Reset Windows XP, Vista, 7 Password Using USB Drive or CD
A lot of methods are available to recover or reset the Windows password. The famous Ophcrack is used for recovering the password. Even i have posted about using Ophcrack. But the problem is that its bulky in size. We need to download a file of size 500MB to recover the password. So I thought why to recover a lost password, instead why cant we simply reset or delete the password using a 3 MB file open source program. That is what this post is about. I have not found any other method simpler than this one, it resets your password in the blink of an eye.
The method uses an open source program called Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. We can use a USB Disk Drive (Pen Drive) or burn a bootable CD for this method.
Follow the Steps below:
Step 1: Download the cd080802.zip file from the link below and extract it. It contains an ISO file.
Size: 3.15 MB
http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/cd080802.zip (Updated Working Link 13-01-10)
Step 2: Burn the ISO file to a CD. If you are using a USB drive, then mount the cd080802.iso file to a virtual drive. Open the Virtual Drive and Copy all the contents to your USB disk. If any error comes while copying just skip the file. Now to make the USB Drive Bootable open a Command Prompt(Press Start + R, Type cmd and enter) and type the following commands:
Sl. No. |
Command: |
Action: |
1 |
j: |
Enter |
2 |
syslinux.exe –ma j: |
Enter |
Here j is my drive letter, you should enter your own drive letter.
Step 3: Now start the System which you want to reset the password by putting the CD or the USB in the Computer. While start up you have to make sure that it boots up from the correct device i.e. from the CD or the USB. In order to do this go to your BIOS settings and change the boot order as CD or the USB drive as the first option. Or if you know the Boot menu key then press it and Boot from the correct device.
Note: Step 4 to Step 8 takes a very less amount of time. No need to worry!
Step 4: After booting from the CD or the USB, press enter to continue the boot process. In the first step it will automatically select the disk where your windows is installed. Simply press enter to continue. In the Second Step it Will select the path and registry files. Select 1 for password reset (It will select 1 by default, just enter).
Step 5: Now after selecting the paths, It will ask “What to do?” Simply press enter as it will automatically select 1 for Edit User Password.
Step 6: It will show a list your system usernames and their password status. Now enter the username whose password you want to reset. It is case sensitive so, be careful and type what you see in the users list. (If the user is Administrator just press enter as it has already selected Administrator by default otherwise enter the correct username)
Step 7: It will show you User Edit Menu. Select 1 to clear the user password.
Step 8: It will clear the password. Now Enter “!” to quit from the User select menu. It will again ask “What to do?”. enter “q” to quit. Now in step four it will ask you to write the files or not. Enter “y” to write the files. It will write the files back. Now Simply press enter when it asks for “New run?” as it has selected no by default. The password reset has been successfully completed. Press the power button.
Now start the computer and you will find that it is not asking for password for the user you had selected. That’s it, you are done.
Important:
1. This method will remove your password not recover. If you do not want to reset the password, you can recover it. Visit: http://techrena.blogspot.com/2009/03/windows-password-recoverycrack-windows.html for password recovery.
2. The method has been tested for windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 and all resulted in success.
3. This is for information purposes only. We are not responsible for any damages or illegal acts resulting from this information.
4. The information provided here should be used for legal purposes only.
5. USB Disk method will not work if your motherboard or BIOS does not support USB booting.
Featured Post: 
Install Windows 7 or Vista Using Bootable USB Disk Drive
April 9th, 2009 at 12:09 am
This worked like a charm on windows 7 latest beta build, users please note to [!] after done clearing password and making sure the changes are saved to disk otherwise this WILL NOT work, I made this mistake first time around. Thanks to the author for this once again.
On a side note, I first attempted to use ophcrack windows vista boot disk but that didnt seem to work on 7, just an FYI for those who are not sure (ended up wasting a cd for this and one for this boot disc afterwards)
Regards.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Worked like a charm on Windows 7 build 7100 x86
July 19th, 2009 at 2:37 am
Thanks for the tip. I struggled with couple of other options and then stubled on this one. THIS IS THE BEST FOR PASSWORD RESET!!
July 26th, 2009 at 8:14 am
ITS ASKING ME FOR THE REGISTRY DIRECTORY?? wHAT DO i DO??
July 30th, 2009 at 1:26 am
This worked perfect on Vista. Thank you. You saved me from a re install.
August 14th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
WORKS LIKE A CHAAAARM!!! thanx alot
August 18th, 2009 at 6:36 am
It said….Could not find kernel image:linux boot:
what does this mean? what should i do?
August 19th, 2009 at 3:00 am
not working in vista
August 26th, 2009 at 12:41 am
You Sir, Are a Genius!!!
Amazing Job. Thank you so much. I work for the Ruler of UAE (Dubai) and used this to help him open his laptop login as he forgot his password!
God bless you!
August 30th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Thank you so much…your support keeps driving us forward…
September 6th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Trying to recover or reset, doesn’t matter, just have to get into the system as the user. Have everything on a USB drive but not able to make it bootable. says syslinux.exe is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. Please help!
September 12th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
man i love u ! it really worked my win7 ver 7201 thanx really
September 14th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
This work great, some change because I have some partition, but all are working now! Thanks!
Francisco
September 30th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
For Windows 7 is this tutorial not correct! Don’t work!
October 8th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU are the greatest techie… Awesome Awesome… It worked like an angel in my xp, vista and Win7 in a breathtaking speed… so simple and sheer power.. You know wat.. I work for Microsoft.. specifically vista research team.. Though i have my own method to change forgotten password it used to take atleast 40mins and you’ve to wait till it repairs the o/s after changing the passowrd.. simply this is the best password reset tool in www as on 08 Oct 2009.
