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how do I reset windows password when

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5 replies

by shortstuff

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Hi a customer of mine has reset his windows password (2K) and unfortunately forgotten what it was and cannot log onto windows. Is there any way I can reset the password without re-installing windows?
If I could get into windows that would be different, but I cant .. anybody help??

5 replies

by boricua65

First have the drive as a slave. Deleting the SAM file will not only reset the Administrator password, it will also wipe out all the user accounts. It's the last resort. I hope you have a copy of the SAM somewhere.

C:WINNT\system32\config\SAM

by dbowlin

Was your user an administrator? If not log on as the administrator and change his password.

Good luck,
Dan

by jimcim

Hi,
You don't need to re-install Windows. Go to this link and download and burn the ISO to disk. Pop it in the machine with the password problem, and boot to it. There are very detailed instructions on the site to help you. The defaults usually work and you can change your password to whatever you want. I've used it numerous times without any problems.
http://tinyurl.com/dif7
Good luck, Jim

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