Windows 7 password locked out, no reminder, no recovery disc

Werewolf · 5 Jul 2015 at 23:40

Hi

I've been lumbered* with trying to fix one of my brothers friend's computers (an asus laptop).
From what I've been told there are some things on there they want to keep but one of the problems is that they "can't login to it", by the looks of it the password is wrong or something.

Of course there is no backup of the computer, no password reset disc, no secondary user accounts etc which leaves me trying to get the password from outside the windows enviroment.
I've tried orphid v3.6.0 which booted fine found two user account and two disabled user accounts, but i can't see any passwords via it (I may be doing something wrong as it's the first time I've used it).

Does anyone have any hints that won't also lead to the loss of the data (I've yet to pull the HDD and put it in a caddy but that's looking likely to be tried once i find my caddy).

Cheers.

*One of these days I'm going to actually tell him a flat "no" :/ (i'm trying to fit it in around 1001 other jobs eating up my free time).

BuToNz · 5 Jul 2015 at 23:46

Hiren boot CD has a few methods to blow away the password.

I often use this method if I have no luck with Hiren: http://www.howtogeek.com/96630/how-to-reset-your-forgotten-windows-password-the-easy-way/

Pawnless Endgame · 5 Jul 2015 at 23:49

"Cain and Abel" (freeware).

I repaired a Windows PC once that required admin access and they only had a guest account. Account holder didn't know the admin password. Fired up the above prog which performs a dictionary attack on the admin account. Two minutes later, job's a good 'un. The password was someone's surname followed by a year number.

!GasAxe! · 6 Jul 2015 at 10:03

Google ''NT Reset" , simple

Mitzy · 6 Jul 2015 at 10:12

Or pull the HDD, Connect it up to your main rig, copy the user folders across to your desktop and verify you can access the files. Reinstall windows.

DJMK4 · 6 Jul 2015 at 11:28

NT password reset disk. Boot from it, its linux based, always works for me and a great recovery boot disk

Raumarik · 6 Jul 2015 at 11:50

As long as it's not encrypted then you'll be fine with above or this: http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

swain90 · 6 Jul 2015 at 15:58

Boot up Ubuntu Live CD, access all the data, back it up to an external hard drive, re-install windows..problem solved?

Nanobot · 6 Jul 2015 at 16:23

Definitely ntpasswd. It won't tell you what the password was, it just clears the password so you can log in and set your own, plus it doesn't use the dictionary method so much quicker.

Mr Gimp · 6 Jul 2015 at 16:37

Halfmad said:
As long as it's not encrypted then you'll be fine with above or this: http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

This every time.

Werewolf · 7 Jul 2015 at 01:42

Cheers for the replies, I'll try the pogostick and cain and abel and if that doesn't work the rip the drive out and copy it method

I was thinking that it was likely to be encrypted or something by default (I've not had to do a "forgot password" with 7 for a long time), and really didn't want to waste time on it.

As it is I suspect it'll need a reinstall anyway so if i can just get into it to copy the files (given the vague list of problems that got dropped off with it* I suspect there are problems with some installed software and I don't have the time/energy to run it down separately).

*About half a dozen software items mentioned, but not the fact the battery appears to be completely and utterly dead (and I'm not sure if it's an original battery or a fake as it feels half empty)

AthlonXP1800 · 7 Jul 2015 at 02:09

Yeah Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor FTW.

Tried it on my sister PC years ago with Windows 7 installed but she forget the password to login so I used the tool to reset password and let me login without issue.