How to reset win7 pc password?

yan · 18 Jul 2019 at 19:16

Hi, wonder if anyone can help.
I'm trying to get an old win7 machine working for a pensioner whose forgotten the password.
Seems a lot harder than win10!

Been looking for some free s/w to do this but none of the shareware versions I've tried by creating a boot disc have worked. Tried several Offline NT Password & Registry Editor and Trinity Rescue Kit.
Also looked at Hirens but its not free.

Any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks

stockhausen · 18 Jul 2019 at 19:32

ophcrack - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophcrack

Has worked for me in exactly the same situation in the past.

yan · 19 Jul 2019 at 08:21

Thanks for that, will give it a try...

AthlonXP1800 · 19 Jul 2019 at 14:04

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

I used method 3 to reset my sister password on old PC with Windows 7.

Easy method.

Steveocee · 19 Jul 2019 at 15:25

Hirens boot CD. Just follow the menu system in to change or remove the password.

Feek · 19 Jul 2019 at 16:00

Steveocee said:
Hirens boot CD. Just follow the menu system in to change or remove the password.

Used this many times in the past, it's never failed yet.

yan · 19 Jul 2019 at 20:51

Just Tried Ophcrack which runs ok and gives the same result as Trinity rescue kit and says the Admin password is "empty".
Trouble is when I try and login it says password required?

Would try the Hirens boot CD except cant find a free version...

Cheers

Lakeland · 19 Jul 2019 at 21:31

Have you tried just pressing enter at the login page?

yan · 19 Jul 2019 at 21:32

AthlonXP1800..
Just tried options 2 & 3 and neither worked.
Option 2 problem was that afterselecting "safe mode and command prompt" it just boots back into the windows logon page with no command prompt?
Option 3 strangely fails as it cant find cmd.exe?

Any other ideas?
Cheers

yan · 19 Jul 2019 at 21:34

Also forgot to say, for option 3 after it reboots, the "ease of access" icon doesnt work?

yan · 19 Jul 2019 at 21:37

And yes Ive tried pressing enter at the login page....

loltim · 20 Jul 2019 at 01:15

I've never had a problem resetting passwords using ntpassword. Are you sure you're using it correctly? ie. saving the changes to registry before rebooting?

yan · 20 Jul 2019 at 08:52

loltim..
Out of all the oness Ive tried, NTpasssword is the only one that wont load properly and Ive tried two different downloads. Always gets stuck at the line:-
"kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

Maybe there is another easier way. With win10 you can just reset the machine (which includes all passwords and data). Is this possible with win7?
Even this would be fine as nothing important is req and just want to get the pc up and running.
And then convert it to win10 asap!
Cheers

Feek · 20 Jul 2019 at 17:16

yan said:
Would try the Hirens boot CD except cant find a free version...

It's not free? I've never had to pay for a download for it and I've always got it from what looks like an official site :confused:

yan · 21 Jul 2019 at 13:50

Ive tried two different Hirens downloads and both with the same result and both seemingly from official sites.
You boot with the disk and it goes all the way to saying reset password and then the next step it says, "this is a demo version - if you require to reset the password please pay for full version".

If you know of any working downloads be interested ro know..
Cheers

AthlonXP1800 · 21 Jul 2019 at 19:09

yan said:
AthlonXP1800..
Just tried options 2 & 3 and neither worked.
Option 2 problem was that afterselecting "safe mode and command prompt" it just boots back into the windows logon page with no command prompt?
Option 3 strangely fails as it cant find cmd.exe?

Any other ideas?
Cheers

Strange you cant find cmd.exe in option 3.

Other way with command prompt is type in notepad and press enter and notepad will open then go to the menu and click on File/Open and navigate to C:\Windows/System32 to find cmd.exe and rename it to cmd.exe.bak and then find Utilman.exe and rename it to cmd.exe.

yan · 22 Jul 2019 at 23:16

Managed to do this now and the admin button is working as the command window. I can change or reset the password but still cant login.
Maybe the problem is that this way is to reset a "local" admin p/w and the pc actually has a "domain" p/w, so do I need to do smthg differently to make this work?

AthlonXP1800 · 23 Jul 2019 at 17:58

yan said:
Managed to do this now and the admin button is working as the command window. I can change or reset the password but still cant login.
Maybe the problem is that this way is to reset a "local" admin p/w and the pc actually has a "domain" p/w, so do I need to do smthg differently to make this work?

Try 2 solutions below.

https://4sysops.com/archives/forgot-the-domain-admin-password/

sastusbulbas · 26 Jul 2019 at 13:44

yan said:
Hi, wonder if anyone can help.
I'm trying to get an old win7 machine working for a pensioner whose forgotten the password.
Seems a lot harder than win10!

Been looking for some free s/w to do this but none of the shareware versions I've tried by creating a boot disc have worked. Tried several Offline NT Password & Registry Editor and Trinity Rescue Kit.
Also looked at Hirens but its not free.

Any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks

Have you tried the shift key option?

It's how my son when in primary school kept bypassing admin accounts to reset my admin password so he could remove time limits on his account on the family pc.

How to reset win7 pc password?

Capodecina