A little earlier, I considered a situation where a bootable system image was required, but it may not always be at hand, in addition, usually the weight of the system administrator’s working disks (we’re talking about LiveCD with software) is much less.
Today we will talk about working with specialized software for editing the SAM (Security Account Manager) database. I once described a procedure in Windows.
The SAM file itself (what a pun) is located in the windows\system32\config (for a 32-bit system) or windows\syswow64\config (for a 64-bit system) directory and you won’t be able to access it (and especially write it). That is why we use various LiveCDs, which can be found in large quantities on a root tracker or other site dedicated to the work of a system administrator.
For example, here is the following assembly: LiveSeven (LiveCD AZJIO v5.6 from 01/01/2013 CD/USB WIM) from the root tracker weighs a little more than 270 megabytes, but allows you to quite passably solve various system administrator tasks in the operating system, so I recommend downloading and burning a disk or flash drive. Since the collection is the author’s, there is no piracy in this, I think the creator will only be glad that people are using his collection.
By the way, I found a very nice way to burn ISO files onto a flash drive. If anyone didn’t know, this is easily done without various third-party utilities, the usual UltraISO. Open the ISO image, insert the USB flash drive, select “Boot -> Burn hard disk image...”
And, of course, the “Record” button.
Read more in a separate article:
Well, okay, how to burn a disc, set the BIOS to boot from media - I think it’s not a problem. After loading we will see the system desktop - this is good:
Here is a kind of “Start” menu, select “Password reset -> Reset Windows Password”. Then I will analyze the work with the “Password Renew” program for comparison.
In the main program window, select Russian interface language and SAM operating mode. That is, we work with a local account database. I suspect that it is possible to work with the AD database of a Windows domain controller; I have not tried it yet, but the opportunity is nice.
In addition, there is a drop-down list of actions; we are interested in resetting or changing the user’s password. Click Next.
Next, the program automatically determines the location of the SAM and SYSTEM databases (they are stored in the config directory) and represent registry hives. Why might you need to specify the paths to these files manually?
Case 1. We have several operating systems installed and we need to reset passwords in a specific one of them.
Case 2. We have separately located registry hive files taken from another computer (for example, we were sent these files by mail and need to reset the password and return it to the owner).
One way or another, the ability to specify these files manually is present and you need to remember this. In our case, the system was installed alone, so the program determined everything correctly.
Next, a list of users appeared that exist in the SAM file. Here we select the person whose password needs to be changed/reset. By the way, here you can see whether you have administrator privileges and whether a password has been set at all.
In the next window, we can perform certain actions with the already selected account - change the blocking, disabling, and expired password flags. Set a new password – I was pleased with this option; you can not only remove it, but also set a custom one. Mark the required actions and click the “Reset/Change” button.
All is ready!
As I promised, I will consider another program in the same area. It's called Password Renew.
After launching the program, we are prompted to select the Windows folder.
Click “Browse” and select our Windows directory. By the way, here is the difference from the previous program - there is no way to feed it third-party SAM files.
In the drop-down list, select the desired user and set a custom password. 123, of course!
I thought for a long time about what to reap next. It turns out that the second item on the left is “Apply”. Some kind of not very successful interface, the principle of the sequence “Left-to-right, top-to-bottom” is violated. Anyway. But the program worked.
In addition, you can create a new user. Select item 2.2 “Create a new user” and set a name and password. Also click 1.2 “Apply”. Well, we can add administrator rights 2.3 point.
To be honest, the program’s interface is not very good, but it works and this should be taken into account. Who knows what will be in our hands in a difficult situation?
Windows 7 password reset program. Quite often it happens that after setting a password for an account, the user forgets the information he needs. It seems that this problem cannot be solved, because how can you work with a computer without having access to it?
As a rule, most people contact service centers or reinstall the operating system. Although the first method of solving the problem incurs financial costs, it is still safer, since as a result of replacing the system, you can lose important information. However, you can do without these drastic methods.
There are several ways in which you can reset your Windows 7 password:
1) by making changes to the register;
2) using system file substitution. This method is not recommended, especially if inexperienced users do it.
3) using a password reset program.
The most common and most effective is the last method.
Windows 7 password reset program: features of use
To get started, you need to download the Windows 7 password reset program to your computer. This can be done even when the operating system is offline.
The first thing to do after this is to create a boot disk. This process is not complicated enough. After unpacking the downloaded program, the user receives an ISO image. Next, insert the drive and select the “Burn disc from image” command. As a result, several files appear on the disk.
In addition to the disk, you can use a flash drive for work.
