Windows 7 how to remove login password. If you suddenly forgot your Windows password: Break the password! Removing an account password

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We remind you that attempts to repeat the author’s actions may lead to loss of warranty on the equipment and even to its failure. The material is provided for informational purposes only. If you are going to reproduce the steps described below, we strongly advise you to carefully read the article to the end at least once. The editors of 3DNews do not bear any responsibility for any possible consequences.

Windows has long used the SAM system to store and manage all user passwords. All information in it is well protected, so in order to find out the password, you will have to spend a lot of time and resources, especially if it is quite complex. Most often, however, there is no need to find out the password at all - just reset it or change it. Several utilities have been developed for this, one of which we will use. Another important point is that, obviously, when the OS is running, it will not allow you to just break into the password storage. Therefore, you need to make sure that your computer supports booting from a CD/DVD or USB media in order to launch the necessary utilities.

The most famous of them is Offline NT Password and Registry editor, which can work with passwords and the registry of Windows XP/Vista/7. Download the USB or CD version of the utility, burn the downloaded image to disk, or use our tips for creating a multiboot flash drive. The utility does not have a graphical interface, but you shouldn’t be afraid of this - everything in it is quite simple and clear. In addition, the desired option is often offered by default, so you only need to press the Enter key.

Boot from removable media Offline NT Password and Registry editor. You are unlikely to need additional boot options, but in some cases you will have to empirically select those that will help the utility start. The next step is to select the partition number on which Windows is installed. You will have to navigate first of all by its size. In principle, until the very last moment the program does not make any changes to Windows, so in case of an error, you can simply start the password reset procedure again.


Then the utility will ask you to specify the path to the folder where the SAM files are located (in fact, this is a registry hive). The default is X:/Windows/System32/config, this is what the program offers at the beginning. Then you need to select the first item (Password reset), since we are going to reset the password.


Then everything is simple. Select the first item (Edit user data and password) and enter the user name or identifier in the format 0xabcd, Where abcd is the RID listed in the first column. RID is useful if the username is not displayed correctly or cannot be entered. For example, when using Cyrillic.


All that remains is to specify item 1 (password reset) or 2 (password change) for the selected user. Exit password editing mode by entering an exclamation point and pressing Enter.


Everything is almost ready. Enter q, press Enter, and then agree to the changes by entering y and pressing Enter again. We refuse to continue working in Offline NT Password and Registry editor ( n), remove the flash drive or CD and press the treasured combination Alt+Ctrl+Del to reboot. Done - the password is reset!


This was an easy way to reset your Windows 7 password. There shouldn't be any difficulties with it. You just need to be careful and careful. Problems can only arise if the necessary drivers for working with the hard drive are missing. Then you will have to put them on a floppy disk (if, of course, you find a living representative of this almost extinct species and a working drive for it) or on a USB flash drive and at the first stage select the fetch additional drivers item.

For the second and third methods, you only need the Windows 7 installation disk and nothing else. A more complex option involves enabling the initially hidden “Administrator” account by editing the registry from the Windows 7 installation environment. In the future, you can log in under this account and edit any other account in the OS. By default, “Administrator” does not have a password, which only plays into our hands.


So, boot from the installation disk and press Shift+F10 to open the command line, where we enter regedit and press Enter to launch the Registry Editor.


Selecting a section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, and in the menu select “File” → “Load hive...” (File → Load hive...). We need to open the SAM file, which is located in the folder \Windows\System32\config on the partition where Windows 7 is installed. When opening, you will be asked to enter the name of the hive to load - enter any.

Now you need to select a section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hive_name\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\000001F4 and double click on the key F. An editor will open in which you need to go to the first number in line 038 - this is 11. It must be changed to 10. Be careful and do not make a mistake - you only need to change it, without adding or deleting other numbers!


Now we need to select our bush HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hive_name\ and in the menu select “File” → “Unload hive...” (File → Unload hive...), and then confirm unloading the hive.


That’s it, you can reboot by removing the pre-installation disk and log in under an administrator account. In the Windows Control Panel, under User Management, you can change the settings of another account. Including changing the password.

