I forgot my Windows 7 computer password, how to reset it. What to do if you have lost your Windows administrator password. Via control panel

Passwords using numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters are undoubtedly one of the most secure ways to protect information, but remembering such a password is often difficult. You can, of course, write it down on a piece of paper, but then there is no guarantee that someone will use the password without the knowledge of the account owner, so it is better to remember this, albeit difficult, combination of letters and numbers.

Three ways to reset your password in Windows 7

But what if it’s impossible to remember the password? Are there any ways to reset passwords in Windows 7? Of course there is, and not even one, but three. However, before using any of them, it is worth remembering that such actions can lead to loss of warranty on the hardware or even damage to the computer. So, as a result of incorrect actions, there will be no one to file a claim with. But still, if this doesn’t scare you, read on to learn how to reset your password in Windows 7.

Method 1: Reset your password using utilities

The Windows operating system uses a Security Account Manager, which protects information quite reliably. If you need to reset your password and change it, rather than trying to recover an existing one (which in itself is a very time-consuming and thankless task), then you can use specially developed utilities. It’s really worth checking that the computer supports loading files from CDs or DVDs, as well as from flash drives, because a running OS, naturally, will not allow intrusion into the password storage.

Currently, there are about a dozen such utilities, but the most popular is . The work begins by downloading the required version of the utility and burning the image to disk or by creating a multiboot flash drive. It is important to run the created image on the computer from removable media. This program does not have a graphical interface, but is very simple and easy to use.

Basically, this procedure does not require any action from the user, you just need to press Enter, but sometimes you still have to select additional options that will help launch the utility. In such cases, first of all, select the number of the partition on which Windows 7 is installed. It is difficult to make a mistake, since the size of this partition is the largest, but even if an error occurs, you can simply cancel the actions and do all the steps again - at this stage the utility does not make any changes significant transformations in the system.

You may need to specify the path to the folder (X:|Windows|System32|config) where the Security Account Manager (SAM) files are stored and select the first option, Password reset, which allows you to reset passwords.

Then again you need to select the first sub-item Edit user data and password and select the user name or its identifier in the format 0xabcd, where abcd is the RID indicated in the first column. The last one (RID) is required if the username is written in Cyrillic, which is not displayed in the registry.

The penultimate step is to select the action that needs to be performed for this user - reset (point 1) or change the password (point 2). Exit password editing mode by pressing! (exclamation mark), and the Enter key.

And the last one is an agreement with amendments. To do this, press Q, then Enter, Y and Enter again. Next, you cancel further actions in the utility (key N), remove the external media and reboot the system (combination Alt+Ctrl+Del).

This was the first and most common method of resetting a password, in which difficulties can arise only in the absence of suitable drivers for hard drives.

Method 2: Enable the hidden administrator account

There are two more ways to solve such a problem as a forgotten password, and you only need a Windows 7 boot disk. A more complex method is to edit the registry under the administrator account, hidden in normal boot mode. By default, the administrator account does not have a password, but the administrator has extensive editing capabilities for any other operating system accounts.

In order to reset passwords in this way, you need to boot from the installation disk and press the Shift+F10 combination, which opens the command line. In the line you need to write regedit and press Enter to enable the registry editor.

The following is the algorithm for completing the task: first, launch the File menu and the Load hive submenu, then in the |Windows|System32|config folder in the partition where Windows 7 is installed, you need to open the SAM file (the same security account manager that was already mentioned was discussed) and enter the name of the loaded hive (hive), it can be called whatever you like.

After this, you need to select the section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE|hive_name|SAM|Domains|Account|Users|000001F4 and double-click on the F key. These actions will open the editor, where in the first number in line 038 (this is the number 11), replace it with 10. It is important to replace only this number, without changing anything in other lines or in the 38th.

You can now restart your computer and log in as an administrator. In the User Management section of the Windows Control Panel, you can change the settings of any account, change and reset passwords.

Method 3. Substitution of system files

Another way is to replace system files. For example, you can replace the files of the well-known program sethc.exe with others that are more useful. Although the statement that the sethc.exe program is known to everyone is a little incorrect. Few people know about the name of the program itself (programmers and administrators don’t count), but its result—the Sticky Keys window that appears when you quickly press the Shift key more than 5 times—is familiar to many.

The files of this particular program, which is practically useless, can be replaced with files of another cmd program. exe. This program allows you to access the Windows command line; however, you cannot replace files directly in a running operating system. Before starting work, boot from the installation disk and press the key combination Alt+F10.

Then you need to determine the drive on which the Windows 7 operating system is installed. The easiest and fastest way to do this is to look at the contents of the root partition using the dir system command, on which drive C will most likely be shown as D, but this is not always the case.

After the disk name is determined, you need to replace the system files. First, you should copy the original system file sethc.exe to the root partition of the disk or to any other location on the disk, delete it from the command line, and write the cmd file in its place. exe.

In fact it will look like this:

After replacing the files, the system reboots, and you need to have time to call the command line while Windows 7 is loading. This can be done by quickly and repeatedly pressing any of the keys - Shift, Ctrl or Alt. Usually everyone presses Shift, since it is the largest, but it all depends on individual preferences and habits. In the command line that appears, you must enter the name of the user whose data is to be edited and a new password:

  • net user username new password

The interesting thing is that you can change many more parameters on the command line, but you can do this only after reading the official help from Microsoft, remembering that editing can cause irreversible actions and cause hardware failure.

If you need to replace the files back with the default sethc.exe program, boot from a CD, DVD or multiboot flash drive again, open the console and write the following on the command line:

Although the need to have a working sticky key control program again is negligible. So it’s better to leave the command line call under these actions.

