Forgot password? what do i do

[mark54321]

my son added a password and doesn't remember what it is...

[Proffian]

There are several cracks that you can get off of the internet but the safest way would be to perform a recovery. Here is a template for how:

1. Make sure that you only have the power supply plugged in, no peripherals(i.e. external hdd, mouse, printer)
2. Press and hold F11 when you boot the machine (the F11 key is located at the top of the keyboard, you have F1-F12) until you see a screen that says "Windows is loading files"
3. This will take you into the recovery manager, select the "Advanced options" in the bottom left corner
4. Fill in the radio button for system recovery and hit "Next"
5. Select the option for continue without backing up files(since you have already back them up) and hit "Next"
6. There should now be a progress bar going across the bottom of the screen, let this continue through the process (takes about 45minutes to an hour) and once it's completed it will need to restart...it will now be like the first time you turned it on, set up your user name and password all the way until you log into windows

This will wipe all information from your system. If you have important information on the machine there are ways of backing it up if you have a usb flash drive.

1. Have the flash drive in the pc upon boot

2. Hold F11 upon boot to get to the recovery manager

3. Click advanced options

4. Select computer checkup- command prompt

5. By default it will be in the X: directory, type in "C:" then hit enter

6. Type in "notepad" and hit enter

7. Repeat step 6

8. Now you should have two notepads opened up, click file-open..this will give you a window that will allow you to search for your files.

9. Repeat step 8 on the other notepad

10. Navigate to your flash drive on one of the windows

11. On the other notepad find the files you need to backup and drag and drop into the window with your flash drive

Keep in mind that this does not always work but is something for you to try. If the machine doesn't recognize your flash drive try retarting and trying again.

If you don't want to go through this process of backing up you can take it to most Best Buy locations and pay them to backup your information.

[EDCAIMOS]

There is absolutely NO NEED to do a system recovery, all you have to do is go to www.password-reset.com  and by following the instructions you should be able to erase any passwod. I had the same problem and was able to do it. Of course they charge a fee for helping you, but is the fastest way to do it.

[IanR]

Hi There,

If you are using Win XP, I believe you can start the machine in "SAFE MODE" then just go in and erase the password.

-Ian 

[cna356]

I am not sure but if you are running windows xp or vista.  My suggestion would be to log in as an administrator and go to control panel.  From there go to user accounts.  Click on Manage accounts.  Then click on change password.

                                                                                                             I hope this helps

                                                                                                             cna356

[Ajay]

Try these links:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/passrecovery.htm

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/27/forgot-windows-administrator-password-ways-to-recover-and-r...

[silverstein004]

Since your son added a password recently (meaning its recently changed).. So the very easiest/efficient thing to do (that is if you have a Vista OS, and a recovery partition in which you should have since your notebook is an HP). So yeah, access the recovery partition by tapping 'F11' on boot up. On the recovery manager 'advance options'  >  microsoft system restore  > and then restore it to the day before the password was created. And Voila! no more password!

Your unlucky though if there is no created restore points.

(I think you dont need this advice anymore since its already 1day since you posted this. But this is for the info for other users who might experience same problem)

[gdirty]

Boot into recovery manager using F11 at start up. Click Advanced Options. Select Computer checkup option. Click Next. Select Command Prompt. Click next. Type in "c:" without the quotes.  When the the c prompt comes up type "net user (your user name) *" without the quotes. Replace (your user name) with the actual user account name. The star is for the clearing of your password.

Message Edited by gdirty on 03-17-2009 08:25 PM

[slang]

In that case you have some possible options.

See: http://www.windowsloginrecovery.com/