How to retrieve your Windows Vista password
Sun, 01/18/2009 - 13:03 — Ciprian
One of our most popular articles is a guide on how to reset your Windows Vista password using the password reset disk. However, if you did not create a password reset disk and you have forgotten your password, you cannot login and use your computer. In these situations there are certain tools that can help you out, most of them being commercial solutions, such as Active Password Changer. Still, there exist also some free alternatives, one of them being Ophcrack. In this guide I will show how to get Ophcrack and how to use it to crack and retrieve your Windows Vista password when you don't have any password reset disk at hand.
First, go to the Ophcrack site and download the Live CD. Please make sure you download the Windows Vista Live CD and not the one for Windows XP. The Live CD is a disc image saved as an '.iso' file which you need to burn onto a CD. Use a good CD/DVD burning solution to write the image file on a blank CD. If you don't have any, you can try CDBurnerXP. It is free and it works very well.
Once the disc is ready, you need to boot directly from the CD you just created. If you don't know how to do this, please read this guide.
Once you manage to boot from the Ophcrack Live CD, you will have three choices on how to launch the tool. The first two options will launch Ophcrack in a graphic mode. If you have problems with the first mode, then reboot and choose the second. Depending on the hardware configuration, on some computers both modes will work. On the computers i have tested it, sometimes the first mode did not function properly but the second one always worked just fine.
If you don't want any graphics, then choose the third option which will launch Ophcrack in text mode.
Once you have chosen a mode, Ophcrack will start loading and retrieving your passwords. This can take a few minutes, depending on your configuration and how strong the current passwords are. Please be patient and wait until the screens with text like the one below disappear and the graphical user interface is displayed.
Once the tool loads, it will show a screen like the one below. Please be patient as not all graphical elements will be shown at once. This is because Ophcrack will be busy cracking the passwords for all users registered on the PC.
When finished, Ophcrack will show you all the registered users from your Windows Vista and their corresponding passwords in the NT Pwd column.
Write down the password for the user that interests you, reboot your PC and login to Windows Vista using the password you just recovered.
Related articles:
How to reset your password
Manage User Accounts
Change Owner v1.0
Recommended articles:
How To Boot your Computer from a Bootable CD or DVD
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Comments
My password has letter on it
Am sorry if Ophcrack will do no good with password that has number on it, what will be my final solution, cos am a password freq, I mean some of my password are from the key board, I mean I don't remember except I look at the keyboard of my computer or any once computer.
Am sorry, I taught one of my friends the same, but it has lead to one locking her computer, Please I really need help on this.
Thanks
So if the computer's old
So if the computer's old password contained a number then this program wont work?
Works great, saved me on an
Works great, saved me on an IT guy. THANKS!!!!!!!!
ophcrack not working
I have been using ophcrack to try and get access to my laptop, it runs through all the menus. When it get to start linux it gets the message abnormal exit and hangs I have left it for a bit but not much happens. Any ideas?
I'e used Ophcrack for some
I'e used Ophcrack for some time, now. This is a useful tip for small businesses where poor password management has allowed users to change their own passwords... and then an employee leaves without communicating the password change... or a home where there are multiple users and a similarly poor password management is allowed. But if it's YOUR computer and "you did not create a password reset disk and you have forgotten your password" I'd say, "Take it back to the store, because using computers is too hard for you."
The easiest way to manage passwords on your personal computers is to log them (including changes, with dates) in a notebook that is LOCKED in your safe and/or bank lockbox. Then, if you DO suffer an inexplicable memory loss (or, in the case of someone like my very elderly parents, are hospitalized or pass away), your executor or attorney of record needs not use Ophcrack to gain access to your computer. Unless you also lose your key to your safe/lockbox or are the ONLY one who has the combination for your safe...
Folks who "forget" their own passwords or lose their keys or whatever simply need to learn better life management skills.
suggestion
Long time ago , I was confronted with the similar problem. Finally , my friend Jane introduce the Windows password Reset.It help me access windows. It's worth a try!
http://www.resetwindowspassword.com
Remove CMOS battery to reset password
Hi, if you remove the CMOS battery for about 20 mins then replace it, this will reset everything (BIOS Settings and all passwords on your PC/laptop)
You will keep all your data on your hard drive.
Look up "removing CMOS battery" on google for instructions how to do it.
You will need to reset your time and date and any BIOS modifications you have done but this will clear the password. Its free, fast and easy.
Cheers
Chris Kemmish
How to reset windows password with windows password unlocker?
there is a solution for those who has forgotten their password. With no reinstalling, with no the original password, with no data loss, you can reset the password. As following,
1. Login to a computer that can link to Internet. Download Windows Password Unlocker 4.0 and decompress it on that PC. Note that: there is a .ISO file. Burn the .ISO file to a CD.
2 Get out the newly created CD and insert it to the locked computer.
3 Re-boot the locked computer and then follow the process of instructions. Just a few steps, the old password was removed.'''
4 Setting new password:
Step one: Open the "Control Panel"
Step two: Click the "User Account "
Step three: Select the account you wanna to set a new password.
Step four: Click "changing Account " and "set up password", then fill out the form as listed. Click "Create Password".
The way to reset windows password without data loss
There is a way to reset windows password without erasing anything.Follow the instructions:
1.Download the :Windows Password Reset 6.0iso file
2.Burn it to a disk to create the boot disk, that simple.
3.Configure your pc or laptop to boot in the cd drive
4.Insert the CD and it would boot then just disable the password and restart.
Took about 5 minutes for the whole process.
Does this work if you have 6
Does this work if you have 6 users on a computer and you have forgotten the administrator's password? please advise..
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