There is one last way left, the wrong one. Why wrong? Because we will deal with replacing system files, and this is a ignoble matter. What is the main idea? It's simple - the OS has the function of detecting sticky keys enabled by default. You've probably encountered it at least once, and if not, just quickly press Shift at least 5 times, and you will see this wonderful window:

This window belongs to a small auxiliary program sethc.exe, which is located in the Windows system directory. Moreover, it even starts on the welcome screen, when you are asked to select a user and enter a password. But it can be replaced with something useful. Eg, cmd.exe. Naturally, not directly in the running OS, but by booting from the Windows 7 installation disk and pressing Shift+F10.

You need to start by identifying the drive letter on which Windows is installed. The easiest thing is to simply view the contents of the root partition with the command dir. C: will most likely be seen as D:, but not necessarily.

Having decided on the volume letter, we execute two simple commands - with one we copy the original file, just in case sethc.exe to the root of the disk or wherever you like, and change the second one to cmd.exe.

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

We reboot, quickly press the Shift key (or Ctrl, or Alt) several times and observe the command line window. You need to enter another command in it, substituting the name of the desired user and a new password accordingly. Other options for this command can be found in the official help.

Net user username new password

If you want to return everything to normal, you need to boot from the installation disk again, open the console and run the command:

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

However, you don’t have to restore anything, but leave this little trick in the system just in case. In addition to the methods listed above, there are many other methods for resetting or recovering a password in Windows, but we will not consider them now. Once again we urge our readers to be attentive and careful when working with the internals of the OS, and even better not to bring the situation to a “surgical” intervention in SAM. Good luck restoring access to your accounts!

On many home computers, a password is simply not needed to access the system. You can set the password as you wish or as needed. The fact is that when installing Windows 7, you supposedly need to enter a password, but in general you can skip this procedure by clicking on the “Next” button.

How to remove password in Windows 7

It takes a couple of minutes to cancel entering a password in Windows 7 when logging in. To do this you need:

  1. Log in with an administrator account. If there is only one account, then, in fact, it is the administrator.
  2. Open "Control Panel".
  3. Go to the User Accounts and Family Safety page if you select the standard view of tools by category. If you select large or small icons, you can go straight to the User Accounts page.
  4. In the “User Accounts” block, find and click on the “Change Windows Password” link.

In order not to go to the “Control Panel” and not search for the necessary pages in it, you can use the Windows search. To do this you need:

  1. Click on the “Start” button.
  2. Above the button, find a text entry field.
  3. Enter the word "password".
  4. In the search results, find and click on “Change Windows Password”.
  5. Click on “Remove your password”.
  6. Enter your current password and click “Remove Password”.

There is another way that does not require entering the old password. To use it to remove a password in Windows 7, you need to:

  1. Click on the “Start” button, and then click on the “Run” button. You can use the keyboard shortcut Win+R.
  2. Type “control userpasswords2” without quotes and click OK.
  3. Uncheck “Require username and password” and click OK.
  4. In the window that appears, do not enter anything and click “OK”.

How to do this in other versions of Windows is written in the article.

Choose a method that is convenient for you and remove the password. If you suddenly forget your password and are unable to log in, it will be difficult to access it, especially for an inexperienced user.

To remove or reset your password when logging in, you will have to arm yourself with certain knowledge. This article will discuss the solution to this frequently occurring problem using the latest versions of the operating system as an example.

Removing a password in Windows 7

Read also: How to set a password for a Windows folder? | 7 Best Encryption Methods and Programs | 2019

First of all, let's decide how to remove the password when logging in to Windows 7.

Every time you log in, a password entry window appears., where you need to enter a previously invented combination of letters and numbers.

But if you enter it, and the system writes that the password is incorrect, this means only one thing - your memory could not store this important amount of information.

However, to recover the password in the “seven” you need, at a minimum, a flash drive with special data for resetting the password. What to do if you simply don’t have such a flash drive?

For these purposes, you will have to use the boot disk from which you installed the operating system on your personal computer.

