An easy way to reset your account password on any version of Windows! Forgot your Windows password? Download windows 7 password recovery program

We remind you that attempts to repeat the actions of the author can lead to the loss of the warranty for 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 are not responsible for any possible consequences.

Windows has long used the SAM system to store and manage passwords for all users. All the 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, it is not at all necessary to find out the password at all - it is enough to reset it or change it. Several utilities have been developed for this, one of which we will use. Another important point - it is obvious that when the OS is running, it will not allow you to just get into the password store. Therefore, you need to make sure that the computer supports booting from CD / DVD or USB media in order to run the necessary utilities.

The most famous of them is Offline NT Password and Registry editor, which can work with Windows XP/Vista/7 passwords and registry. 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 should not be afraid of this - everything in it is quite simple and understandable. In addition, often the desired option is 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 find 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 focus primarily on 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). This is by default X:/Windows/System32/config, and the program offers it at the beginning. Then you need to select the first item (Password reset), since we are going to reset the password.

Further everything is simple. Select the first item (Edit user data and password) and enter the username or ID in the format 0xabcd, where abcd is the RID listed in the first column. RID is useful if the username is displayed incorrectly or cannot be entered. For example, when using Cyrillic.

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

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

This was an easy way to reset your Windows 7 password. It shouldn't be difficult. You just have to be careful and careful. Problems can arise only in the absence of the necessary drivers to work with the hard drive. 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 option.

For the second and third methods, you only need a Windows 7 installation disk and nothing more. A more complex option involves enabling the initially hidden "Administrator" account by editing the registry from the Windows 7 installation environment. In the future, it will be possible to 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, we boot from the installation disk and press Shift + F10 to call the command line, where we drive in regedit and press Enter to launch the Registry Editor.

Highlight 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 you open it, you will be prompted to enter the name of the hive to be loaded - drive in any.

Now you need to select a section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hivename\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\hivename\ and in the menu select "File" → "Unload hive ..." (File → Unload hive ...), and then confirm the unloading of the hive.

That's it, you can reboot by pulling out the pre-installation disk and log in with an administrator account. In the Windows Control Panel, in the User Management section, you can change the settings for another account. Including changing your password.

The last way is the wrong one. Why wrong? Because we will be engaged in the substitution of system files, and this is an ignoble business. What is the main idea? It's simple - by default, the sticky keys detection function is enabled in the OS. You have probably come across it at least once, and if not, then just quickly press Shift at least 5 times, and you will see such a wonderful window:

This window belongs to a small helper program sethc.exe, which lies in the Windows system directory. What's more, it even runs on the welcome screen when you're prompted to select a user and enter a password. But you can replace it with something useful. For example, 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 determining the letter of the drive on which Windows is installed. The easiest thing is to simply view the contents of the partition root with the command dir. C: will most likely be seen as D:, but it doesn't have to be.

Having decided on the volume letter, we execute two simple commands - one copy the original file just in case sethc.exe to the root of the disk or wherever you like, and the second change it 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. In it, you need to enter one more command, substituting the name of the desired user and the new password, respectively. Other parameters of this command can be found in the official help.

Net user username newpassword

If you want to return everything to normal, then 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 can not restore anything, but leave such a small 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 careful 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 with your account recovery!

If you can’t log in to Windows 7 because you forgot or lost your account password, then this article will help you. It contains all effective ways to remove, reset or replace the password of any account(even the administrator) in the "seven" and recommendations are given on how to protect yourself in case the password is lost in the future. All the described methods to unlock a user account are absolutely safe if you follow the instructions and do everything carefully.

How to reset a forgotten password with Ophcrack

Ophcrack- a unique utility that allows you to restore access to any account in Windows 7 in just a few minutes. Moreover, it works in any edition of the OS, starting with XP, and can function from a bootable USB flash drive. The mechanism of the program is somewhat different from the algorithms for selecting passwords of similar applications and includes several components:

• LM hash algorithm- in this format, passwords are stored in Windows 7, the number of characters of which does not exceed 15 pieces;
• rainbow tables- a mechanism designed to recover encrypted passwords through the use of hashes with a complex reverse decryption process.

The program can also unlock complex passwords by extracting them from registry files and then decrypting them using completely new methods of data processing, due to which the load on hardware resources is small, and the selection speed increases by orders of magnitude.

Using a bootable flash drive with Ophcrack

The algorithm below is relevant for computers that cannot be accessed by the following reasons:

• the password from one account is lost, but there are no other accounts;
• no user profile can be accessed on this computer.

