Reference number: CH000172
Lost or forgotten
Windows NT / 2000 / XP password.
Question:Lost or forgotten Windows NT / 2000 /
XP password.
Answer:Disclaimer: Gaining access to an account or computer that
is not yours without permission by using any of the below steps is
against the law. Additional legal information and policy
information can be found on our legal page.
There are various utilities that enable a user to gain access to
a computer they have forgotten the password to, below is a listing
of some of the more popular utilities available. Windows
XP users and Prevent a forgotten password option
If you have Windows XP and have gone through the "prevent a
forgotten password option" and have created a diskette, use the
diskette created to recover the forgotten password. If you have
not done this but would like information about how to do it,
please see document CH000628.
Offline
NT Password & Registry editor The offline NT password & registry editor is a great utility
that enables users to overwrite their Windows NT, 2000, and XP SAM
file, the file containing their passwords, with a new password. This
will not allow a user to view their previous password, however, it will
allow the user to gain access to their unencrypted files again.
This utility is free and can be found on the below link.
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
Emergency Boot CD In addition to several other features, the EMCD, or Emergency Boot
CD, is capable of changing the passwords of any user, including the
administrator password in Windows NT, 2000, and XP without needing
to know the previous password.
This utility is free and can be found on the below link.
http://ebcd.pcministry.com/
Other utilities There are numerous other free and commercial utilities available
for bypassing or changing an unknown password in Microsoft Windows
NT, 2000, and XP. The above two utilities are the more popular
solutions and are highly recommended. If these utilities do not suit
your needs, you may also want to perform a quick search on your
favorite search engine.
Data recovery If you have tried the above suggestions and are unable to gain
access to the files you need to access, some data recovery companies
may be able to access your data. Additional information about data
recovery as well as links to companies specializing in this service
can be found on document CH000342.
Format and reinstall Windows on the
computer Finally, if after the above steps you are still unable to gain access to
your computer, or if you are unable to use any of the above
utilities, unfortunately, your only alternative to getting access to
your computer would be to erase everything on the computer and
reinstall Windows. Any data you need access to will need to be
restored from your backups.
Additional information about erasing everything on your computer
and starting over is on document CH000186.
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