Entering the computer BIOS

Read also: How to enter BIOS? All possible login methods on a PC and laptop running Windows

The next step is to reboot the computer in order to be able to enter its (Basic Input/Output System), which is nothing more than a basic input and output system.

In order to enter this very BIOS, you need to press a certain key combination in the first seconds of starting the operating system.

In most cases, this combination is the key combination Del and F2.

If you do everything correctly, a blue BIOS window will open in front of you.

Remember that you cannot navigate through the tabs available in the BIOS using a computer. In this case, you will have to use the keyboard arrow buttons.

Use the arrow key to navigate to the Boot tab, which contains a list of all boot devices available on your computer.

It is worth noting that in some BIOS versions the Boot tab may be called Boot Sequence.

By going to the Boot menu window, you will see a list of available devices from which you will need to select a CD-Rom Drive.

In this case, you will indicate to the system that the CD-rom is a priority during startup and that it will be performed from the disk.

After this, press the F10 button, after which the changes made will be saved, exit the BIOS and reboot the computer.

During the reboot process, the installation disk will launch, during which the Windows 7 installer window will open.

From the list presented, select the item with system recovery and wait until the search for Windows systems installed on the computer is completed.

On the page of the found operating system, select the lowest item - “ Command line", after which the Administrator window will open.

In it you need to specify the path to the registry editor:

  • C:\Windows>regedit
  • C:\Windows

After the Registry Editor window opens, select the item from the list on the left side of the window « HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE» .

After that, at the top of the window, click on the menu “ File" and indicate in the drop-down list - " Load bush».

This way you will create a new section, during which you will be required to enter its name - this is not so important, so enter whatever you like (for example - 000) and click to confirm on the " OK».

After the section with the name you specified is created, it will appear in the list HKEY_LOKAL_MACHINE in the form of a familiar folder.

By clicking on this folder, you will expand its contents, in which you will need to select the item Setup.

When you select this item, a list of files will be displayed on the right side of the Registry Editor window, among which will be CmdLine.

Right-click on it and select “ Change" Then - in the window that opens, change the string parameter in the line " Meaning"Register cmd.exe and confirm it using the button " OK».

After this, you also need to change the value of the SetupType parameter in the same way as CmdLine, but with only one difference - in the “ Values» enter a number 2 and press " OK».

After making changes, go back to the menu " File" and select the item " Unload bush».

In the window that opens to confirm the unloading of the bush, click on the button “ Yes" and close all windows on the screen - giving the command to restart the computer.

When the operating system starts loading, the cmd.exe administrator window will appear, in which you must enter a new user name and.

The line will look like this:

C:\Windows|system32>net user Admin pass

If you did everything correctly, a message will appear under this line stating that the command was completed successfully.

After this, in the next line you need to give a command to exit.

This is what the procedure will look like:

C:\Windows|system32> exit

After this, you can close the administrator window, and enter its new value in the password entry field when logging into Windows 7.

Resetting your password in Windows 8

Read also: [Instructions] What to do if a folder on a Windows computer is not deleted? | 3 Solution options

After you install the Windows 8 operating system on your computer, you will be faced with an annoying requirement to enter a password every time you log in.

Not everyone likes constantly entering their password, which is why quite often a very reasonable question arises - how to remove the Windows 8 password when logging in, because it is much more pleasant to log into the system without any delay.

For these purposes, you will need to perform a number of specific actions:

First you need to start your computer and log in with your account.

After this, move the mouse cursor to the far right of the screen so that the standard sidebar appears.

On it you will need to select the search icon, which is located at the very top of the panel.

In the search window that opens, enter the search phrase “ Computer settings", during which two menus are immediately displayed - " Computer settings" And " Control Panel».

Your task will be to go to the settings item, after which you will be taken to the Windows 8 window of the same name.

On the left side of this window - under the computer settings inscription - there is a list of all available parameters, among which is the one you need - “ Accounts».

Going to the accounts window, you will need to select the line - “ Login Options».

All existing parameters will be displayed on the right side of the window - namely:

  • Login required;
  • password;
  • pin;
  • graphic password.

To completely remove the password requirement, you will need to click on the " Change", located under the item " Password».