Now you have information on how to reset a password in Windows 7. In addition to the above methods of resetting passwords and replacing them with new ones, there are several more options, but they are still not so popular and require special knowledge and skills in working with computer software. So it’s better to choose one of these three, and even better to have strong passwords that are easy to remember or use special password manager programs.

In this article, I will tell you how to reset the administrator account password (or create a new one) without using additional programs. You will only need a Windows 7 installation disc or a system repair disc. This method should be used if it is not possible to reset the password using standard methods, for example, when the password for a single account is lost

Stage #1 - Setting up the command line to start before the Windows login screen

      Boot from the Windows 7 installation disc or recovery disc.

      Note. If you do not have an installation disk or a recovery disk, but have a LiveCD with Windows PE or another Windows is installed on another partition of your hard drive, you can use them - go to step No. 3.

    1. In the language settings window, click Further---> [only when booting from installation disk] click System Restore ---> Further ---> Command line

(drive_letter): \Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM

Note. In some cases, the OS disk may not be visible to the recovery environment, in which case you will need to download the driver in step 2. You will need the same driver that was used when installing the OS.

  • Enter a custom name for the loading section. In the example - 888.


Stage No. 2 - Reset your password or create a new user and log in

After rebooting, continue to log into Windows 7 normally. Before logging in, you will see a command prompt window.

Password reset

To reset your password, enter the following command and confirm its execution with the key Enter

net user username new password

Important! If your username or password contains spaces, enter them in " in quotation marks " .

In the picture below for the user Adm7 password is set tL942G8dWp.

If you have forgotten your account name, enter the command net user without parameters to display all available accounts.

Create a new account

If you don't have any administrator accounts, you can easily create one. To do this, enter the commands below sequentially, pressing the key after each Enter.

For Russian(localized) Windows:


net localgroup Administrators username /add
net localgroup Users username /delete

For English Windows:

net user username password /add
net localgroup Administrators username /add
net localgroup Users username /delete

The commands sequentially perform the following actions:

  1. Creating a new user.
  2. Adding a user to a group ( Administrators).
  3. Removing a user from a group Users (Users).

If you want to set the password to never expire for all accounts, enter the following command at the end:

net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited

When you finish typing, close the Command Prompt window.

You now have an account with administrator rights and a new password. Simply select a user and log in to Windows:

How it works?

To change user settings, you must have access to the Windows Control Panel or Command Prompt running with administrator rights from Windows. Since login is blocked, changes must be made before login.

To do this, at the first stage we enter the registry editor of the recovery environment and load a part of the registry (hive) of the installed Windows 7 into it. Using the parameter SetupType we indicate that before the next login to Windows, you must execute the command from the parameter CmdLine, and in CmdLine specify the command line (cmd.exe). These options are originally intended to perform administrative tasks during silent Windows installation, but we use them for our own purposes. After this, the registry hive is unloaded and the computer is sent to reboot. Then everything is simple - in the command line window that appears, we perform the necessary operations with users and log into Windows.

It would do well for any personal computer user to know how to unlock a computer if they have forgotten their access passwords.

No special knowledge required. After following a simple algorithm of actions, in a few minutes you will be able to work on your PC.

How to restore access in Windows 7 and Windows 8?

A password is required to protect private information from unauthorized persons. It does not allow you to log in by simply turning it on. However, if the code is lost or the system has been updated, then access to the data becomes impossible. Each version of Windows OS operates differently.

The Windows 7 operating system is the most popular among the rest. It is very convenient to use. And the process of gaining account access is also quite simple.

But if the user is unable to log in to his account, then he should follow a series of steps listed below:

  1. You need to restart the PC, then hold down the F8 key and bring up the menu.
  2. Use the navigation keys to go to the “Safe Mode” line and press Enter.
  3. Wait until the operating system boots. Then select an account to log in under the name “Administrator” (standard profile, free of a password).
  4. The next step is to close the Safe Mode help window and go to Control Panel through the Start menu or another method.
  5. Open “User Accounts”, log into your personal profile and click on “Change Password”.
  6. Enter a new combination of numbers and numbers in the field, and then save by pressing the desired keys.
  7. After this, you need to restart the computer again and enter the new code in the appropriate field.

"Eight" is only gaining its popularity. To begin with, it is important to make sure that the computer is connected to the network, and during the entire process it is not recommended to unplug the plug from the socket.

To resume work on it if you have lost your password, you need to do the following.

  • when logging in, you need to click on the power icon, which is located on the right;
  • hold down the Shift button;
  • then - “Select action” in the menu that appears;
  • go to “Diagnostics” by clicking on it;
  • then click “Return to original state” and click the “Next” button;
  • wait until the reboot is completed, the presence of the disk is required, without it the action will not be completed;
  • at the end you need to select “Just delete my files”.

Recovery using a Flash Card

A flash drive will help you quickly access your computer. The main thing is to first write the file to the memory card and do several tasks:

  • turn off the computer and insert a USB flash drive, turn on the computer;
  • click on account;
  • type any combination of numbers and letters and press Enter; when the “Invalid username or password” window appears, you will be asked to restore it;
  • By clicking on the inscription, you will open the “Password Recovery Wizard”;
  • then click on the “Next” button, point to the required flash drive;
  • again click on “Next”, enter a new password and select “Done”.

You can then log in with the new password.

To have such a USB flash drive at hand, you need:

  1. Click on “Start”, go to “Control Panel”.
  2. Select the “User Accounts” tab.
  3. Click on “Create a password reset disk”.
  4. Simultaneously press the Ctrl, Alt, Del keys.
  5. Select the “Change password” section.
  6. Click on the required account and select “Create a password recovery diskette.”
  7. Insert the USB flash drive and click “Next” in the “Wizard”.
  8. In the window that appears, select the USB flash drive device, then click “Next”.
  9. After recording, the userkey.psw file will appear on the USB device. At the end of the operation, click “Next” and “Finish”.
  10. Resume the system.

