forgotten vista password

adbp1 · 20 Dec 2009 at 17:40

a friend has come to me with his laptop and forgotten his password.

we have tried every posible password he would use, ive even tried to go safemode but still asks for password.

is there anything apart from reinstall i can do.

im sure can do from admin account but how to get onto admin account?

mrk · 20 Dec 2009 at 17:49

There are many password recovery tools that can get the password quite easily, just do a quick google and you'll soon find the solution!

Redgie · 20 Dec 2009 at 17:55

Ophcrack, google it

adbp1 · 20 Dec 2009 at 20:41

ok im totally baffled.
tried ophcrack and it doesnt find any password.
google search shows hundreds of different programs but everyone says ophcrack is the best and if ophcrack cant find a password then it doesnt have a password.
yet when i try to log on it still asks for password.

so.. other than total reformat is there any other way??

theheyes · 20 Dec 2009 at 20:48

What username are you trying to log in with, his or just "administrator"?

adbp1 · 20 Dec 2009 at 21:30

just his, cant get onto admin account.

nutsnut · 20 Dec 2009 at 21:34

Remove HDD, connect to your PC as slave, remove important files, replace HDD in laptop, install OS.

adbp1 · 20 Dec 2009 at 22:16

nutsnut said:
Remove HDD, connect to your PC as slave, remove important files, replace HDD in laptop, install OS.

thats my last resort, another problem is he dont have any disks but im pretty sure hes got recovery partition.

Lee · 21 Dec 2009 at 00:29

Try booting from "The Ultimate Boot CD", google it. I'm sure it has a windows password reset tool.

adbp1 · 21 Dec 2009 at 01:09

Lee said:
Try booting from "The Ultimate Boot CD", google it. I'm sure it has a windows password reset tool.

i will give it a go, cant do any worse than it is now !!!

PaulM · 21 Dec 2009 at 02:44

I've used the ntpasswd boot disk to remove Vista/7 passwords many times when Ophcrack has failed to recover the password; http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

adbp1 · 21 Dec 2009 at 03:14

PaulM said:
I've used the ntpasswd boot disk to remove Vista/7 passwords many times when Ophcrack has failed to recover the password; http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

tried it, it said removed but when i go to log on screen it still asks for password.
at the end of my wits now so just gonna retreive as much info and format for him.
if he complains then tuff dodo !!!!

Rainmaker · 21 Dec 2009 at 04:53

Silly question perhaps, but have you tried simply pressing enter when it asks for a password? That is, entering a blank one? Worth a go.

m4cc45 · 21 Dec 2009 at 08:26

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

Make the CD with SCSI and SATA drivers - there is an ISO on the website. Boot it and follow it through - mostly pressing enter all the time when it comes to enter a new password type * - this will blank it.

M.