How to Bypass Windows 7 Password
If you lost the password to your regular Windows 7 user account, you can use the password recovery drive you created to access your account in minutes. If you didn't create a password recovery drive, don't lose hope—get your hands on a W...
Method 1 of 4:
Using a Windows System Repair Disc
- Insert a system repair disc into the DVD drive. Booting from a Windows 7 system repair disc will enable you to create temporary backdoor access to reset your password.[1]
- If you don't have a System Repair disc, you can create one on another Windows 7 computer.
- Reboot your computer. When prompted, press any key on the keyboard to finish booting.
- If the computer boots back to the login screen instead, you'll need to change the boot order in the BIOS before continuing with this method.
- Select 'Windows 7' under 'Operating System.' When selected, the text will turn blue.
- Make note of the drive letter under 'Location.'
- For example, if you see (D:) Local Disk, the drive letter you should remember is 'D:'
- Click Next.
- Click the 'Command Prompt' link. A black screen with white text will appear.
- Type the drive letter at the command prompt.
- For example, if your drive letter was D:, type D:
- Press ↵ Enter.
- Create a backdoor to an elevated command prompt. Type the following commands, in order:[2]
- Type cd windowssystem32 and press ↵ Enter.
- Type ren utilman.exe utilhold.exe and press ↵ Enter.
- Type copy cmd.exe utilman.exe and press ↵ Enter.
- Type exit and press ↵ Enter.
- Eject the system repair disc.
- Reboot the computer. The computer will boot back up to the login screen.
- Click the 'Ease of Access' icon. It's at the left corner of the screen and is blue with a white compass. This will open the command prompt instead of the Ease of Access center, but don't be alarmed!
- Type net user username newpassword. Replace 'username' with the username of the account you need to access, and 'newpassword' with a password you'll remember.
- Press ↵ Enter.
- Close the command prompt.
- Log into Windows. You are now back into the computer with your regular account.
- Open the command prompt as an administrator. Here's how:
- Click the Start menu.
- Type cmd into the search box.
- Right-click 'Command Prompt' in the search results and select 'Run as administrator.'
- If prompted, confirm that you really want to run the program as an administrator.
- The command prompt will appear.
- Remove the backdoor. Enter the following commands to remove the backdoor you created earlier:[3]
- Type the drive letter you made note of earlier. For example, D:.
- Press ↵ Enter.
- Type cd windowssystem32 and press ↵ Enter.
- Type copy utilhold.exe utilman.exe and press ↵ Enter.
Method 2 of 4:
Using the Windows Installation DVD
- Put a Windows 7 installation DVD into the DVD drive. You can access an Administrator account by booting from DVD and making a few changes in the registry.[4]
- It doesn't have to be the same DVD you used to install Windows, so you can borrow one if necessary.
- Reboot your computer. It should boot to a screen that asks you to choose a language.
- If the computer boots back to the login screen instead, you'll need to change the boot order in the BIOS before continuing with this method.
- Select your language and click Next.
- Click Repair your computer.
- Select your Widows installation.
- Click the Windows 7 installation in the list. Unless you have other operating systems installed, it should be the only option.
- Click Next.
- Click the 'Command Prompt' link. It's the last option at the bottom of the System Recovery Options screen. The command prompt will appear—it's a black window with white text.
- Type regedit and press ↵ Enter. The registry editor will appear.
- Click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. It's on the left side of the screen.
- Click the 'File' menu.
- Select 'Load Hive.'
- Type %windir%system32configsam. You'll be typing this into the 'File name' field. Be sure to type it as shown.
- Click Open. Now you'll see a screen asking you to enter a name for a 'new hive.'
- Type temporary. You can type anything, but this is a safe bet for the meantime.
- Click OK. Now you'll return to the main registry editor.
- Navigate to the user registry key. Here are the steps to access 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > temporary > SAM > Domains > Account > Users > 000001F4':
- Click the + next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in the left pane.
- Click the + next to temporary.
- Click the + next to SAM.
- Click the + next to Domains.
- Click the + next to Account.
- Click the + next to Users.
- Click the + next to 000001F4. You should see an entry for F in the right panel.
- Double-click F in the right panel. A new window will appear containing many hexadecimal numbers.
- Find the line that starts with 0038. You will see 11 directly to the right of 0038.
- Change 11 to 10.
