Forgot Admin Password: Windows Vista Home Basic

I forgot this and now I am not able to do some things. Please help me get
back my Admin Password.

I would hate to go thru a re-installation of Vista.

This tutorial will show you how to reset the password to gain access
again. If it is your only admin. account as t-4-2 posted, then you may
need to do Method Three.

I FORGOT MY ADMIN. PASSWORD WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS?

I have only this one Admin password, that I have forgotten. I was not even
aware that one could have more than 1 admin passwords!! In any case, I will
try the link that Brink has suggested and see what I can do. But I did not
understand what is meant by Method 3. I will get back to that later, though.

NO, Seeking. Not 2 admin passwords, 2 admin accounts with 2
different passwords. Method Three is the only option in that tutorial
you can use. The other ones are NOT applicable to you. If you run into
road block, post the question. Brink will be there to lead you along. He
is the guru.

I had meant 2 Admin accounts.

But I have only one admin account, for which I have forgotten the pswd.

I will try this said 'Method Three' when I am back at home on my home
computer.

Enable the hidden administrator account, then use that to reset the
password. Remember to disable that account when you are finished.

I have gone thru the "Method Three". Before I attempt it, my questions:

- does it work with Vista Home Basic (32 bit)?
- do I need a blank or any boot disc sort of thing? It seems like that.
Please confirm

Seems more complicated than it had sounded.

I do not have emails associated with the forgotten password, but I remember
whenever I had to download something, I had to provide this password. After I
reset the password, would I still be able to access those programs that I
have downloaded and installed using the existing (but forgotten) password?

Please help before I go completely crazy with this.

Yes, it will work on all Vista versions. It shows you how to create a
boot DVD (or USB flash drive, etc...) to use on your computer to reset
the password. If you have no access at all to your computer, then you
will need to create the boot DVD on a friend's or another computer and
use it on yours.

If your email messages have not been encrypted, then they will be fine.
It only applies to encrypted files since the encryption certificate is
tied to the user account password.

Why do you try to use the Windows Password Reset? No need to call a technician, no need to re-install anything, and you certainly don't need to reformat. The program will enable you to reset the password to "Blank" with no -reformatting or installation. Do all the job for you automatically. It's worth a try.

You have no need to reinstall the vista system. Windows password unlocker helps to reset windows admin password with no data loss

1.Download Windows Password Unlocker from Password Unlocker Official site

2.Decompress the Windows password unlocker and note that there is an .ISO image file. Burn the image file onto an blank CD with the burner freely supported by Password Unlocker.

3.Insert the newly created CD into the locked computer and re-boot it from the CD drive.

4.After launched the CD, a window pop up with all your account names(if you have several accounts) select one of the accounts that you have forgotten its password to reset it. Just one press, you have removed the password.

If you lost windows password. I think the best solution is making a windows password recovery disk with the third part utility. The disk works perfectly to recover windows password to “Blank”.It is also useful for administrator password recovery, you can wrote it to an blank CD or USB flash drive to recover administrator password. Booting up and clearing a password takes a minute or two works like a charm.

Try your best to recall the password. If you can't, you have to empty the old password.
As far as I know, there are two solutions for you. one is to reinstall your OS, another is to reset the password with a third part utility. （here, take "windows password unlocker" for example）

I do not recommend the first solution. Once you reinstall the OS which must result a data loss. In the terms another method, you need a second computer that can link to Internet and blank CD. As following,
1. Login to a second computer that can link to Internet. download Windows Password Unlocker 4.0 and decompress it on that PC. Note that: there is a .ISO file,you need to burn the .ISO file to a CD.
2 Get out the newly created CD and insert it to the locked computer.
Thirdly, re-booted the locked computer and then followed the process of instructions. Just a few steps, the old password was removed.

[JeffT]

Is there an easy way to re-set a forgotten password - I set an administrator account and password on my partner's daughter's PC and cannot remember the password (clearly I'm not flavour of the month!). I'm PC illiterate, so laymans terms appreciated.

PS - I have tried accessing via "safe mode". However, it informs me that the account named "administrator" has been de-actuivated.