A flash card is not the only way to fix problems. The file can be copied to your hard drive.

It is important to be especially careful when performing these steps.

By following these instructions it is easy to achieve the desired result.

LediZnaet.ru

How to unlock your computer if you forgot your password

Admin 08/26/2014 - 16:09 Workshop

Sometimes a situation arises when the computer is locked, and the user is unable to guess the password for the account. This state of affairs is rare, but memory is unpredictable, and the operating system cannot directly tell us (except for a user hint, if one was created in advance).

Naturally, to log into the system you will need to reset or change your account password, since it is impossible to remember! To describe this, let’s take an average case where actions are not hampered by other reasons, and the standard installation of Windows favors a successful outcome.

Unlock the computer

An account password or simply an “account” is quite a useful thing, but having forgotten or lost the treasured combination, it is impossible to log in to the system, both for strangers and for you personally. Well, if no changes were made to the accounts, then restoring the login will take a few minutes.

  • We restart the computer, and after the BIOS picture, press the “F8” key to call up the boot menu.
  • Use the navigation keys to move to the “Safe Mode” line and press “Enter”.
  • We are waiting for the operating system to load. To log in, select an “account” under the name “Administrator” (standard profile without a password).
  • Close the help window about Safe Mode and go to the “Control Panel” through the “Start menu” or in a way convenient for you.
  • Open the “User Accounts” section. Go to your personal profile and click “change password”.
  • In the field, enter a new combination of characters and save by pressing the appropriate button (if the input field is left empty, the password will be reset).
  • After manipulating the password, we reboot. Now all that remains is to enter a new password (if one has been set) and log in to Windows.

Note! If your profile is the only account, then the above actions will be powerless. But there is always another solution, for example, try restoring access via the command line, this method was discussed earlier and will require a Windows boot disk.

P.S.

As you understand, a trivial case will require minimal time investment, but there is also a way out for solving non-standard situations. So don’t go to extremes, and try to avoid changes in the “accounts” section.

wd-x.ru

What to do if you forgot your Windows 7 password?

There are situations when, thinking about protecting their computer, and along with it the information located on the hard drive, a person comes up with a complex and at the same time reliable password for logging into Windows. All this is good, of course, but you can forget a complex password completely by accident.

What to do if you forgot your Windows 7 password?

Especially often, such a negative situation can arise at a time when access to a computer is very necessary and the question immediately arises: what to do if you forgot your Windows 7 password? Although this is not a pleasant situation, there is a solution and we will consider it using Windows 7 as an example.

To solve the problem, you need to be a little hacker, although you don’t have to do anything special, and to reset the password we need a bootable or otherwise Windows 7 installation disk, a bootable USB flash drive will also do.

Using a Windows 7 boot disk

You will need media from which you can install Windows to try to recover your login password. Next, you will need to boot the computer from the boot disk through the boot menu - usually when you start the computer, the following keys are used: or, or, or, different manufacturers of computer components use different versions for the bootloader, and in our example this is the key. You can also boot from a disk, of course in a slightly more complicated way, by making settings in the BIOS.

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We select the next window, which is exactly what we need to recover a forgotten password in Windows 7, and here the fun begins.

The next window will appear System Recovery Options, where we look at the system drive letter, which will be very useful later.

We press and on the monitor or laptop display, which doesn’t matter at all, the System Recovery Options window will appear, and there will already be quite a few options, but from all the variety you need to choose exactly.

Using the command line to recover a forgotten windows password

The Windows command line will be required to make some adjustments to the operating system. A problem may immediately arise, although by default on most computers Windows is installed on the disk, here your system disk will have a completely different partition letter, here you will have to work a little if you did not remember the partition letter specified earlier in System Recovery Options and find the correct letter disk.

To find the drive letter we need to recover the password, enter the command at the command line:

Bcdedit | find "osdevice"

To which you will immediately receive an answer:

Partition = D

In the example, it was the system drive, but you may have a different letter, usually this. In subsequent steps, you will need to use the resulting partition letter. To begin the next step of recovering a forgotten password, you need to enter the following on the command line:

Copy d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe d:\

Where is the letter of your drive, and after pressing the key you will receive confirmation of copying the file, then you need to enter in the line:

Copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

Click again and you will be prompted to enter YES (yes) or NO (no), enter and a new confirmation for copying the file will appear. For information: a backup copy of the Sticky Keys utility was made, and then it was replaced with the command line.

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Recovering a forgotten password turns into replacing it

Now we remove the bootable DVD, possibly USB, depending on what was used, and reboot the computer. After the password entry screen appears, you need to press the key 5 times in quick succession - this will bring up the command line. In the prompt field you need to enter Net User, and then the username you used previously and the desired password. You can remind yourself of the username on the windows login screen.

For example, your login name is Cyber, and the desired Engine password, you must enter:

Net User Cyber ​​Engine

After clicking, your account name will remain the same, and the password will change to the recently entered one, and now you can safely log in to Windows 7.

Previously, the operation, which was carried out on the command line, was needed to obtain a backup copy of the sticky key utility sethc.exe and replace it with cmd.exe, and now after logging into Windows and rebooting it, again using the command line you need to return the file back. To do this, boot again from the boot disk and repeat our steps right up to the command line, into which you need to enter:

Copy c:\sethc.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

You can check the effectiveness of the operation on the screen for entering logs and passwords by pressing 5 times; instead of the command line, we get sticky keys.

