password reset Win 7? Don't know original password

helpimcrap · 17 Mar 2019 at 22:30

Hi all,
Girlfriend has given me a laptop with Windows 7 on but password locked. She gave it to me to sort out but besides putting it to command prompt and formatting the hard drive is there any way I can do a password reset?

I've tried creating a reset USB on my laptop but obviously won't work on hers.

Any ideas?

Dalandius · 17 Mar 2019 at 22:51

Googling "Windows 7 on but password locked" found some ways to do what you want without a reset USB.

randal · 17 Mar 2019 at 23:00

"pnordahl" should be the only Google search you need.

helpimcrap · 18 Mar 2019 at 08:45

Dalandius said:
Googling "Windows 7 on but password locked" found some ways to do what you want without a reset USB.

I did but some of the websites sound very dodgy.

I'll have a look Randal, cheers.

AHarvey · 18 Mar 2019 at 09:21

Look at "Win 7 sticky keys password reset"

You need a Linux live USB to do it but I've used it several times as long as it's a local account

Deleted member 77746 · 18 Mar 2019 at 10:57

Stick the drive into a caddy, back up all the documents then format it. The real way.

bledd · 18 Mar 2019 at 13:06

https://www.top-password.com/knowledge/reset-windows-7-password-with-command-prompt.html

Use method 3.

As long as she's not encrypted any folders, it will work perfectly.

bignev72 · 18 Mar 2019 at 13:18

Use a hirens boot CD and boot to mini XP image. The application on that is called "Password Renew". Pretty easy to do.

AHarvey · 18 Mar 2019 at 14:26

mrbell1984 said:
Stick the drive into a caddy, back up all the documents then format it. The real way.

That would be most people's last resort for this task, it's the most time consuming and labour intensive way you could go about doing it.

Deleted member 77746 · 18 Mar 2019 at 15:12

AHarvey said:
That would be most people's last resort for this task, it's the most time consuming and labour intensive way you could go about doing it.

Personally the way I would do it though.

Not so much for someone who doesn't know much about IT.

AHarvey · 18 Mar 2019 at 16:21

mrbell1984 said:
Personally the way I would do it though. Not so much for someone who doesn't know much about IT.

Well if you'd rather mess around doing it please go for it but for those that work in IT, faster is better, especially when you have a lot of jobs to work through

Deleted member 77746 · 18 Mar 2019 at 16:22

AHarvey said:
Well if you'd rather mess around doing it please go for it but for those that work in IT, faster is better, especially when you have a lot of jobs to work through

indeed

bare in mind though this is really how to bypass a password which can be used for stolen laptops as long as it logs in locally.

PiKe · 18 Mar 2019 at 16:23

mrbell1984 said:
Personally the way I would do it though. Not so much for someone who doesn't know much about IT.

Spot the guy who works in the public sector.

Deleted member 77746 · 18 Mar 2019 at 16:27

PiKe said:
Spot the guy who works in the public sector.

Wrong.

I used to but that was way back in time.

helpimcrap · 19 Mar 2019 at 11:10

mrbell1984 said:
Stick the drive into a caddy, back up all the documents then format it. The real way.

Haha. It's the way I would normally do it however it has genuine Windows on it and I do not have the disc currently so was looking for an immediate solution.

helpimcrap · 19 Mar 2019 at 11:13

bledd said:
https://www.top-password.com/knowledge/reset-windows-7-password-with-command-prompt.html

Use method 3.

As long as she's not encrypted any folders, it will work perfectly.

Cheers, I saw that site and avoided - anything that says thing like top password or free stuff is usually full of viruses etc.

bledd · 19 Mar 2019 at 11:15

Agreed, the name is terrible.

Deleted member 77746 · 19 Mar 2019 at 12:01

helpimcrap said:
Haha. It's the way I would normally do it however it has genuine Windows on it and I do not have the disc currently so was looking for an immediate solution.

So you manage to get into it then?

The sticky key method works great.

Junglist · 19 Mar 2019 at 14:06

Don't know if you've got it sorted but sticky keys always fixed W7 machines for me.

Just remember to set sticky keys back to the original one and not CMD

Deleted member 77746 · 19 Mar 2019 at 14:21

Sticky key method is patched on Windows 10 1809, this no longer works.