When you click this button, an informational pop-up window will appear warning you that the setting you change affects all accounts on your computer.

If you are not at all concerned that anyone can log into your computer due to the lack of a password, feel free to press the button "Change".

By following this procedure, you will save yourself from having to enter a password every time you log into the system.

Reset a lost password in Windows 8

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The following option allows you to reset a forgotten or lost password in Windows 8.

Let's imagine that you forgot your password and can't log into the system. Then you need to go to the menu " Start" and go to selecting an action, the list of which contains functions " Continue», « Diagnostics" And " Turning off the computer».

In this case, you will need to select the “ Diagnostics».

In the diagnostic window that opens, you will see three new items:

  • restore - when selected, all your files will remain intact;
  • return to its original state - this item implies deleting your files;
  • Extra options.

To reset your password, you need to refer to the “ Return to original state", during which all your personal files and applications will be deleted.

This procedure will return all computer settings to their default values.

After update 1809, a very interesting thing appeared in the top ten. When you set a password during Windows installation, you are asked three security questions. They are needed so that if an unusual situation arises, you can reset the password.

We just have to remember the answers to these questions, since the first method is based precisely on them. In principle, if you know the answers well, then there will be no problems with resetting.

Here's what you need to do:

We start the computer and wait for the screen to load to enter the password. When it appears, you need to click on the link "Reset the password"(or "I forgot my password" in the English edition of the OS).


This will take you to your desktop and your password will be reset. This is the simplest and most reliable way. But it also happens that the user does not remember the answer to the questions. What to do in this case? There is a way out in this situation too.

Command line and bootable USB flash drive

Read also: [Instructions] Installing Windows 10 from a flash drive: description of the process from creating a boot image to completing the OS installation

This method is quite complicated. And it will require a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows 10 distribution. Only then will our efforts be crowned with success. If you suddenly don’t have a flash drive at hand, then a disk with a distribution kit will do.

The main thing here is not to confuse anything. Working with the console requires concentration and some free time. Be that as it may, if you follow everything according to the instructions, then nothing bad will happen.

And here are the instructions themselves:

We insert the flash drive into the port and boot from it. When selecting a language and region, press on the keyboard "Shift+F10". This command will boot the console. Then enter the commands in the console "diskpart" (1) And "list volume" (2). After each of them click "Enter". In the list of disks, you need to remember the one on which Windows is installed. In our case it is "C" (3). After that we type the command "exit" (4) and click "Enter" on keyboard.

Now enter the commands sequentially "move c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe c:\windows\system32\utilman2.exe" (1) And “copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe” (2). Don't forget to click after each "Enter". Please note that your command may have a completely different drive letter. Be extremely careful with this.

After this, all that remains is to reboot the machine and boot from the system disk.

Your account login password will be reset. It is worth noting that this method only works for local accounts. It won't work with Microsoft accounts.

Removing the password when logging into Windows 7 is quite simple. This will require a minimum amount of time and knowledge. This kind of operation usually takes no more than a couple of minutes.

This can be done in various ways: through a special console, command line, or by resetting key data from SAM. Each method has both its advantages and disadvantages.

Why set a password

It often happens that some important and confidential data is stored on the PC, access to which should be limited. Microsoft Windows makes it possible to easily limit the circle of people who have access to files on your computer by installing a special key. Each person can have his own if there are several users.

An access code is also required to protect information on the PC to different owners from each other. For example, this is often necessary for parents so that curious children are not able to get acquainted with some information that they are not entitled to.

Removing the password through the “Run” console

One of the easiest ways to disable entering an access key on the OS is by using the “Run” item. Accessing it is quite simple - just click on the “Start” button. Most often, the item in question is present on the right side of the window that opens.

Entering a command

To disable the function in question, you must enter a specific command. It will open a special applet that allows you to do this.

The process of entering the command is as follows:

  • open the Start button menu;
  • click on the “Run” item;
  • In the field that opens, write “control userpassword2”.

After completing these operations, a window called “User Accounts” will open.

It contains two tabs:

  • "Users";
  • "Additionally".