In fact, this step is optional and you can skip it.

This command was the last and now you can help not only yourself, but also a friend who accidentally forgot his Windows 7 password and doesn’t know what to do now.

ProComputer.su

What to do if you forgot your user password to log in

People often contact me with the following questions: “what to do if you forgot your Windows password”, “how to unlock your password”, “how to reset your Windows password”, etc. Today I will tell you how to get out of a situation if one of the computer users has forgotten the password to log into the system. And also what to do if the computer administrator forgot the password.

If one of the computer users has forgotten the password, the administrator can reset it and create it again without any problems. But what to do if the administrator himself forgot the password? Let's consider all cases in order.

Situation one: On one of the computers on the network there are at least two accounts: this is a user account and your administrator account.

If the user has forgotten the password, then you log in to the system using your account. Then on the desktop, right-click on the “My Computer” icon and select “Manage”: Next, expand the “Utilities” section and select “Local Users and Groups”. Click here on the Users folder and all existing accounts on the computer will be displayed in the right window. Right-click on your forgetful user name and select “Set Password”:
A warning window will appear - click “Continue”:
You can then set a new password for the user. If you leave the fields here empty and click “OK”, the password will be empty: After this, you can restart the computer and the user will log in with the new password.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Situation two: You don’t remember your administrator password, or you are the only user of the computer (but again, you don’t remember the password).

In this case, we need to log in using the Administrator account built into Windows. Most ordinary users are not even aware of its existence. This account is not password protected by default.

You can log in as Administrator either through the classic login window or in Safe Mode.

The classic window is called up in the following way: after turning on the computer, while on the welcome page, press the key combination Ctrl+Alt+Del twice. In the classic login window, manually enter the name Administrator (in some cases Administrator) - click “OK”.

To enter Safe Mode: After turning on your computer, press and hold the F8 key on your keyboard. Then select “Safe Mode” and press Enter. In the next window, in addition to your account (or entries), the Administrator account will be displayed - log in to the system under it.

Personally, I prefer to log in through the classic login window: it’s more convenient and faster. In addition, on some computers, the keyboard and mouse refuse to work in Safe Mode, so even if you get into this mode, you can’t do anything there.

Regardless of how you logged into your Administrator account, then we do the same thing as I already described above. Namely: find the “My Computer” icon on the desktop and right-click on it and select “Manage”.

Next, expand the “Utilities” section and select “Local Users and Groups”. Click here on the Users folder and all existing accounts on the computer will be displayed in the right window.

Right-click on your account name and select “Set Password.” A warning window will appear - click “Continue”. You can then set a new password for the user. If you leave the fields here empty and click “OK”, the password will be empty. After this, you can restart your computer and log in with a new password.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Situation three: But what to do if the built-in Administrator account is under a password and it is unknown to us? Should I reinstall windows? Of course not! We can solve this problem if we use the ERD Commander emergency recovery boot disk.

You can download the archive with the image of this disk intended for restoring Windows XP here. After this, burn the image to a CD or DVD (for example, via Alcohol 120%). Then insert the recorded disc into the computer drive and configure the BIOS to boot from it.

During boot, you will see the following on the screen: Then, when launched, ERD Commander will try to detect and configure network cards - skip this operation by clicking the “Skip Network Configuration” button: Next you need to connect to your operating system. To do this, select the windows system folder and click “OK”:
We wait for the download to finish (from a CD, naturally, it is slower than from a hard drive). After a while we will see a desktop on the screen that is almost no different from the usual Windows XP desktop:
Go to “Start” – select the section “System Tools” – “Locksmith”: The Locksmith utility (Password Change Wizard) allows you to change passwords for administrator and user accounts.

In the welcome window that appears, click “Next”.

In the next window, in the “Account” field, select the account for which you forgot the password. In the “New Password” and “Confirm Password” fields, enter the new password.
Click the “Next” button. In the last window, click the “Finish” button and restart your computer. Don't forget to set the BIOS to boot from the hard drive. That's all! Now you can log in to your account with a new password.

ATTENTION: If none of the proposed methods helped you, then read my new article “How to easily reset a forgotten password in any version of Windows.” There I described in detail how you can remove a user password in Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 and XP.

blogsisadmina.ru

What can you do if you forgot your password on your computer?

Anyone can forget the password for Windows 7 or Windows 8. Fortunately, its restoration does not require any specific skills or abilities. With due care, within a few minutes you will be able to unlock your computer.

All modern operating systems have password protection, and it doesn’t matter what kind of computer you have. This is necessary to prevent unauthorized people from using your personal device. The password does not allow you to open the system by simply turning on the PC. But perhaps you have forgotten this password and do not know what to do. This may happen unconsciously, or perhaps you recently installed a new OS and have not yet had time to automatically remember the password. How can I remove the lock that prevents me from logging in?

If you have a computer running Windows 7 or Windows 8, then the password recovery process will not take you much time. Sometimes, to unlock your computer, you may need the installation disk from which you installed the operating system. It is often impossible to recover a password without such a disk. So, what to do if you forgot your computer password?

Password recovery on Windows 8

To log into a computer running Windows 8, you do not need to reinstall the operating system. Follow these steps:

  1. Make sure that the PC is connected to the network; it cannot be disconnected while you are resetting the password;
  2. When you log into Windows 8, click on the power icon (located in the lower right corner);
  3. Press the "Shift" key and do not release;
  4. From the menu that opens, select “Reboot”, the “Select action” window will open.
  5. You need to enter “Diagnostics” by clicking on it with the mouse;
  6. Click on the line “Return to original state”;
  7. Click Next;
  8. Wait until the Windows 8 system recovers. If the device does not have an installation disk, the system will ask you to insert it, otherwise the recovery will not complete;
  9. Then "Just delete my files" will appear. You need to select this item.