How to create a bootable flash drive?
Resetting a password from an operating system using a flash drive is somewhat more difficult. First of all, you need to unpack the downloaded archive with the program into the root folder of the flash drive. If there is any other information on the removable media, it does not matter.
Now let's move on to the process of turning a regular flash drive into a bootable one. Open the command line. To do this, you can use the Win+R key combination, enter the command F:syslinux.exe –ma F.
In place F we indicate the letter of the partition with removable media. Press the “Enter” key. If after this a window notifying you of an error does not appear, the actions were performed correctly and you can proceed to the next step. Otherwise, you will need to repeat the steps again.
Final stage of action
Once the bootable media has been created, you need to download the folders on it to your computer. To do this, you need to enter the POST BIOS and press the F8 key. As a result, a window will appear in front of the user in which you need to indicate the boot media to be used.
In some computer models, other key combinations are possible, therefore, before starting work, you should read the instructions for the equipment.
When the Windows 7 password reset program has loaded, you need to select the partition with the installed operating system and follow the further instructions of the program. As a rule, for the utility to work, it is enough to press the Enter key from time to time.
In the event that it becomes necessary to make certain changes, you must shut down Windows. When the program is finished, the user gains access to the data.
The utility may prompt you to remember your password. It is not recommended to do this, as forgetting the old password and entering incorrect data in the drain can ruin all the work done.
Thus, you don’t have to worry that if you lose your password information, access to your computer and all the information on it will be restricted forever.
We remind you that attempts to repeat the author’s actions may lead to loss of warranty on the equipment and even to its failure. The material is provided for informational purposes only. If you are going to reproduce the steps described below, we strongly advise you to carefully read the article to the end at least once. The editors of 3DNews do not bear any responsibility for any possible consequences.
Windows has long used the SAM system to store and manage all user passwords. All information in it is well protected, so in order to find out the password, you will have to spend a lot of time and resources, especially if it is quite complex. Most often, however, there is no need to find out the password at all - just reset it or change it. Several utilities have been developed for this, one of which we will use. Another important point is that, obviously, when the OS is running, it will not allow you to just break into the password storage. Therefore, you need to make sure that your computer supports booting from a CD/DVD or USB media in order to launch the necessary utilities.
The most famous of them is Offline NT Password and Registry editor, which can work with passwords and the registry of Windows XP/Vista/7. Download the USB or CD version of the utility, burn the downloaded image to disk, or use our tips for creating a multiboot flash drive. The utility does not have a graphical interface, but you shouldn’t be afraid of this - everything in it is quite simple and clear. In addition, the desired option is often offered by default, so you only need to press the Enter key.
Boot from removable media Offline NT Password and Registry editor. You are unlikely to need additional boot options, but in some cases you will have to empirically select those that will help the utility start. The next step is to select the partition number on which Windows is installed. You will have to navigate first of all by its size. In principle, until the very last moment the program does not make any changes to Windows, so in case of an error, you can simply start the password reset procedure again.
Then the utility will ask you to specify the path to the folder where the SAM files are located (in fact, this is a registry hive). The default is X:/Windows/System32/config, this is what the program offers at the beginning. Then you need to select the first item (Password reset), since we are going to reset the password.
Then everything is simple. Select the first item (Edit user data and password) and enter the user name or identifier in the format 0xabcd, Where abcd is the RID listed in the first column. RID is useful if the username is not displayed correctly or cannot be entered. For example, when using Cyrillic.
All that remains is to specify item 1 (password reset) or 2 (password change) for the selected user. Exit the password editing mode by entering an exclamation point and pressing Enter.
Everything is almost ready. Enter q, press Enter, and then agree to the changes by entering y and pressing Enter again. We refuse to continue working in Offline NT Password and Registry editor ( n), remove the flash drive or CD and press the treasured combination Alt+Ctrl+Del to reboot. Done - the password is reset!
This was an easy way to reset your Windows 7 password. There shouldn't be any difficulties with it. You just need to be careful and careful. Problems can only arise if the necessary drivers for working with the hard drive are missing. Then you will have to put them on a floppy disk (if, of course, you find a living representative of this almost extinct species and a working drive for it) or on a USB flash drive and at the first stage select the fetch additional drivers item.
For the second and third methods, you only need the Windows 7 installation disk and nothing else. A more complex option involves enabling the initially hidden “Administrator” account by editing the registry from the Windows 7 installation environment. In the future, you can log in under this account and edit any other account in the OS. By default, “Administrator” does not have a password, which only plays into our hands.
