows tool for empty or reset windows password for PC users even computer freshman. With windows password Recovery, just a few steps, you can re-login your PC without any data loss.

Step1. Download Windows Password Recovery 3.0 and save it to your hard disk. Take note of what folder you saved the file in.

Step2. Burn the downloaded ISO file onto a CD. * To burn your CD, you'll need a blank CD-R . * If you are familiar with burning .iso image files you may use any software you already have such as Nero, Sonic, Roxio etc.

Step 3. Put in your newly created CD and remove your Windows password.

(1) Insert newly created CD in your CD drive and reboot your computer. When the CD boots, you'll see Windows Password Recovery 3.0 initializing (see screen shot below). If so, you can continue to the next step. If the computer still boots into Windows, it's necessary to change BIOS boot sequence to make it boot from the CD. You can find more info about this on our BIOS page HERE..
(2). Select the user account you want to reset.
(3) Click the 'Reset' button to process.
(4) Click 'Yes' to confirm your action. Or, click 'No' to undo your selection.
(5). In the end, a message box appears, indicating Windows Password Recovery has successfully reset the password.

5th Method: If all fails, then simply reinstall Windows and create new accounts. To recover lost data, you can use Data recovery tools available on net but the chances will be very low to get data back.

That's all we can suggest. If you have any other method / tool, feel free to post here.
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