If everything is done correctly, the Windows 8 computer will return to its original state and you can create a new user. However, it is worth considering that all data from your PC will be deleted without the possibility of recovery. Therefore, you first need to back up your files to an external storage device.

Password recovery on windows 7

A user, if he has forgotten the password on his computer, can log into the computer on Windows 7 in two ways: unlock the system using the Windows 7 installation disk and save the password on a flash drive (or any other external storage device).

Using the Windows 7 installation disc

Follow these steps:

  1. You need to turn on the computer;
  2. Then insert the disc;
  3. When it loads, click on “System Restore”, a new window will open;
  4. Select the OS for which you forgot the password (if more than one OS is installed);
  5. Click “Next”, the following window will open;
  6. Select “Command Line”;
  7. Type “regedit” and click Enter to go to the registry;
  8. In the editor, highlight “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE”;
  9. Open the "File" menu;
  10. Click “Load hive...”, a new window will appear;
  11. Go to C: windowssystem32config and left-click “system” twice;
  12. Come up with a name for the new branch;
  13. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, open this thread;
  14. Highlight "setup";
  15. Right-click on “SetupType”, then “Change...”, the following window will appear;
  16. In the “Value” line, press 2, then “OK”;
  17. In the registry, right-click on “CmdLine”, then “Change...”;
  18. In the “Value” line, enter “cmd.exe”, then “OK”;
  19. Exit Registry Editor, launch it again;
  20. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE;
  21. Select the created branch, then “File” – “Unload bush...”;
  22. After closing all windows, reboot the system. When rebooting, remove the installation disk;
  23. When the computer turns on, the command prompt will appear. Write in it “net user name of the created branch password” (for example, “net user Vasily Administrator 2222”);
  24. Then click Enter;
  25. Close the window when Windows 7 starts, enter the password. You should now be able to log in.

Flash drive for password

If users of Windows 7 OS have forgotten their password, it is possible to log into the system and unlock the password using a special function for creating a flash drive. To create such a flash drive.

The Windows 7 operating system can be protected with a password that must be entered on the computer before booting. If the user has forgotten the treasured combination, then he will not be able to log into the OS. We will figure out how to reset a password on Windows 7 (Home, Professional, Ultimate) if it is forgotten or lost, and the given hint does not help. Let's consider two options: when you have access to the OS and you just want to remove the authorization protection, and when it is impossible to log into your account.

Don’t rush to reinstall the system or send your PC for repairs! You can fix this problem yourself! Each instruction meets security requirements: your data, names and passwords will not be shared with third parties.

If you have access to the system

So, the first scenario: you remember perfectly well: the password for your account and you can gain access to Windows. In this case, you can use standard means to remove the login security and use an open system. If you use an administrator account, you can change passwords and data for any accounts on this Windows.

Via command line

To remove or change your password via the command line, use the following guide:

  1. In the “Start” menu, enter the query “cmd” in the search bar, then right-click on the application and run it as administrator.
  1. A black screen with an input line will appear in front of you. If you don't remember the account name, enter the command.
  1. A list of all profiles created in this system will appear. Remember the name and enter the command net user homepc ‘’’’, where homepc is the name of the account, as shown in the screenshot.
  1. Now you can close the command line and check if you were able to unlock your account password.

To, on the contrary, set a password and protect the system, use the command net user administrator password.

Through "User Accounts"

The second universal method works through the Windows interface. Changing security combinations is carried out through the “User Accounts” window. You can do it like this:

  1. First you need to open the Start menu and click on the profile icon at the top.
  1. A settings wizard will open where you can create, disable a profile, or cancel protection. Click on the marked button.
  1. Now you need to enter the current combination in the appropriate field with circles or stars. Click on "Remove Password".
  1. Ready! The password has been removed, which can be verified by turning off the account and logging in again.

Password Reset Wizard

Separately, it is worth noting the option of creating an auxiliary floppy disk or flash drive. It stores all authorization data. If you lose your password, you can automatically cancel it using this medium:

  1. You need to open the account settings window again.
  1. Here, select “Create a password reset disk” in the left column.
  1. On the first screen, click Next.
  1. Next, you need to select a password storage.
  1. Now enter your current password and click Next.
  1. The creation procedure will take 1-2 minutes.
  1. Click "Done" to finish.
  1. Now you need to log out. When you see the password activation splash screen, click on the marked button. The flash drive or floppy disk must be connected to the PC!
  1. A familiar master will appear. Click “Next”.
  1. Now you need to find which external drive is a recovery flash drive.
  1. At the next step, you can enter new passwords or leave the default fields blank if you do not want to make a password-protected profile again.
  1. At the last stage, the program accepts the data change after clicking the “Finish” button.

If you used the utility to remove protection, then in the future you will be authorized in Windows by simply pressing the login button.

Third party program

There is software called Ophcrack, which allows you to hack an account or change the administrator password from under a working OS, but with network access. You can also restore shared access to your computer without starting the OS. To do this, you need to create a bootable USB flash drive with the Ophcrack utility.

You can download and install the program for free using the official link. Unlocking occurs according to the following algorithm:

  1. Run the application as administrator.
  1. In the “Load” menu, click on the marked item.
  1. All found accounts will appear in the table - administrator, guest, profiles from the home group, and so on. The “NT Pwd” column displays passwords.
  1. To start the hacking procedure, select an account and click on “Crack”.
  1. The password for the desired profile will appear in the “NT Pwd” column. The hacking procedure can take from 1 minute to several hours, depending on the complexity of the combination.

The same procedure can be performed via Ophcrack's LiveCD if you do not have access to Windows 7 itself.