So, boot from the installation disk and press Shift+F10 to open the command line, where we enter regedit and press Enter to launch the Registry Editor.
Selecting a section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, and in the menu select “File” → “Load hive...” (File → Load hive...). We need to open the SAM file, which is located in the folder \Windows\System32\config on the partition where Windows 7 is installed. When opening, you will be asked to enter the name of the hive to load - enter any.
Now you need to select a section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hive_name\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\000001F4 and double click on the key F. An editor will open in which you need to go to the first number in line 038 - this is 11. It must be changed to 10. Be careful and do not make a mistake - you only need to change it, without adding or deleting other numbers!
Now we need to select our bush HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hive_name\ and in the menu select “File” → “Unload hive...” (File → Unload hive...), and then confirm unloading the hive.
That’s it, you can reboot by removing the pre-installation disk and log in under an administrator account. In the Windows Control Panel, under User Management, you can change the settings of another account. Including changing the password.
There is one last way left, the wrong one. Why wrong? Because we will deal with replacing system files, and this is a ignoble matter. What is the main idea? It's simple - the OS has the function of detecting sticky keys enabled by default. You've probably encountered it at least once, and if not, just quickly press Shift at least 5 times, and you will see this wonderful window:
This window belongs to a small auxiliary program sethc.exe, which is located in the Windows system directory. Moreover, it even starts on the welcome screen when you are asked to select a user and enter a password. But it can be replaced with something useful. Eg, cmd.exe. Naturally, not directly in the running OS, but by booting from the Windows 7 installation disk and pressing Shift+F10.
You need to start by identifying the drive letter on which Windows is installed. The easiest thing is to simply view the contents of the root partition with the command dir. C: will most likely be seen as D:, but not necessarily.
Having decided on the volume letter, we execute two simple commands - with one we copy the original file, just in case sethc.exe to the root of the disk or wherever you like, and change the second one to cmd.exe.
Copy d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe d:\copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe
We reboot, quickly press the Shift key (or Ctrl, or Alt) several times and observe the command line window. You need to enter another command in it, substituting the name of the desired user and a new password accordingly. Other options for this command can be found in the official help.
Net user username new password
If you want to return everything to normal, you need to boot from the installation disk again, open the console and run the command:
Copy d:\sethc.exe d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe
However, you don’t have to restore anything, but leave this little trick in the system just in case. In addition to the methods listed above, there are many other methods for resetting or recovering a password in Windows, but we will not consider them now. Once again we urge our readers to be attentive and careful when working with the internals of the OS, and even better not to bring the situation to a “surgical” intervention in SAM. Good luck restoring access to your accounts!
How many times have you forgotten your passwords for a coded door at a friend’s entrance, your e-mail or an account on some VKontakte? But if in this case recovery services could help you, then in the event you forget your password from your computer, only specialists will help you... If your hands are “growing from the right place,” then you can try to do something yourself. The easiest way out of this situation is to reset the Windows 7 administrator password.
Options
There are several ways to solve this problem. Today we will talk about resetting the administrator password, which can be done with direct access to the computer, so these tips will not be useful to you for hacking someone else’s PC or server.
- Mechanical.
- Using the created software.
- Using the operating system distribution.
Any of these options is equally good and bad at the same time. Some of them are larger and better suited for laptops, while others are ideal for a desktop computer. In addition, passwords are different, so if you protected your computer with a password using BIOS, even now it is not completely safe and there are ways to overcome this protection of a stationary personal computer. However, this method will not help you in the case of a laptop, because simply disassembling and putting it back together in working order is a very difficult task, not to mention making any changes.
Via BIOS
To immediately dot all the i's, it is worth saying that resetting the Windows 7 administrator password through the BIOS is not possible. Some concepts should be separated. You will not be able to reset the passwords on the user account by any operations in the BIOS, but if you have completely denied access to the computer using the I/O system and have forgotten the password, then here are a couple of tips for you.
It should be immediately noted that these methods are quite dangerous for your computer and work with 100% reliability only on stationary PCs. Yes, and these tricks can only be done with direct access to the system unit.
So, a quick reset of the Windows 7 administrator password is carried out as follows. Unscrew the cover of the PC system unit, having first disconnected it from the power supply, and find a coin-cell battery on the motherboard. You should remove it for a few seconds and then put it back in place. This way, you will reset all temporary BIOS settings on your computer, including the password.