If you encounter such a case, you will have to execute instruction, which boils down to this: create a bootable USB based on a special version of Ophcrack and boot from that media to restore account access. In more detail, this instruction looks like this:

For inexperienced users, it is recommended to select the first (graphical) mode of operation of OphCrack: Ophcrack Graphic mode. But it should be noted that in graphical mode the program may not start, and the text mode works flawlessly, although it requires certain skills in handling console programs.

If we consider work in a program with an interface in more detail in the next section, then we will dwell on using its console version in more detail. Although of the features here there is only the absence of windows and buttons. After launching the console version of the utility, it will automatically determine the passwords for all accounts and display them in the " Results».

Removing a password from under Windows

What to do if you forgot administrator account password? The program will also help here. Ophcrack, but with a network connection to download it. Consider the sequence of actions:

After a few seconds or minutes, depending on the complexity of the combination of characters in the password, it will be displayed in the " NT Pwd».

Using system recovery tools

What to do, if no access to the internet or another computer do you need to sign in to your account? Will help solve the problem bootable USB stick or disk, which contains the distribution of the Windows 7 operating system that is running on the computer.

In this case, resetting the Windows 7 administrator password is maximally carried out as follows.

1. We connect the boot drive of the same edition of the "seven" as installed on the PC.
2. We restart the PC.
3. We call the boot menu of the computer / laptop. This can be done using the F2, F9, F11 keys or another one indicated in the motherboard manual or on the BIOS boot screen.
4. In the list of available devices, select the target USB drive to start the computer from it.
   
5. Press any key to boot from the selected media.
6. We select the language of the system installed on the computer, and then click the button Next.
   
7. Click the link « » in the window with the Install button to launch Windows 7 Resume Tools.
   
8. In the parameters, select the command line to call the system command execution tool.
   
9. In the window that appears, enter the regedit command and execute it using the Enter key. As a result, the window of the classic system registry editor will open.
10. In this window, as in the file manager with the display of directories in the form of a tree, go to the HKLM section.
    
11. Through the main menu we call the command "", located in the menu " File».
12. Select file " config» - « SYSTEM, which has no extension.
    
13. Set any file name without using Cyrillic characters and confirm it by pressing the enter button.
14. Let's go to the bush HKLM” - “entered_bush_name” - Setup .
15. Double-click to open the key editing menu " CmdLine».
16. As the value of the parameter, enter " cmd.exe" to launch a command prompt before Windows 7 boots.
17. In the same way, set the value Setup Type» equal « 2 ».
18. Select a new bush in HKLM.
19. We call the command " Unload bush”, located in the menu item “ File».
20. We restart the computer, as a result of which the command line will appear.
21. At the command line, enter a command like net user username password and execute it with the Enter key. After that, the command line can be closed.
    

Thus, it is easy to recover a forgotten password as many times as you like, but using the proposed method on other people's computers will not work due to the fact that changing the password is required when gaining access to any of the accounts.

Create a flash drive to instantly reset a password from a specific account

If you do not want to repeat the situation with a forgotten password, it is better to make a floppy disk to reset it. By a floppy disk we mean a flash drive, because the use of floppy disks and disks has not been relevant in recent years.

1. We call " Start” and click on your account avatar.
2. In the vertical menu located on the left, click " Create a password reset disk».
   
3. "" will open, where we click Next >.
   
4. We select our flash drive (or floppy disk) from the list.
   
5. Set the current account password, then click Next >.
   

As a result, the wizard will generate a boot disk necessary to unlock an account whose password has been lost.

Now, if for some reason you cannot log into Windows 7, click the Reset password button, insert the created disk or USB flash drive and follow the instructions. which boil down to clicking the Next button.

After reinstalling the system, changing the password, or creating a new account, the password reset disk will have to be recreated.

Knowing how to reset the Windows 7 administrator password and having a flash drive with a key file, a forgotten password will no longer be a problem.

Related videos

In Windows 8, 7, and 10, you can secure your account. So no outsider can enter. But suddenly you forgot your password? Or have you purchased a computer that already has an “account”? In Win, you cannot restore an account using email. The code will not be sent via SMS. But you don't need to format the drive. Resetting the Windows 7 password via a USB flash drive is the solution to the problem.

If you forgot your Windows password, don't worry.

1. For this, the UltraISO program is suitable. You can use another utility if you like.
2. Find it online and download it. The application is paid. But there is a trial version.
3. Insert the drive.
4. Run the program.
5. "File - Open". Select the ISO file.
6. Go to the "Boot" menu and click on "Burn Hard Disk Image".
7. In the "DiskDrive" section, select the USB drive.
8. Then you can format it if you haven't already done so. The flash drive must be
9. FAT32.
10. Click on "Record". The system will warn that all data from the drive will be deleted. Confirm the action.
11. Wait while the files are copied.

File replacement

To remove the Windows 10, 8 or 7 password, enter the recovery mode, and through it - to the command line.