If you don't have access to the system

The second option is sadder: the user cannot remove the password because he does not remember it. As a result, it is impossible to enter the “Seven,” which immediately limits our capabilities.

Boot disk

Let's try to remove the protection using a flash drive or installation disk with the operating system. Along with the installer, the Windows image contains a special recovery utility. This includes the command line, breakpoint return, and more. Instead of the installer, you can use a flash drive or disk with the LiveCD utility.

First you need to connect your devices to the USB port and restart your computer. On the first screen when you turn it on, you need to press the F2 key or the one that is intended for your motherboard. The BIOS menu will then appear. The appearance of the BIOS may differ slightly from that shown in the screenshots. However, the "Boot" menu is everywhere.

Using the arrows on the keyboard, move to the “Boot” tab:

Here we go to the “Hard Drive” section and, using the key, set the port with the connected flash drive to first place. To save changes and exit, press F10.

As a result, after loading, the LiveCD or installation disk menu will appear. In the case of the second, you need to click on “System Restore”. The next menu contains tools for restoring access to the OS and the performance of the PC as a whole. We are interested in the last item - this is “Command Line”.

The essence of the method is to open the account using the command line on the initial screen saver (when Windows is locked at startup).

  1. Enter the command to launch the registry.
  1. Now you need to select the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” branch and select “Load hive” from the “File” menu.


What to do if you forgot your computer password? This guide will tell you what to do if you forgot your Windows password and how to solve this problem without reinstalling the operating system. We'll also look at other possible password issues. The Windows 10 and Windows 7 operating systems have improved security capabilities compared to the earlier Windows XP/2000 systems.

By the way, your PC may have one of the most commonly used passwords installed; for a complete list of popular passwords, see -.

The latest versions of Windows use a more effective password system designed for business use to ensure that no one without the necessary permissions can access information on your computer. This is a double-edged sword. Most users forget some important password at least once. And then the user/owner of the information becomes the “enemy without access rights” for his computer.

Naturally, for every security method there is a way to bypass it, especially if you have physical access to the computer.

In this article, we will look at various methods of protecting your computer with a password and how to bypass them. We won't start with user account passwords, but with equally important passwords, such as BIOS passwords.

How to "bypass" the BIOS password?

BIOS password- one of the oldest methods of protecting a computer from unauthorized access and one of the most common. Why? This is one of the most effective means if the user does not have access to the system unit. Otherwise, it is the same as locking your house with many locks and leaving the window open.

The default BIOS settings on all motherboards do not store password information. So all you need to do to remove the BIOS password is simply reset the current settings, restoring the default configuration. But remember that resetting the current BIOS settings will destroy not only the password, but also all the settings that you set yourself.

There are two ways to reset BIOS settings. Most motherboards have a special jumper for clearing CMOS (the memory in which BIOS settings are stored). Usually this jumper is located near the battery on the motherboard, but to be completely sure, it is advisable to refer to the instructions from the motherboard. On some motherboards, instead of a jumper, there are simply two contacts that need to be closed with a metal object, such as a screwdriver, to reset the CMOS.

If your board has a jumper, then to clear CMOS, turn off the computer, install the jumper so that it closes the jumper contacts, and press the computer power button. Your computer will not boot, but your CMOS settings will be reset. Remove the jumper and turn on the computer again. You will most likely see a screen asking you to press F1 to set the BIOS settings. If you are happy with the default settings, press F1 and select ‘Save and exit’ from the BIOS menu. After this, the computer will boot as usual, except for the BIOS password.

If you don't know where the required jumper is located on your board or if it doesn't exist at all, which is quite possible, you'll have to go a different route. Each motherboard has a battery that powers the CMOS memory, allowing it to store information. As a rule, this is a standard CR2032 battery.

To clear CMOS, turn off the computer and remove the battery (you may need a thin screwdriver). After 5-10 minutes, replace the battery and turn on the computer. The BIOS will be set to default settings and there will be no password. To continue booting, you will need to press the F1 key, and if you are satisfied with the default settings, select the ‘Save and exit’ item in the BIOS menu that appears.

As you can see, all this is very simple on a desktop computer, but with a laptop, the BIOS password can become a serious problem. Due to the frequent theft of laptop computers, manufacturers have made it almost impossible to gain access without passing the password. So, if you have forgotten your laptop's BIOS password, most likely you will have to contact the manufacturer's service center.

What to do if you forgot your Windows password?

If circumstances have developed in such a way that you have forgotten your Windows password, then we recommend that you reset it using the built-in account called Administrator. This is done in safe mode, while booting or rebooting your PC.

To restore access to your computer, you will just need to press F8 and in the menu that has already opened, in which you will be presented with some additional options for loading your operating system, you will have to select the aforementioned “Safe Mode”. Next, you will need to select a built-in account, which, by the way, by default, cannot be protected by any password.

If you did everything correctly, since you strictly followed the above sequence of actions, then while still on the Desktop, you should see a window with a message that Windows is running in the “Safe Mode” you need, which is as simplified as possible. You will need to click “Yes” and go to Control Panel - User Accounts, where there is an icon for the account for which you want to reset the password. On the left, you must select “Change Password” and in the appropriate window enter and then confirm a new password. Ultimately, you will need to restart your PC for the above changes to take effect.

How to crack Windows password on a computer or laptop?

