Windows Vista Password

[lordloveaduck]

It was on this page that i got the info that worked for me.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...t-have-a/2a23e22d-3548-48de-8f70-8740fb32a6e7
I went through the back door useing the unlocked one and sorted the account from there.

I do not think he would be able to put is hard drive into a PC as it is a laptop.

 

[GetAGrip]

I've tried to carry out the instructions on the link you provided, but I'm denied access to the administrators account. Not sure where to go from here, I can only hope she remembers it over the weekend.
Thanks for your help though!

 

[fossala]

I do not think he would be able to put is hard drive into a PC as it is a laptop.

Yes he can. It will be a 2.5 sata hard drive. It just needs to be attached to one of the PC's SATA ports on the motherboard.

 

[PaulSB]

I couldn't begin to help other than this. Somehow our password for office Sage software was changed - I remain adamant this wasn't deliberate as I control the passwords!

Sage unlocked the software for £47.50. I only mention it to give an indication of likely cost as it might be cheaper than all the time and energy you are devoting to this?

Presumably the same principle of unlocking software could apply?

 

[Manonabike]

I had a similar problem with WIN XP some years ago and there was a way in if you knew the administrator password but I could not remember that either

Then I remembered reading about something called "The Ultimate CD for Windows" I downloaded the ISO file, built the CD and booted my system with it. There I found a little utility to reset the password. I wonder if there is something similar for Vista or maybe even a compatible version of the CD.

 

[Inertia]

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/passrecovery.htm

My recommendation would be to use this one
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/gr/offlinentpwed.htm

its command line but fairly straightforward, use this disc to reset the administrator account password.
WORD OF WARNING. reseting a password like this can lose the documents of THAT account, so reseting the admin password may lose anything on the desktop and documents of the admins account. Other users desktops and documents should be fine.

So dont reset her password or you will lose her work.

If you are wary of this you can try ophcrack, I havent tried it but it is meant to be more user friendly, there is a good guide here
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/gr/ophcrack.htm

 

[HovR]

As you may be aware, the data is still accessible on the hard drive - You are just unable to access the Windows operating system (OS).

One simple solution for the data recovery is to install a version of Linux (Ubuntu is a nice user friendly one) on a memory stick, bootable CD, or external hard drive (make sure you don't overwrite the hard drive built in to the PC!)

Once you have created the bootable device, you can boot in to it (instead of the Windows OS installed on the hard drive) by normally pressing either F2 or F8 and selecting to boot from the memory stick/CD drive or other type of media you installed Ubuntu on.

Once you are logged in to the Linux OS you will be able to access the computers hard drive, and all the files on it, so you are able to back them up on to another external device.

Useful Links: Creating a bootable Linux CD
Creating a bootable Linux USB stick

 

[GetAGrip]

I couldn't begin to help other than this. Somehow our password for office Sage software was changed - I remain adamant this wasn't deliberate as I control the passwords!

Sage unlocked the software for £47.50. I only mention it to give an indication of likely cost as it might be cheaper than all the time and energy you are devoting to this?

Presumably the same principle of unlocking software would apply?

Windows have made a bold and firm statement online, saying they will not entertain any requests for help with lost Windows account passwords. I guess you can understand why.

 

[GetAGrip]

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/passrecovery.htm

My recommendation would be to use this one
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/gr/offlinentpwed.htm

its command line but fairly straightforward, use this disc to reset the administrator account password.
WORD OF WARNING. reseting a password like this can lose the documents of THAT account, so reseting the admin password may lose anything on the desktop and documents of the admins account. Other users desktops and documents should be fine.

So dont reset her password or you will lose her work.

If you are wary of this you can try ophcrack, I havent tried it but it is meant to be more user friendly, there is a good guide here
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/gr/ophcrack.htm

As hers is the only account with Admin status, I guess this would be a no no then.

 

[GetAGrip]

As you may be aware, the data is still accessible on the hard drive - You are just unable to access the Windows operating system (OS).

One simple solution for the data recovery is to install a version of Linux (Ubuntu is a nice user friendly one) on a memory stick, bootable CD, or external hard drive (make sure you don't overwrite the hard drive built in to the PC!)

Once you have created the bootable device, you can boot in to it (instead of the Windows OS installed on the hard drive) by normally pressing either F2 or F8 and selecting to boot from the memory stick/CD drive or other type of media you installed Ubuntu on.

Once you are logged in to the Linux OS you will be able to access the computers hard drive, and all the files on it, so you are able to back them up on to another external device.

Useful Links: Creating a bootable Linux CD
Creating a bootable Linux USB stick

Thanks for that, will look seriously at doing this. She says she wants to spend the weekend pumping in all possible passwords she can think of before we go down the radical route.

 

[HovR]

Thanks for that, will look seriously at doing this. She says she wants to spend the weekend pumping in all possible passwords she can think of before we go down the radical route.

No problem!

It's worth mentioning you press the correct "F?" key on start up, before it reaches the stage where it is trying to boot in to Windows (I missed that bit out).

I believe on my computer the button is F8, and it gives you a menu of all available boot devices - However on some computers I have tried this on, there is no such option, and you have to enter the BIOS settings via F2, and change the boot device order to set the USB/CD drive first (if it isn't already).

 

[schocca]

It's simple - download Trinity Tool Kit ISO and burn the ISO onto a CD (it's a Linux toolkit for Windows PCs - google it)
- Boot from the CD.

You can then reset the password OR just copy the files onto another computer using the network drive option. I've done this a few times using this tool and have this in the office for anti-virus work as well.

 

[zexel]

I've used http://www.loginrecovery.com/ a few years ago, it will tell you what your password is. I can't remember how much it was, think it was a fiver.
Worked for me.

 

[schocca]

If you burn a Knoppix ISO (another Linux boot CD) - this can give you a nice graphical interface to copy the files to a USB stick...

The look on people's faces when I demonstrate that their windows PC password is completely usless (and so easy to bypass) is priceless...

Encrypted files are another matter (and whole disk encryption is pretty much impossible).

 

[schocca]

Knoppix and Trinity - both free...