You need to focus your attention on the first tab. Since this is where all account settings are made, including changing the login, access key and other attributes. In addition, if desired, you can easily add new accounts or delete old ones.

Disabling the password

To disable Password, just open the corresponding window (“accounts” -> “users”). In it, you need to uncheck the box called “Require username and...”. In this simple way you can disable the need to enter Password.

Confirming the user

You can also completely disable the Microsoft Windows login window.

To do this, you need to do the following:

  • in the window called “Accounts”, double-click on the desired line (admin, user or something else);
  • click “OK”.

A window will open containing three fields. Only the top one should be filled in; login is written there. The rest remain empty. After that, click on “OK” again. After performing these operations, when starting Microsoft Windows, there will be no need for Password. Which is quite convenient if only one person has physical access to the PC.

video: Password reset

Removing the password when starting Windows without programs

Also, Password in the operating system in question can be unstuck without using the “Run” item, as well as various third-party applications. To do this, just use a special command line. In this way, you can avoid having to enter Password when you turn on the computer, as well as when it comes out of sleep mode.

Command line setup

In order to configure the command line, you need to use the Windows distribution disk. This method of setting up and resetting the access code is suitable if it is forgotten and it is not possible to start the OS otherwise.

First of all, you need to install it through the BIOS to boot from a CD or other device containing the distribution. After this, you should reboot and start the installation.

After this, the following actions are performed:


  1. CmdLine – enter cmd.exe;
  2. SetupType – replace parameter 0 with 2;
  • select section 999 and click “Unload hive”;
  • extract the distribution package and reboot the PC.

Resetting your password and login

After loading the operating system, the user will immediately see the command line window. To reset the password, you must enter the following command: net user username

Photo: Net user username_new_password

If for some reason User has forgotten the account name, then you can simply write net user without parameters. This will allow you to display all available items and select the one you need.

If the new Password is not intended to be used, then it is sufficient to leave the field blank.

If you need to enter a new one, the command will look like this: disk name:\Windows\system32\net user user_name new-key.

It is also often necessary to create a new account without an access key.

To do this, you need to run the following commands in strict order:


These commands perform the following operations in strict order:

  1. creating a new User;
  2. adding it to the Administrator workgroup;
  3. removal from the Users group.

The reset method in question is quite complicated, but quite feasible even for not very experienced PC owners.

Method for resetting key data from SAM file

There are a huge number of different ways to reset your login code. But all of them only change in various ways the information stored in a special file called SAM. It is used by the OS to store data related to both User and Password. This abbreviation name stands for Security Account Manager.

The file in question does not have an extension, since it simply does not require one. It is a direct part of the registry, located in the directory systemroot\system32\config. Also, a copy of the file in question is available on the emergency recovery disk, if for some reason this function was not disabled earlier.

Editing this file to change the operating system login parameters is the most difficult way. To work with SAM, you need specialized software from third-party developers. All operations with SAM must be performed with the utmost care and precision.

How it works

The most popular application for changing data in the SAM file is active password changer. Before you start, you need to copy the application to some media or other FAT32 hard drive.

After performing this operation you must:

  1. run the password file from the folder "BootableDiskCreator";
  2. in the window that opens, select "Add USB...";
  3. activate the button "Start".

After completing all the above steps, a bootable USB flash drive will be created.

The process of changing data using the application in question is as follows:


This method of working with accounts and their attributes is as secure as possible. Since it allows you to avoid editing the registry and other manual operations. This can sometimes be difficult for not very experienced users who started working with their PC relatively recently. The likelihood of harming the operating system in this case is practically zero.

Another important advantage of this program is the ability to set a schedule for PC use by individual accounts.

The disadvantages include the fact that some older motherboard models do not support launching from a USB drive. In such a situation, you have to look for some alternative options: a floppy disk, a CD, or something else.

Quite often, especially with beginners, situations arise when the combination of characters required to enter the OS is forgotten or lost for other reasons. There are many ways out of such a difficult situation; reinstalling the system is not always required. Moreover, any computer owner who has minimal skills in interacting with this type of equipment can cope with resetting the OS access code.

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, changing the password using any program will cause you to 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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