1. In the BIOS, set the external drive to boot priority.
2. Once launched, the installation wizard will open.
3. Choose language.
4. Click on System Restore. Don't click "Install".
5. The OS list will appear. Check the one you can't remember the code for.
6. In the recovery options, click on "Command Prompt". Now you see white font on a black background.
7. Back up "Utilman.exe" - type "copy [SystemDrive]:\Windows\system32\sethc.exe [SystemDrive]:\File". The file will be copied to the "File" folder.
8. Now replace it - "copy [SystemDrive]:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe [SystemDrive]:\Windows\System32\Utilman.exe".
9. The system will ask you to confirm the action. Write "Y" if you agree.
10. When the file is copied, click "Reboot" and remove the drive.
11. Revert the BIOS to the original settings. Now you can start the OS.

Reset

1. When you log in to your account, open "Accessibility" (button at the bottom left).
2. But the command line will start.
3. To reset your Windows password, type "net user [UserName] [NewPassword]". If there is a space in the name or cipher, enclose it in quotation marks.
4. If you want to remove the code, put two quotes with no characters between them.
5. Restart your computer again, calmly log into your account.
6. Return the "Utilman.exe" file. Start again from the flash drive, open recovery mode and command prompt. Write in it "move [SystemDrive]:\File\Utilman.exe [SystemDrive]:\Windows\System32\Utilman.exe"

If you cannot log into your Win account, this does not mean that you have lost all user data. In Windows XP, 7, 8, 10, resetting the password from a flash drive is a very simple task. Although this has its downsides. It turns out that anyone can log into the account. Protect your personal information in several ways - not just with the code in your account.

Windows 7 has a built-in Administrator user that has exclusive rights to perform various operations on the system. In some cases, it is required to make any settings or actions with files on his behalf by entering the corresponding password account. Of course, this cannot be done if the data is lost. Today we will analyze the methods for changing them for the "Administrator" in the "seven".

By default, the password for this account is empty, and it is disabled, that is, it is impossible to enter it without additional manipulations. However, rights are reserved. Resetting data may be required in a situation if they were previously set, and then "safely" lost. There are several ways to change or completely remove the password for the "Administrator".

Method 1: ERD Commander Rescue Disk

ERD Commander is designed to be used in situations where you need to perform some action on the system without starting it. It contains supporting software embedded in a distribution with a recovery environment. In the list, among other things, there is a “Password Change Wizard” that allows you to change the login information of any user. In order to use this tool, you need to download and burn a disk image to a USB flash drive. Then you should boot the PC from the prepared media, after changing the BIOS settings.

1. After loading, we will see a screen with operating system versions. Select the item containing WIN7 and the desired bit depth in brackets. We have it (x64). Click ENTER.

   

2. At the next stage, the program will offer to connect to the network in the background. We refuse.

   

3. Next, you need to decide on the reassignment of drive letters. Here you can click on any button, since these parameters are not important for us.

   

4. Leave the layout settings as they are and click "Further".

   

5. We wait until the installed OS is detected, click on it in the list and move on.

   

6. In the next window, open the lowest section with MSDaRT tools.

   

7. Launching "Password Change Wizard".

   

8. After opening the program, click "Further".

   

9. Are looking for "Administrator" and enter the password in two input fields. There is no need to come up with a complex combination here yet, since we will change it later.

   

10. Click "Ready", finishing work "Masters".

    

11. In the MSDaRT window, click "Close".

    

12. We reboot the machine with the corresponding button. During the reboot, we return the BIOS settings and start the OS.

    

13. On the login screen, we see that the list of users has appeared "Administrator". Click on the icon for this account.

    

    Enter the password created in ERD.

    

14. The system will inform you that a data change is required. Click OK.

    

15. We set a new combination.

    

16. On the screen with the inscription "Password has been changed" click OK. After that, you will be logged into your account.

    

17. For security reasons, you should never leave "Administrator" enabled. Open the start menu and go to "Control Panels".

    

18. Click on the applet "Administration", after switching to the view mode indicated in the screenshot.

    

19. Let's go to the section "Computer Management".

    

20. Opening a branch "Local Users and Groups" and select a folder with users in it. Click on "Administrator" RMB and open "Properties".

    

21. Put a tick in the checkbox "Deactivate account" and click "Apply".

    

22. We restart the computer.

Method 2: Built-in tool

The "seven" has its own built-in tool for managing passwords. A prerequisite for its use is that the user under which the operation is performed has administrator rights. In order to get to the desired settings, follow steps 17 to 20 of the previous paragraph.

Method 3: "Command line"

Using this tool, you can perform many actions in the system without using the GUI (graphical interface), including changing account passwords. You can do this both from running Windows and from the login screen. In the second case, you will have to tinker a bit with the preparation. Let's start with the first option.

