Forgotten laptop admin password

Hi,

Somehow I have forgotten the password for my laptop! Very annoying as i cannot download any software. Have googled this but I am worried that any of the proposed solutions will wipe everything on my laptop. Has anyone got any tried and trusted method of resetting this admin password?

BTW - not sure if this helps but thankfully i can still log on as a guest.

Thanks,
WB

What operating system is your laptop running?

On Windows (NT/2000/XP, not sure about Vista) remove the c:\windows\system32\config\sam file to delete the password database. This resets the admin password to '' (blank). Probably safer to move the file rather than delete.

Normally this file is protected. You won't be able to access it as guest.

You could boot from a floppy disk to delete the file using the command prompt. If the SAM file is on an NTFS partition, you will need a special boot disk to access the file.

Alternatively, remove the hard drive, and attach it to another machine using a USB caddy, and delete the file from there.

Or get a Windows CD, install Windows to a new location, boot into the new Windows install, delete the SAM file from the old location, reboot into the old install, and delete the new install.

I use [broken link removed] when I want to break my work PC IT department set Admin password. It displays the encrypted Admin password which you then type into the web site. The website cracks it and you can login again with the forgotten password. This method doesn't risk deleting anything on the PC.

GeneralZod said:

I use [broken link removed] when I want to break my work PC IT department set Admin password. It displays the encrypted Admin password which you then type into the web site. The website cracks it and you can login again with the forgotten password. This method doesn't risk deleting anything on the PC.

Click to expand...

I too have used the above site for a lost password, does the job quite well in my eyes. There are 2 options open to you, the paid for service and the free one which unlocks your password after 48 hrs. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the help guys.

Unfortunately I dont have a floppy drive on my laptop (presume this is a common problem?). However I do have a CD / DVD reader/writer.

Is there any program that i can use that doesnt need a floppy drive?

WB

WarrenBuffet said:

Is there any program that i can use that doesnt need a floppy drive?

Click to expand...

That link I posted has an ISO image that you download and burn onto a CD.
You then boot the PC off the CD and it tells you the encrypted form of the password.
You then put the encrypted password into the web site and it cracks it for you.
Then boot the PC normally and login with the Admin decrypted password.

Starting to get to the stage now where i think i might just drop the laptop into a repair shop and ask them to fix it for me! All your emails are very helpful but unfortunately i am a bit bamboozled by the whole thing.

Does anyone know of a repair shop on the southside of dublin that would do this? Any idea of a repair cost?