What if you forgot administrator password?

[Eldon]

What if you forgot administrator password?

Under certain circumstances, you may find yourself without the ability to log in as an administrator. Some situations include:

• You upgraded from Windows XP, and your administrator account is gone or disabled
  
  
• You demoted all administrator accounts to standard users
  
  
• Your administrator account was somehow disabled
  
  
• Your administrator account was hidden from the welcome screen, and you
  are now unable to use it from inside of your standard user account(s)
  
  
• When attempting to run an administrative utility, you are required to enter the password for a hidden account called "ASP.NET Machine Account"
  
  
• You receive an error when trying to run an administrative program, preventing you from changing system settings and running many programs

In order to fix this problem, you will need to log in to the hidden "Administrator" account that is on your computer. This account will allow you to run administrative programs and change system settings so that you can fix your computer. This will require restarting your computer, so you may wish to print these instructions for your convienence.


Option 1: Try safe mode

1. Restart your computer
   
   
2. Press F8 before you see the Windows progress bar
   
   
3. When the boot menu appears, choose safe mode
   
   
4. If you are presented with the option to log in to the account named "Administrator", do so. Use this emergency Administrator account to fix your normal administrator account by using the user accounts control panel

If you are not given the option to log in to the hidden "Administrator" account, you will need to use Option 2.




Option 2: The really hard way

CAUTION: Improperly modifying the registry can harm your system.

1. Click on the start orb. Write down your username (the name listed right below your picture on the start menu).
   
   
2. Place your Windows Installation DVD into your DVD drive
   
   
3. Restart your computer
   
   
4. When prompted, press a key on your keyboard to boot from the DVD
   
   
5. Select your language options and click Next
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Select the option at the bottom to repair your computer
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Select your Windows installation from the list. Make sure you notate what drive letter it is installed on.
   
   
8. Select the last option from the list to open a Command Prompt
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Type the following command, and press enter:
   
   regedit
   
   
   
10. On the left, click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
    
    
11. Click the File menu at the top, and then click Load Hive
    
    
12. Click the option on the left to go to "computer"
    
    
13. Double-click on the drive that Windows is installed on (you wrote this drive letter down in step 7)
    
    
14. Double-click on the folder called Windows
    
    
15. Double-click on the folder called System32
    
    
16. Double-click on the folder called Config
    
    
17. Click on the file called SAM and click Open
    
    
18. Type "Target SAM" into the box and click OK
    
    
19. Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder by clicking on the triangle next to it
    
    
20. Expand the Target SAM folder by clicking on the triangle next to it
    
    
21. Expand the SAM folder by clicking on the triangle next to it
    
    
22. Expand the Domains folder by clicking on the triangle next to it
    
    
23. Expand the Accounts folder by clicking on the triangle next to it
    
    
24. Expand the Users folder by clicking on the triangle next to it
    
    
25. Click on the folder named 000001F4
    
    
26. Double-click the item in the right called "F"
    
    
27. You are now presented with an editor. You will see two columns: a list of letters and numbers grouped in pairs on the left, with a list of symbols on the right. We will only be using the list of letters and numbers on the left.
    
    
28. Find the spot in the left column that says "11".
    
    
29. Click to the immediate right of the 11, so that the flashing insertion line is to the immediate right of 11
    
    
30. Press backspace to make the 11 disappear
    
    
31. Using the keyboard, type the number 10
    
    This should change the information in the left column from
    
    
    02,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,80,8c,d7,b2,e9,97,c7,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,1f,ea,fd,ad,e9,97,c7,01,00,0 0,00,00,00,00,00,00,de,ad,60,9b,e9,97,c7,01,f4,01,00,00,01,02,00,00,11, ...
    
    
    TO:
    
    
    
    02,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,80,8c,d7,b2,e9,97,c7,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,1f,ea,fd,ad,e9,97,c7,01,00,0 0,00,00,00,00,00,00,de,ad,60,9b,e9,97,c7,01,f4,01,00,00,01,02,00,00,10, ...
    
    
    
32. Click OK
    
    
33. Close regedit
    
    
34. Close the command prompt window and click on the 'Restart' button on the window that gives you the list of options.
    
    
35. When your computer restarts, log in with the account named 'Administrator'. Use this emergency Administrator account to fix your normal administrator account by using the user accounts control panel.

[Orson]

It is for Vista is there any solution for Windows XP. I'm using XP SP3.

[coolday]

u'll need my bootable cd even if administrator is locked ... it will open up every user

[abaucom]

Originally Posted by Orson

It is for Vista is there any solution for Windows XP. I'm using XP SP3.

XP Password reset is really easy. Upon system startup, tap F8 until you see the "Safe Mode" screen. Once you see that screen, be sure to highlight "Start in Safe Mode", then click ENTER. Once it has booted up in Safe Mode, you will come to the LOGIN screen with ADMINISTRATOR being at the top of the list. Login as the ADMINISTRATOR. Once you have logged in, allow it to boot up completely, then go to your users icon in your Control Panel and click on your user name. Once you click your user name, you will see several options, one of them allowing you to "Remove Password". Click that... it will remove your Password, then once it is removed, restart your system in Normal Mode, and once have have logged in, you may wish to create a new password if you choose to do so...

[dhanubaba]

If Computer administrator Password Is Lost or Forgotten,, Are PC we can boot that PC in safe mode and logging to PC as Administrator..? How we can logging to PC without knowing Administrator Password even if it boot from safe mood

I would like to introduce you a very good windows password recovery tool 2.0.

It not only supports XP, 2003, 2000, and NT, I have personally tested it with Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. It works perfectly to reset any local user account to a blank password

You can use the ISO to burn a boot CD. Follow these instructions:

1. Download Windows Password Recovery Tool 2.0 ISO file
2. Burn to a CD using a CD burning tool such as Nero or Roxio or MagicISO
3. Insert CD into drive and reboot.
4. You may have to select an option in the BIOS to get the computer to boot from the CD.

Booting up and clearing a password takes a minute or two works like a charm.

[stellalxin]

Thank you! I finally found the way to solve my troubles.

[renewableenergy2]

I lost the password to windows 2003 server, how can I recover it or reset it.
Your help would be very appreciated.
Thank you
Jay

[Eleeazar]

If you had forgot your administrator password for windows 2003 server, then you need to check out below links, i am sure this will be very helpful to you

How to recover Windows 2003 server local administrator password?

you can contact your administrator. as well as you can reformat the pc..=)

If you forget the administrator’s password but still can log on Windows with other user names that have administrative privileges, you may follow the instructions below:
Right click the computer icon on your desktop , select Manage, find Local Users and Groups, unfold Users folder, right click Administrator, click Set password… in the menu comes up. Click Proceed in the dialog, in the pop-up, enter a New Password and confirm it. Your administrator’s password is successfully reset. Guest account may help to log onto Windows, but it has no privilege for you to do the above to reset the administrator’s password.If you forgot all user passwords and failed to log onto Windows, there is no other way but to format the OS and reinstall Windows, or resort to sort of software tools to remove the password and log onto Windows. These programs cost some bucks, but are worthy and better than to reinstall the OS causing consequences. The most popular programs are Windows Password Reset 6.0 etc. Generally, these programs are easy to use though turn out to be a scary command prompt to newbie. But do relax and you can fully manipulate.

No luck, except use some third party tools which can recover your password

Regards,
Durga

forgot administrator password?
I think almost each computer users will encounter this problem -- forgot password