Reset User Password

Junior

Lads,

I've had a laptop dropped in for a cleanup, Customer told me there was no password, and she's gone on holidays for a week. Boot it up and wahey there's a password, only other option is guest account, normally I'd use either <snip illegal> CD or <not on sale anymore> to reset the password, <snip> can't find the O/S to logon.

Any thoughts or ideas ?

Windows Vista Home Premium install..

Fysh

You could give ntpasswd a try, it's worked every time I've needed it.

mp22

Trinity rescue kit

Fysh

Lads, Hirens has a load of copyrighted and licenced software in it that'd cost a huge amount to obtain legally, so it's not really something you should be suggesting as a solution or discussing in any depth.

Ntpasswd is a legitimately free solution that should do the trick.

Capt'n Midnight

I've no problem with password reset disks that require physical access to the machine

People reuse passwords so don't post cracking tools :mad:

Capt'n Midnight

Fysh wrote: »

You could give ntpasswd a try, it's worked every time I've needed it.

ditto

have you also tried logging on as admin in safe mode ?

Lord Nikon

Is there anyone out there that could do a reset on my girlfriends laptop. I changed the password for her yesterday and now it won't accept the old one.

I've tried as many variants of the password, as if I pressed the wrong key when putting in the new password. At this stage she is well pissed off, and I really dont want to have to do a full reset on the system.

I don't mind paying to get it working again, as long as it can be done.

I would prefer not to do the above method myself(NTPASSWD), for fear of doing something wrong.

Capt'n Midnight

try again with caps lock ,

if you used any characters in the password then type them in the username box, this is incase you had US keyboard set , things like # use other keys

reboot in safe mode , logon as administrator with blank password

otherwise use the password reset disk

Lord Nikon

Rebooting in safe mode won't work. She is admin and blank password won't accept. Oh, it's Vista home premium.

wolfric

http://4sysops.com/archives/three-ways-to-reset-a-windows-vista-admin-password/ (turns out there's 8 listed).

One highlight includes a windows cd and a registery hack. Not meaning to be cute but a valid option includes telling the client she has a password and since you are obligated to restrain yourself to high moral standards, you must wait for her to come back. This also (if some what invalid) supports her trust that her computer cannot just be gotten into any time people want. (which it can).

"Ultimate boot cd for windows" can do a lot of these "cleanup" tasks in its features. You need to have a cd yourself which it builds upon as most of the files required are copyright and therefore come from the cd.

I'd have to look into it but on old machines i'm pretty sure files that were made under a users account were made inaccessible when the password was reset in the same file. If you do this harshly the same might happen although don't take my word for it. Have you already tried the amazingly large number of results you get when you google?

Fysh

wolfric wrote: »

http://4sysops.com/archives/three-ways-to-reset-a-windows-vista-admin-password/ (turns out there's 8 listed).

One highlight includes a windows cd and a registery hack.

Thanks for that link, I'll be investing a bit of time looking into MSDaRT - I've looked at the MDOP package very briefly in the past, but this sounds like a great reason to spend a bit more time finding out what it can do.

wolfric wrote: »

Not meaning to be cute but a valid option includes telling the client she has a password and since you are obligated to restrain yourself to high moral standards, you must wait for her to come back. This also (if some what invalid) supports her trust that her computer cannot just be gotten into any time people want. (which it can).

This is a good point, and can't be emphasised enough. If you're working as an IT professional, you'll expose yourself to all sorts of potential misery if you reset someone's password without them being present. Personally, I'd want to have one of the following before resetting the password on someone's work computer:

• the person and at least one witness present,
• a signed statement from them in writing (counter-signed by at least one witness)
• signed authorisation from my line manager and the local Data Protection Rep confirming that the criteria have been met for accessing a user's data (potentially including personal data) without their presence or consent. (These criteria usually involve substantiated suspicion of gross misconduct or unlawful/illegal activity).

Long version - if they want you to fix it, they should either make sure you've got a separate admin account that you can use without running foul of DPA-type issues, or make themselves available at the time when you fix the machine.

wolfric wrote: »

I'd have to look into it but on old machines i'm pretty sure files that were made under a users account were made inaccessible when the password was reset in the same file. If you do this harshly the same might happen although don't take my word for it.

It depends on whether the user has chosen to make their files private or, in the case of Vista/Win7, opted to EFS-encrypt them with Bitlocker. If there's any doubt about this, assume the worst and wait for the user to return. Better to be mildly inconvenienced than to lose potentially vital or sensitive data.

humaxf1

<snip> bootable CD is useful in this instance. Doesn't always work but worth a try. When you get to the user icon screen, just click on the user and no password prompt!

<snip>

Capt'n Midnight

humaxf1 wrote: »

<snip> bootable CD is useful in this instance. Doesn't always work but worth a try. When you get to the user icon screen, just click on the user and no password prompt!

<snip>

that site just looks dodgy

humaxf1

Ok, it won't win any website design prizes, but the iso download is legitmate.

Try it for yourself on a test machine if you don't trust it or me!!!

I heard of it via a podnutz daily podcast and on the podnutz forum as you will see in the following links;

http://www.podnutz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1523

http://www.podnutz.com/pnd213


Don't knock till you try it

Lord Nikon

I downloaded InfraRecorder as the program to burn the .ISO file to the CDR https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

The instructions from NTPASSWD were very clear and straight forward. The first time I blancked the password for the admin. Second time I blanked it for my girlfriends login name.

Rebooted, and comp loaded onto the desktop. Friggin' sweet.

Thank you everyone for your help and support.

Hal1

Perfectly legal way to reset a windows password here. It will cost about 20 minutes of your time though. I've used the same method in the past.

Overheal

cant you just tell her to unlock it when she gets back? her fault for not being sure there was no password on it.

WinOutreach

Microsoft Windows includes the capacity to create a password reset disk which assists in resetting the password when it has been forgotten or lost. Details on how to create a password reset disk can be found http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Create-a-password-reset-disk . Instructions for when a password is forgotten can be found http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/What-to-do-if-you-forget-your-Windows-password . Note that there is no official method to reset a password on a Windows Vista Starter, Basic, or Home Premium system without a password reset disk.
Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro

Overheal

Hi Brandon,

interesting to see an Outreach member on here.

If Windows/Microsoft is keen on sticking around these parts, contact sales@boards.ie and you can get an official representative account set up on the discussion boards here