Second method
Also, resetting the Windows 7 administrator password set in the BIOS can be done a little differently. You will need the instructions from your motherboard. In the diagram you need to find a special jumper with which you can reset the BIOS settings. The jumper looks like a pair of exposed contacts. In order to reset the password, you will have to change the jumper on the jumper and turn on the computer. It will not start, but all settings will be set to default. Remove the jumper and turn on the PC again. When you first boot, you will be thrown into the BIOS control panel. Don't touch anything, just press the exit button and save your existing settings.
With disk
It is worth noting that if you have set a password for the user, then simply removing the battery is not enough. If you still have the operating system distribution, then you can use the following couple of tricks to reset the Windows 7 local administrator password.
So, first, remember the process of installing your OS. If you did it yourself, then at some point you should have been asked if you wanted to set a password for the “admin panel”. This entry is usually inactive and hidden from prying eyes, and users work on an account with extended rights. If you lose your account password, the administrator can always delete it himself. But what kind of “administrator” can we talk about on a home computer? Therefore, you have to use the system administrator user account, which is installed on the system by default.
To launch it, do the following. Insert the installation disk and on the first welcome screen press the combination “Shift+F10”. This will allow us to bring up the command line. Next, we need to launch the registry editor with the “regedit” command. After this, we perform the following manipulations in the editor.
- Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and click "File" - "Load hive".
- Find the SAM file in the Windows folder - Swstem32 - config.
- In the new branch that appears, go to the folder 000001F4. It is located in SAM - Domains - Account - Users. The "F" parameter needs to be changed.
- Double click on it. We are interested in line 0038. In it we need to change the number located in the very first column. "11" -> "10".
- We exit and save.
- Select the root folder of our branch and click the “File” menu button, then “Unload hive”.
After all the manipulations have been completed, you can restart the computer. Now you can log into your administrator account and reset your Windows 7 administrator password manually using operating system tools.
Another variant
There are still ways to log into a password-protected account. The fact is that you can reset the Windows 7 administrator password directly from the console running as an administrator. Now you will be offered a rather complicated method, but one that allows you to leave a small loophole for the future.
Perhaps you have come across a program that is responsible for sticky keys? When you press "Shift" or "Alt" many times in a row, you will receive a message asking you to turn off sticky. The fact is that this function also works in the user selection menu when we just turned on the computer. So if we replace it with something useful, we could benefit from it. For example, calling the command line.
To do this, repeat the steps in the previous paragraph and enter the operating system installation menu. Launch the command line. By default, your operating system should be installed on volume "C:\". If not, just replace it with the desired letter. After launching the line, enter a sequence of commands.
- "Copy C:\windows\system32\sethc.exe C:\" - a copy of the file with the code that reacts to sticking is created.
- "Copy C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe C:\windows\system32\sethc.exe" - copy the contents of the file that launches the command line to the sticky file.
After entering the last command, you must restart your personal computer (laptop). In the user selection menu, when you are asked to enter a password, we activate the sticky function by quickly pressing a few keys. The command line will open, and enter the command “net user UserName NewPassword”. As you might guess, instead of UserName you need to specify your user name, and instead of the second parameter, a new password. After this, you will be able to log into your account on your personal computer. If you want to return everything to its place, you can turn on the command line from Windows and enter “copy C:\sethc.exe C:\windows\system32\sethc.exe”.
But how to reset the Windows 7 administrator password without a disk?
Utility
If the operating system distribution kit is missing, it is always possible to reset the password using a special utility. You will need a program to reset the Windows 7 administrator password. For example, Offline NT Password and Registry Editor. We write it to a disk or flash drive and restart the computer, choosing to boot from external media. Resetting the Windows 7 administrator password from a flash drive is quite easy to learn if you can read and know English. So let's begin.
- After launch, a table with hard drives will appear in front of you. Enter the number of the one on which the OS is installed.
- Determine the path to the SAM accounts file. "C:/Windows/System32/config".
- Enter "1" twice in a row.
- We select the user we need in the table. The administrator password reset program only works with Latin, so if the name is not displayed correctly, you can enter its RID in the format 0xRID.
- Once again enter "1".
- The following is a sequence of commands: exit, save changes, do not continue.
- Reboot the computer by pressing "control-alt-divide".
The Windows 7 administrator password reset program did its job. You can enter your "domain" on the computer.
Warning
Finally, it should be noted that any changes that you make to your computer when trying to reset the Windows 7 administrator password, you do at your own discretion, and all responsibility falls on your shoulders. After them, most likely, no service will accept your computer under warranty. especially after opening the cover of the system unit. After all, it is very difficult to prove that you did something with the operating system, but the opened “seals” on the system unit will look very eloquent. This means you will have to pay specialists a round sum for quite simple actions. When following these instructions, be extremely careful, and if something is not clear, it is better to clarify or look for additional information.