DENNIS.. why dont you try to join Microsoft PC Safety team on Live One care Department…
October 9th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
This tool works great!! Thank you mate!
October 26th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Hi..thanks buddy you rock…it works wonders and that too so fast ….iam using windows 7 ultimate…THANks ONCE AGAIN
October 28th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
will not work for my windows 7
unable to access any of the options for the program.
program starts fine then gets caught in constant loop
really need some help
November 4th, 2009 at 9:40 am
at the begining it says: ‘ syslinux.exe’ is not recognized as a internal or external command, operable program or batch file. what do i do so it makes it a bootable cd?
November 4th, 2009 at 9:42 am
if anyone know a solution to my problem my e-mail is spartan55199@gmail.com
November 9th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
plzzzzzzzzzzz .anyone tell me what to do after second step it is not selecting the path automatically urgent help reqd.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Worked like a charm…Thanks! Just let the program run…it may take a moment or two for it to get to where it needs to be
November 11th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
plzzzzzzzzzzz .anyone tell me what to do after second step it is not selecting the path automatically urgent help reqd.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:04 am
gold fish, restart the process, happened to me as well but walked right through the second time.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:09 am
BTW, your program and guide worked perfectly. Very well done and thorough. I had tried 4 other programs until i came upon this one. thank you.
November 16th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Hello! First off I’d like to say this is a FINE piece of coding.
However I am having some problems helping a friend get her computer back from one of her stupid friends that changed her account to guest and the admin account is locked to her friend alone. When we try to use the USB drive, it will either boot into Windows, or say “Missing Operating System” and freeze. How do we get past this?
November 17th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
here is the methods I know.
The first thing which you check if you forget login password. When we install Windows, it automatically creates an account “Administrator” and sets its password to blank. So if you have forget Your user account password then try this:
Start system and when you See Windows Welcome screen / Login screen, press ctrl+alt+del keys Twice and it’ll show Classic Login box. Now type “Administrator” (without quotes) in Username and leave Password field blank. Now press Enter and you should be able to log in Windows.
Now you can reset your account password from “Control Panel -> User Accounts”.
Same thing can be done using Safe Mode. In Safe Mode Windows will show this in-built Administrator account in Login screen.
Windows XP and further versions also provide another method to recover forgotten Password by using “Reset Disk”. If you created a Password Reset Disk in Past, you can use that disk to reset the password. To know more about It, please visit resetwindowspassword.com
November 18th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
will there be a OPHCrack Live CD for Windows 7 in the future? I tried it with the last Vista Version but it didnt work
November 18th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
will there be a OPHCrack Live CD for Windows 7 in the future? I tried it with the Vista Version but it didnt work
November 24th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
what is a virtual drive and how do I mount something to it, HELP!
December 11th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Great gob. Ty for this!
Windows 7 latest version – admin password cleared.
December 16th, 2009 at 10:27 am
I know this is an old post on here, but I just found it and used it and it worked like a charm. Just wanted to clear up any confusion for people who find it from here on out; The link in this article for the Offline NT & Password Registry Editor is expired.the bootdisk’s page has changed to another location. The new link for the file is http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/cd080802.zip Hope this helps anyone who finds this from here on out.
December 20th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Hello, I have worked all right, but I have a problem and when I put the username as mine is “Cotrina Lázaro” and did not detect the “á”. If there is a way to help me they are very grateful.
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:59 pm
getting stuck on step 2…..not selecting the path??? any help would be greatly appreciated!
January 12th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
thank you so musc for this tip and tool bro…it work very nice. for those who are encountering problem, try to shut down properly your computer twice to keep the program effectively…again thank’s a lot dude…
January 13th, 2010 at 5:49 am
I burnt the image and booted up good, pressed enter to boot.
And now it seems to have frozen on io scheduer deadline registered.
It has been 5 Mins? is something wrong?
thanks for any help
January 24th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Nice job and great job, I try it on XP and Vista, it work well. Really useful. Thank you!
January 25th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Hey,
I tried for USB but it didnt worked.
In power iso it is showing your image file as non bootable.
Still i burned it by nero to a cd.
I boot from cd.
It is showing your step 4 but insted of step 5 it is showing me to enter the path of the reg files.I stuck there.
I am using win7 ultimate build 7600.And i think it is not working with this build.
If anyone has a solution then mail it to my address samson17@in.com.
Please help..
I am seriously trying it.
I just rebooted my pc for about 20 times and trying various ways for about last 1 hour.
January 25th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
And the available version of offcrack is not working for windows 7.It shows the tables as empty.
Please help..!!
January 26th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Tested on Windows7. Works fine.
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Worked perfect with Windows 7, it repaired my computer with no problems!
Microsoft said this could not be done!! lol
Thanks for your help
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:34 pm
thank u 4 much!!!!!! It 1oo% works in Windows 7. Once again thnx
Bye Jens
February 13th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Great that cd080802.zip file is cool it worked great for me
THANX whoever created it!!!!!!!-:)
February 28th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Great tool… it helped me n clearing windows 7 paswd.
thx man… u saved me.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Succeeded in getting blank for administrator and user but on rebooting the computer administrator appeared (was never there) as well as user – nothing happens when I click either. Have I missed something.
Password just stopped working – 100% sure correct – from one shut down to another. Issues just before with second monitor flickering. Drivers are a nightmare.
Any suggestions would be most welcomed
OS is windows 7 ultimate 64 bit RC
Many thanks
March 17th, 2010 at 10:34 am
OMG what an easy reset, prove to work with window 7 starter, boot right into with usb, amazing app… where do i send you some money…?
folks follow the step by step, if you can read you can do it
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ss/ontpre-screenshot-guide.htm
this show you from start of the download to resetting your password…