In order to do this, you will have to follow the following sequence of actions:

  1. Prepare a CD or flash drive on which a special set of recovery programs intended to restore Windows should be recorded. You will need to insert it into the drive or into the appropriate port during the subsequent reboot of the computer. You can prepare this package of resuscitation programs yourself by downloading programs intended for separating, saving and restoring data, or you can download some ready-made RBCD 10.0, for example;
  2. When starting the PC, in order to enter the BIOS, press the “DELETE” button. There we will need to change the installation priority and assign the computer to boot from the CD-ROM. After this we visit our boot disk in the drive and restart the PC;
  3. Having entered the recovery disk, which should appear after the package of resuscitation programs has been downloaded, we must select the edited copy of Windows and go to the “System Restore” mode - the section that will be located at the very bottom of the page;
  4. We look for the command line and enter “regedit” there (we look for it in the dialog settings of the same window). We find and then select the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE section, in which we need to select File, and then Load hive;
  5. Open the “SAM” file and select the section - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hive_name\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\000001F4. Double-click on the F key located there and go to the very first value located in the line, which we will need to replace with the number 10;
  6. In the same section, select “File”, and then “Load Hive”. Click “Yes” to confirm unloading the bush. We close the registry editor, thus completing the installation process, take out the flash drive or disk and reboot the computer.

How to find out your computer password?

The question: how to crack a password on a computer still remains relevant. Unfortunately, it seems possible to actually find out the password from a computer only by choosing it correctly manually. Therefore, if you are not ready to spend several hours of your free time on this process, we strongly recommend that you simply reset it and come up with some new one.

Again, it’s much easier to just reset the password and come up with a new one afterwards. However, if you specifically need to find out the password, we recommend that for these purposes you use a program called, from the image of which you will need to make a boot disk. Having correctly configured the BIOS boot from the drive and installed this program, immediately upon entering the Desktop, a window will open in which you can see user names, including the Administrator, as well as passwords for their accounts.

When wondering: what to do if you forgot the password from your own PC, it is not at all necessary to use the above methods for restoring it. You can also reset your password in the Windows 7 operating system using the Net User command. To do this, while rebooting the PC you will need to press F8. Thus, you can open a Menu that allows you to make additional options for loading this operating system, in which you will need to select not just “Safe Mode,” but one that also supports the command line. While in it, you will need to select the built-in Administrator account and in the Command Interpreter window, immediately after this, system prompts will appear where you will need to enter net user “username” “password”.


We assume that you yourself understand that instead of “username” you will need to enter the name of your local user account, and instead of “password” you will need to enter a new password. If you did everything correctly, then in order to close the window, you will need to enter exit on the command line and restart the PC.

How to reset your password on Windows 8?

In the case of this operating system, things are much simpler! You can reset your password on Windows 8 as follows:

  • On the login screen, you will need to click on the special power icon, which is located in the lower right corner of your screen;
  • Next, you will need to press the Shift key and click “Restart”;
  • Click "Troubleshoot";
  • Click Reset PC;
  • Click “Next” and the system will automatically reboot in order to begin preparations for resetting the password.

How to reset your password on Windows 10?

It is not so difficult to reset the password for Windows 10 users, of course, provided that they have access to the email or phone to which their account was linked. Otherwise, you will have to reset the password from the flash drive, as already described above.

How to reset Windows 7 administrator password?

The best way to reset the Windows 7 administrator password is through the Windows Command Interpreter. Follow the following sequence of actions:

  1. First, launch it. You can do this by following the following path: Start - Run - Run the program - cmd. In the Command Interpreter menu that opens, you will need to enter: control userpasswords, after which a window called “User Accounts” will open;
  2. Select the account for which you want to reset the password and do not forget to uncheck the box next to “Require username and password”;
  3. In the window that opens, you will be required to enter and then confirm a new password. Next, in the command boot window you will need to enter Exit and restart the PC as usual.

View the passwords that Windows stores

In addition to the access passwords of various users, Windows also stores a number of others, no less important: the password for connecting to the Internet, passwords for mailboxes or access to websites. As a rule, there are quite a lot of them, so it is quite natural that they are forgotten over time.

The operating system offers an “autofill” function for passwords and other frequently entered information in browsers (Google Chrome, Yandex Browser, Opera (Blink), Firefox, Explorer 11, etc.). So it is not uncommon for a user to enter a password once, and after a few months, naturally, cannot remember it. Everyone understands that important passwords need to be written down, but not everyone does this. And if you no longer remember the password, how can you find it out, since it is displayed as a series of asterisks: ******?

The solution is offered by programs from different manufacturers that can obtain the password from this string of asterisks. There are quite a lot of freely available programs for decrypting Windows passwords or hidden passwords from input lines in various browsers.

We will use a program from Passware. This is an easy-to-use, freely distributed program that analyzes passwords hidden by asterisks and reports them to you. She is very easy to work with. Just highlight the password line and click the ‘recover’ button.


Of course, there are also commercial versions of programs, which, as a rule, have a greater range of functions. For example, Password Recovery Toolbox scans the system and identifies saved passwords, data saved for automatic filling, Outlook Express passwords, Internet connection passwords, etc. This information is then presented in a convenient form. A few more alternatives to the programs described above: , or Password Viewer.

Windows XP user passwords

Windows XP stores user passwords in a modified form. For example, the password "password" would be stored as a string like this: 'HT5E-23AE-8F98-NAQ9-83D4-9R89-MU4K'. This information is stored in a file called SAM in the C:\windows\system32\config folder.

This portion of the SAM file is encrypted by the syskey system utility to improve password security. The data necessary to decrypt the information after syskey is stored in the system file in the same folder. But this folder is not available to any user. Only the operating system itself has access to it during its operation. You can access the SAM and system files only when running a different operating system or by connecting the drive to another Windows computer.

All versions of Windows XP have an "administrator" account. This name gives the user full access to the system and the ability to reset the passwords of all other users. This can save you if for some reason you cannot log in with your regular user password. The specifics of using the administrator password depend on the version of Windows XP: XP Professional.