Bottom line
We hope this article helped you with your problem, no matter which method you used, be it a remote battery or a super-sophisticated utility from an unknown manufacturer. The main problem you may encounter is data security. Unfortunately, some information may well be lost during this process. Therefore, try to get it from friends or download a version of the operating system on LiveCD. Then you can simply save all the data that is important to you.
In this article, we did not consider the simplest but longest method - a complete reinstallation of the system. Unfortunately, sometimes there are situations in which it becomes completely impossible to access your computer, and reinstalling Windows becomes the only possible option.
If you suddenly forgot the password for your Windows account, then you have no choice but to look for a way to reset it or install a new operating system, which in my opinion is complete madness in this case :) Nowadays you can find many different reset methods on the Internet passwords for Windows operating systems using the built-in boot tools of Windows itself, as well as using third-party special programs. Some methods are suitable for some versions of Windows, some for others, and some methods are too complicated for beginners. Previously, in one of the articles, I showed one way to reset a password using a bootable console program built on Linux, however, all actions there must be performed in the form of commands on a black screen and for beginners this may be difficult.
In this article, I will show you the simplest option for resetting an account password in any version of Windows (I even tried it on Windows 10) using the Reset Windows Password boot program. The reset process takes just 4 steps!
I would like to warn you right away that if you used a Microsoft account to log in to your computer, and not a standard local one, then none of the programs will be able to reset its password, since the Microsoft account password can only be changed on the company’s website. Therefore, this method, like all similar ones, only works if you have forgotten the password for a standard local Windows account!
The program is bootable, that is, it cannot simply be installed on a computer as is usually done. The program will be launched from a disk or flash drive when the computer boots. Those. The program will need to be written to a disk or flash drive first!
Creating a bootable disk/flash drive with the Reset Windows Password program and launching it
After the program is downloaded, you need to write it to a disk or flash drive. Instructions for burning the program as an ISO file on a CD/DVD disc are located, and for writing the program as an ISO file on a flash drive -.
Since modern laptops can often be found without a disk drive for reading disks, I think that the method of writing a program to a flash drive will suit most, especially since, perhaps, every computer owner has one.
After you burn the program to a disk or flash drive, you need to run it. To do this, you should restart your computer and configure your BIOS so that the computer boots not from the hard drive as usual, but from a recorded flash drive or CD/DVD disc.
In a separate article, I gave instructions on setting up the BIOS to boot your computer from a disk or flash drive, read it if you have difficulty loading the program:
Each computer may have its own way of configuring booting from a specific device, so it is impossible to give clear recommendations... But the article at the link above should help most.
When the program starts to launch, you will see a window similar to loading regular Windows 7:
Working with the program
When the Reset Windows Password boot program starts, the first window will ask you to configure the program.
First of all, select the Russian language (1), then in the “Operation mode” section select the item “SAM - working with regular accounts” (2) and at the end under the inscription “What do you want to do?” select “Reset or change user password” (3). When everything is configured, click “Next” (4) at the bottom of the window.
The program will perform a password reset (i.e., erasing it, resetting it to zero), and not replacing the old password with a new one!
In the next window we can select the path to the “SAM” and “SYSTEM” folders to reset the password.
If you use standard Windows, where nothing has been changed globally, then you do not need to change the paths and they will already be set correctly:
C:\Windows\System32\Config\SAM
C:\Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM
At step No. 3, select in the window the Windows account for which we want to reset the password (1) and click “Next” (2).
At the last 4th stage, click the “Reset / Change” button:
You will be prompted to create a rollback file. Using this file, you can restore the ability of the system to work if it “breaks” after running the program.
In general, the program does not go where it is not needed and does not make any serious changes in Windows, so it is easier not to create a rollback file by clicking “No” in this window.
A notification will appear indicating that the account has been changed (the password has been reset) and you can close the program and check the changes. Just click “OK” (1) in the notification window and then “Exit” (2) in the program itself.
Now remove the disk/flash drive with the program from the computer and reboot it. Windows should boot immediately without asking for a password!
As you can see, this method for resetting Windows account passwords is very simple and difficulties may arise, perhaps, only at the stage of loading the program from a flash drive or disk. But among all the methods for resetting a password, I did not find a single one that allows you to reset the password without booting from a special boot disk. Therefore, you still can’t do without it, and it’s easier to figure out how to reset your password than to reinstall Windows :))
Have a nice day and good mood! See you in the next articles;)