There is another way that allows you to call the "Command Prompt" at the entrance. It is slightly simpler than the previous one, but gives the same result. Windows has a utility ( sethc.exe), which, when pressed repeatedly SHIFT displays a dialog box asking you to turn on Sticky Keys. A useful feature for us is that this happens on the login screen as well. If you replace its file with an "executable" cmd, when you try to call sticky, a window will open "Command line".

1. After downloading from the flash drive, press SHIFT+F10.

   

2. Next, we need to determine the letter of the volume on which the folder is located. Windows. It is necessary to do this, since the installer can change the letters, and we will get an error.

   Experience tells us that in most cases the system disk is "D".

   

   If the folder Windows not listed, other letters should be checked.

3. We back up the utility file to the root of the system drive.

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

   

4. The following command will replace sethc.exe on the cmd.exe.

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

   For a replacement request, write "at" and press ENTER.

   

5. Reboot the PC and click on the login screen several times SHIFT.

   

6. We enter the command we already know.

   net user Administrator “”

   

7. We have changed the data, now we need to restore the utility. We boot the computer from a USB flash drive, open "Command line" and enter the command below.

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

   Replace file with input "at" and pressing ENTER.

   

Method 4: Password Reset Flash Drive

The most reliable method of resetting the "Administrator" data is a specially created flash drive with a key. This is due to the fact that only when it is applied, we do not lose encrypted data. You can burn such media only by logging into the corresponding account, as well as knowing its password (if it is empty, the operation does not make sense).

1. We connect the flash drive to the PC.
2. We open "Command line" and execute the command

   "C:\Windows\system32\rundll32.exe" keymgr.dll,PRShowSaveWizardExW

   

3. In the utility window that opens, go further.

   

4. Select the flash drive in the drop-down list and click "Further".

   

5. Enter the current password in the input field "Administrator".

   

6. We are waiting for the end of the operation and click "Further".

   

7. Done, close "Master".

   

Instructions for using a flash drive

1. We start the computer (the drive must be connected).
2. In order to be able to reset, enter incorrect data. On the warning screen, press OK.

   

3. Click on the link shown in the screenshot.

   

4. In the opened window "Masters" we go further.

   

5. We are looking for our flash drive in the drop-down list.

   

6. We write a new password and a hint to it.

   

7. Click "Ready".

   

Conclusion

Today we have analyzed four options for resetting the "Administrator" password in Windows 7. They differ in approach and tools used, but have the same results. Best for normal use "Command line" from a running system. If access to the "accounts" is closed, you can use the emergency or installation disk. The simplest and most reliable option is a flash drive with a written key, but you need to take care of its creation in advance.

Windows 7 users who care about the safety of confidential information in their work, as well as to block unauthorized persons from entering the system under their account, first of all set a password to enter the operating system.

But often there are cases when a user can forget his password or lose a piece of paper with a password somewhere, after which he cannot enter the operating system under his account in any way.

For such users, there is in Windows 7 the ability to create a floppy disk (flash drive) password reset, thanks to which you can create a new one and log in to the system. But the important conditions for creating such a floppy disk (USB drive) are:

• it must be created in advance, when you can still log into the system under your account;
• for each account (user) you need to make your own floppy disk (flash drive).

The media you use does not have to be clean, because it only takes a few kilobytes to create a floppy and all data on the media will not be affected by the floppy creation operation. No matter how often you change your Windows login password, a specific account's reset disk is only created once.

If you create a new disk for the same account, then all previously created ones will not work. Password is only reset using the last one created in each particular account.

PASSWORD RESET

Insert the USB drive into your computer. Go to the menu "Start" - "Control Panel" - "User Accounts" and click "Create a password reset disk".

The "Forgotten Password Wizard" will start, click on the "Next" button.

Select the media (flash drive) and click the "Next" button.

In the "Password of the current account" field, enter your account password or leave it blank if it is not there and click the "Next" button. After completing the operation 100%, click on the “Next” button.

In the last window, read the important information and click the "Finish" button, which will complete the creation of the floppy disk.

HOW TO RESET THE PASSWORD

When you log in, the system will ask you to enter a password, log in without it and the operating system will inform you about the error. After that, the inscription "Reset password" will appear, when clicked, the reset program starts. Insert the created USB flash drive and click on the "Next" button. You will need to fill in 3 fields: 1st field - enter a new password, 2nd field - confirm it, 3rd field - enter a hint.

If you do not want to use a password to enter the operating system, then leave all 3 fields empty and click the "Next" button. The previous (forgotten by you) password will be reset and you will be able to log into Windows 7 with or without a new one.

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