- Drag the mouse across the 11 so that only that number is highlighted (no spaces on either side)
- Type 10.
- Click OK. The hard part is over!
- Eject the Windows DVD.
- Restart the computer.
- Click the Administrator account. This will give you full administrative access to Windows.
- Now you can reset the password for your regular admin account.
Method 3 of 4:
Using NTPassword
- Access another computer. If you have access to another computer with internet access, you can download a utility called NTPassword that will help you reset your Windows 7 password. You'll need to either burn a bootable copy of this utility or use it to create a bootable USB flash drive.
- Navigate to http://www.ntpasswd.com/.
- Select a version of NTPassword. Click one of the following buttons to download the NTPassword files:[5]
- Click Download USB Version if you want to create a bootable USB flash drive. The drive you use should have nothing else on it.
- Click Download Disc Version to save the file (cd140201.iso) image to your computer. Once downloaded, you'll be able to burn a bootable CD of this image.
- Create a bootable USB flash drive. If you choose Download USB Version:
- Unzip the downloaded file (usb140201.zip) to your USB flash drive. The files should be directly on the drive, not inside another directory.
- Click the Start menu and type cmd into the search box.
- Right-click 'Command Prompt' in the search results and select 'Run as Administrator.'
- Type cd x: (replace 'x:' with the actual drive letter of your USB drive) and press ↵ Enter.
- Type X:syslinux.exe -ma X: (replace both X: with the actual drive letter) and press ↵ Enter.
- Remove the flash drive from the second computer.
- Create a bootable CD. If you choose Download Disc Version:
- Insert a recordable CD-R or DVD-R.
- Right-click the downloaded file (cd140201.iso) and select 'Burn to disc.'
- Follow the prompts to create the disc.
- Eject the disc from the second computer once the burn is complete.
- Insert the USB drive or CD into the problem computer.
- Reboot the computer. The computer should boot to a black screen with white text that begins with 'Windows Reset Password'.[6]
- If the computer boots back to the login screen instead, you'll need to change the boot order in the BIOS before continuing with this method.
- Press ↵ Enter.
- Select the hard drive partition that contains Windows. Near the bottom of the screen you'll see text that says 'STEP ONE: Select disk where the Windows partition is.'
- Look at the partitions beneath 'Candidate Windows partitions found.'
- Press the number (on the keyboard) next to the largest partition that does not say 'Boot.'
- Press ↵ Enter.
- Press ↵ Enter to confirm the registry path. Now you'll see 'Select which part of registry to load, use predefined choices or list the files with space delimiter.'
- Press ↵ Enter. This accepts the default setting, 'Edit user data and passwords.[7]
- Press ↵ Enter to accept the next default setting.
- Select the user whose password you want to reset.
- Locate your account username under 'Username' at the bottom of the screen.
- Find its corresponding 'RID' number in the column to the left.
- Type the RID number and press ↵ Enter.
- Press ↵ Enter.
- Press 1 and then ↵ Enter. This clears the password for the specified user account.[8]
- Press q and then ↵ Enter. Now you'll be prompted to save your changes.
- Press y and then ↵ Enter. This confirms you want to save the changes.
- Eject the USB drive or CD.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+Del. Your computer will restart to the login screen, where you'll be able to click your user name and set a new password
Method 4 of 4:
Using a Password Reset Disk
- Try to log in to Windows. If you created a password reset disk at an earlier date, you can use it to get back into Windows.
- If you didn't create a password reset disk, try another method.
- Click 'OK' on the password error message.
- Connect your USB Password Recovery Disk to the computer.[9]
- Click the 'Reset password…' link. It's just beneath the password blank. This will launch the Password Reset Wizard.
- Click Next.
- Select your USB drive from the drop-down menu. It's usually called something like 'Removable Disk.'
- Click Next.
- Type a new password. Enter it into the first blank, beneath the text 'Type a new password.'
- Type the password again. This time, type it into the second blank, under 'Type the password again to confirm.'
- Enter a password hint. You'll do this in the third, final box on the screen. Type something that'll make you remember the new password in case you forget it.
- Click Next.
- If you see an error that says 'An error occurred while the wizard was attempting to set the password,' you're using the wrong password reset disk.[10]
- Click Finish. This will close the password reset wizard.
- Log into Windows. You should now be able to log in to Windows using your new account password.
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