I've forgotten my password and tried the method 3 thing I keep reading
about and once it goes through to the point that it get to the reset the
password option...once I put 1 in it says the SAM hive isn't
loaded...but it says it is???
I don't know what i'm doing wrong or what gives??? I really need in to
my account to retrieve my papers for school.
And on another note i tried the Windows Password Unlocker 4.0 and it
loads and gives me the option to click on my username name which is the
only admin account and it just says congratulations this version is
fully compatible with windows yada yada but it doesn't give the the
congratulations your password is reset.

If you referring to the Offline NT registry editor program then read
this :)

'Offline NT Password & Registry Editor'

Yes I Am. I get to this point

What to do? [1] ->

I Put 1 in and it comes up with the error message that SAM is not
loaded or booted BUT in the loaded hives it says SAM???

Did you hard shutdown? As in did you hold the power button till it
shutdown?

I don't see why its not letting you wipe it. You have shut down cleanly?
Was it burnt correctly? I've -only- received that error when I hard
shutdown. Never any other reason. If your following the instructions to
the tee everything should fall into place. I'm sorry I haven't been much
use, I haven't used that program in 4 months.

I'm assuming I need to correctly shut down the computer and not just
get aggitate and do the hard shutdown?

Correct. Run the computer and shut it down and power it up about 3
times. Shutting it down correctly should resolve this matter. Post back

Well I tried that and still got the same error.

Hmm... Are you sure your following the instructions correctly?

Yes i even printed them out to follow them and my friend double checked.
my computer going to be an expensive lawn ornament soon!!

I think i'm going to try one of those password reset programs and see if
they work? I Dont know what else to do at this point. So do they work or
are they a waste of money?

Whoa whoa, don't buy anything, more than likely its a scam. Please, do
NOT buy anything. Try using Ophcrack. It will crack the password and
give it to you so you can sign in then change it from there. Only thing
is, if you had symbols in the password it wont crack it.

There are a lot of tools and utilities that can be downloaded and used to recover, reset, retrieve or reveal existing password. These windows password recovery utilities, free or paid, are usually a Linux boot disk or CD that able to comes with NT file system (NTFS) drivers and software that will read the registry and rewrite the password hashes, or can brute force crack the password for any user account including the Administrators. The advantage is that there is no fear of leaking your password to outsiders, while the process requires physical access to the console and a floppy or CD drive, depending on which tool you choose. And it’s not easy, although it always work!
Below is the most famous recovery tool I found:
Windows Password Recovery Tool 3.0 – it is the most popular Windows password cracker . It is a very efficient implementation of windows any versions. It comes with a Graphical User Interface and runs on multiple platforms.

Password Recovery Bundle –This is a utility to reset the password of any user that has a valid (local) account on your windows system. You do not need to know the old password to set a new one. It works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer and boot off a floppydisk or CD. It’ll detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts. It is also an almost fully functional registry editor.

Windows Password Key 8.0 -It is considered as the best tool to reset local administrator and user passwords on any Windows system. It creates a password recovery CD/DVD, USB Flash Drive for home, business and enterprise. And most of all, it's the most popular and safe solution for removing your Windows password until now.

There are a lot of tools and utilities that can be downloaded and used to recover, reset, retrieve or reveal existing password. These windows password recovery utilities, free or paid, are usually a Linux boot disk or CD that able to comes with NT file system (NTFS) drivers and software that will read the registry and rewrite the password hashes, or can brute force crack the password for any user account including the Administrators. The advantage is that there is no fear of leaking your password to outsiders, while the process requires physical access to the console and a floppy or CD drive, depending on which tool you choose. And it’s not easy, although it always work!
Below is the most famous recovery tool I found:
Windows Password Recovery Tool 3.0 – it is the most popular Windows password cracker . It is a very efficient implementation of windows any versions. It comes with a Graphical User Interface and runs on multiple platforms.

Password Recovery Bundle –This is a utility to reset the password of any user that has a valid (local) account on your windows system. You do not need to know the old password to set a new one. It works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer and boot off a floppydisk or CD. It’ll detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts. It is also an almost fully functional registry editor.

Windows Password Key 8.0 -It is considered as the best tool to reset local administrator and user passwords on any Windows system. It creates a password recovery CD/DVD, USB Flash Drive for home, business and enterprise. And most of all, it's the most popular and safe solution for removing your Windows password until now.

Do you have created the password Recovery disk early?
If you do, you can sign into safe mode and recover the password.
If you don't have the password reset disk. you have to take use of the 3rd party utility,
Windows Password Recovery 6.0 is highly recommend. It is fast and easy to use.