The administrator password is set during installation of the operating system. If you wrote it down or just pressed enter and left it blank, you can easily log in as an administrator and reset user passwords. To log in to the system in administrator mode, on the system welcome screen, press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice, a window for entering the administrator password will appear.


When the computer boots, go to ‘start\control panel\user accounts’ and change the required password. Since you are already here, this is a good opportunity to correct your mistake if you left the administrator password blank. In addition, it is advisable to change the name of the ‘administrator’ account. This name is known to everyone and is the first name used to gain access to your computer. To change the account name, right-click on 'my computer' and select 'manage'. Expand 'local users and groups' and open the 'users' folder. Right-click on the 'administrator' entry and edit it.
XP Home.

This system will not allow you to simply access your computer in administrator mode. First, you will need to boot your computer into crash protection mode. To do this: restart your computer; immediately after testing the BIOS, press F8 several times; in the menu that appears, select ‘start Windows XP in safe mode’ (boot Windows XP in crash protection mode). When the computer boots, log in with the username ‘administrator’. There is no default password. You can now change user passwords by going to 'start\control panel\user accounts'. When you're done, restart your computer as usual.
Creating a password reset disk

Windows XP allows you to write information to a regular floppy disk, which provides the ability to reset your password. Naturally, if you have already forgotten the password and cannot access the system, then you will not be able to create any disk, but it is worth creating such a floppy disk in advance to protect yourself from such accidents.

To create a floppy disk: go to ‘start\control panel\user accounts’ (start\control panel\user accounts); select the name under which you are logged in; In the related tasks menu, select ‘prevent a forgotten password’; follow the instructions of the wizard that starts.

To reset passwords using a floppy disk: if you enter the login password incorrectly, the system will ask whether you have forgotten it; At this point, you will be able to use your floppy disk by following the operating system's step-by-step instructions.

Be careful: If you used the built-in capabilities of Windows to encrypt files and folders, but did not install the operating system update (service pack 1), removing the password will result in the loss of encrypted information.

Utilities for changing passwords Windows XP/7/8/10

There are special utilities that allow you to edit or reset Windows XP/7/8/10 user passwords. The principle of most of them is to load a minimal version of an alternative operating system, such as DOS or Linux, under which you can access files with passwords.

An example of such a utility can be found at this address: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ Instructions for operation, as well as files for creating a bootable Linux disk, are available on the same site.

Please note that if you have used the operating system's functions to encrypt files and folders, by changing the password using any program, you will lose access to the encrypted data. In this case, the following method can help, allowing you not to replace the forgotten password with a new one, but to find out the old one.

Selection and decryption of passwords

If nothing else helps, but you have physical access to the computer, then all is not lost. You can rewrite the config and SAM files and try to decrypt the passwords stored in them using special third-party utilities. As we already said, for this you will have to use an alternative operating system, such as DOS or Linux. And when the files are at your disposal, you can use one of the programs for decrypting passwords, for example, LC4 or.

You will need:

  1. Access to another computer.
  2. At least two empty floppy disks.
  3. An archiver designed to work with the command line, for example, RAR.
  4. A DOS or Windows 98 boot disk (an image of the required disk can be obtained at http://www.bootdisk.com/) or a minimal version of Linux (for example, Knoppix). There is no need for boot disks if you can simply connect your hard drive to another computer. If you are using a DOS boot disk and the partitions on your hard drive use the NTFS file system, then to access them you will need a program that allows you to view NTFS partitions under DOS, such as NTFSDOS.
  5. Program for obtaining passwords. We recommend using , as the beta version of this program is free, and the free version of LC4 is very limited.

Using a bootable USB flash drive:

  1. If your hard drive has NTFS partitions, copy the NTFSDOS file to your bootable USB flash drive.
  2. Copy the archiver (RAR) to the bootable USB flash drive.
  3. Boot your computer from this flash drive. If there are partitions with NTFS, type the NTFSDOS command, this program will show which letter is assigned to your system drive, and you will need to use it instead of the letter C in the next step.
  4. Place system files with passwords in the archive. For example, if you are using the rar32 archiver, the corresponding command will look like this: Rar32 a -v a:\systemandsam c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\system32\config\sam If the files do not fit on one flash drive, the archiver will ask you to insert a second one.

Hacking passwords

Each program you select will display a list of accounts detected in the SAM file. Select those for which you need to define passwords. If you are using , select Attack type: Brute-force. If you used only numbers in your password, check the ‘all digits (0-9)’ box. Start the password recovery process using the command from the Recovery menu.

Password guessing can last from 10 minutes to several hours, or even several days, and may fail. Especially if the password uses letters in different cases, numbers and special characters.

This is a good way to check the strength of your passwords. If you just want to check your password, follow the steps above and see how long it takes to guess it.

Windows password cracking programs

There are a huge number of software tools that can help you crack your Windows password. Apart from the above-mentioned program, there is also Windows Admin Password Hack. But, unfortunately, it can no longer be called current, since it only works in Windows 2000/XP. Its closest replacement is MultiBoot 2k10, which is essentially a feature-rich boot disk.

conclusions

In any case, if one of your loved ones forgot the password for Windows 7, or you yourself were forced to face this, do not despair, there are plenty of solutions to this problem. Well, so that you no longer have questions about how to crack a password on a laptop, we strongly recommend that you save them somewhere, in notes inside your own smartphone, for example.

We hope you don't have to resort to the methods we've described. To avoid this need, remember to write down all important passwords. And if there is a real need to protect information on your computer, then use passwords made of characters in both registers and numbers and do not use ordinary words. In this case, your passwords will be very difficult to crack.

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