That was a problem back then as you had to remember a new password several times a year. It happened more than once that a user who had changed the password the day before simply could not remember it. You had to walk to the IT department to get a temporary password which you then had to use to log in and change the account password once more.

While it is not possible to use password resetters in a corporate environment, you probably do not have the same restrictions on your home computer or in a small business network.

Windows users who are cautious may have created a Windows password reset disk in advanced which they can then use to reset the account password.

If you have not, you have still plenty of options to reset the pass. Before I look at tools for the job, I’d like to point out a few options that may or may not be available to you.

One of those options is to log in with an administrator account, or ask someone to do that, to reset the password. The admin needs to run the following command on a command line prompt:

Local Password Reset

net user user_name new_password

Replace user_name with the name of the user and new_password with the new user password for the account.

Remote Password Reset

net user user_name * /domain

This command can be used to change the account password of a remote user. Replace user_name with the name of the user and /domain with the domain. You are then prompted to enter the new password for that user.

Sometimes though you may not have another administrator account to log in and change the user password. Your best bet in this case is to use a so called password resetter to reset or restore the account password. Depending on the program, you will either be able to see your old Windows password or get a new password to log in with.

We did cover a few applications in the past for that job, including Trinity Rescue Kit which you can burn to disc, write to USB or run over a computer network. You can check out our review here: Reset Windows Passwords if you cannot login anymore

Another program is Ophcrack, which comes as an ISO image which you have to burn to CD. You then boot from the CD and use the program to recover the passwords. This happens more or less automatically, and very fast. Depending on your system and password length, it could take less than a minute to reveal the password.

Offline NT Password supports resetting the password on all versions of Windows from Windows NT all the way up to Windows 7. It is likely that the program will work with future versions of Windows as well as the developer continues to improve it regularly. The program is offered as a Password reset CD or USB bootdisk. Please note that the password resetter is not using a fancy interface, all is handled on the command line.

You basically need to mount the partition or hard drive your Windows operating system is stored on. You then need to supply the path to the Windows Registry directory and have then all options available to reset some or even all user account passwords on that machine. You can download the application from the official site. New users should check out the instructions which guide through the password resetting process.

A second option is the free program PC Login Now which can be used to remove the password from an account. This basically sets the password to empty so that Windows won’t ask for a password when the user logs in on the system the next time.

You can download the software from the developer website.

Have you used different methods to reset a Windows account password? Lets hear them in the comment section below.

Microsoft for that reason added the option to create a Windows Password Reset Disk to the operating system. The disk basically allows the user to reset the password if it cannot be remembered. The only problem: The disk needs to be created before the password cannot be remembered.

This article guides you through the steps of creating a Windows Password Reset Disk, and then how you would use it in case the password is not accepted by the user account login prompt.

Need to know

You need to know the following to use the password reset disk correctly:

• The Windows Password Reset Disk can only be used to reset the password of the selected user account. It does not work on other accounts. If you need disks for multiple accounts you need to create one for each user account.
• The disk can be used multiple times if necessary, it is automatically updated whenever it is used to reset the password.
• It is important to note that it will no longer work if the user account password is changed by other means
• Everyone can utilize the disk to reset the password, it is therefor important to keep the disk at a safe location.
• A password reset disk can only be created for local user accounts, not for remote user accounts.
• The guide explains how to create the disk under Windows 7

Creating the password reset disk

Start with a click on the Windows start orb and select Control Panel from the opening menu. Click the User Accounts and Family Safety applet and then on User Accounts. Locate Create a password reset disk in the sidebar and click on that link.

This spawns the Forgotten Password Wizard window which “helps you create a password reset disk”.

You can store the password reset tool on a standard floppy disk or an USB Flash Drive. If you select the USB option make sure to connect it to the computer before you click on the Next button. Most users will probably select USB as it is common these days that computers do not ship with floppy drives anymore. A floppy disk is furthermore not as reliable as a USB drive when it comes to data storage.

A click on next opens the third page of the process. The current account password needs to be entered during this step. If the account does not have a password leave the field blank (there is no need to create the password reset disk in this case).

If you cannot remember your password you can modify it from an elevated command prompt. You can launch a command prompt as an administrator with a click on the Start Orb, then All Programs > Accessories, and a right-click on Command Prompt and the selection of Run as Administrator.

Use the command net user accountusername newpassword to change the account password of the account.

You do not need to know the old password for this, and the changes are effective immediately.

The wizard writes the data on the selected storage medium once you have entered the current account password, and indicates the progress on the final screen.

Using the password reset disk to reset a Windows password

The created password disk can now be used during log ins to reset the password. A reset password link appears on the account screen after an unsuccessful attempt to log in.

A click on Reset Password opens the password reset dialog. It is necessary to connect the password reset disk to the PC and select it from the same selection menu that was used during creation.

Enter a new user account password and hint on the next screen and confirm the changes with a click on the Next button. Windows switches to the Windows login screen again where you can use the newly selected password to log in.

There is normally no way to store the components of the password reset disk on an usb device because Windows XP is unable to access it during logon. It is not a problem to store the files on an USB device but you will face troubles when trying to access it if you lost your password.

There is however a neat little trick that can be used to be able to access an USB device during logon. To be able to do this you need to activate the guest account as well. If you lost your password you simply login the guest account first which recognizes the USB device and logoff again.

The USB device is still recognized by the system and can be used to reset the password of the main account. Now, let me tell you how you can create a password reset disk in Windows XP.

• Click on User Accounts in the Control Panel
• Select the account that you want to create a password reset disk for
• Click on “Prevent a forgotten Password” in the left menu
• Click on next and select the “removable disk” instead of the floppy drive. Click Next.
• Wait until the progress shows 100%, click next and then finish

Congratulations you created a password reset disk on an usb device.

Now, to reset the password do the following:

• Start Windows normally and connect the USB device when you see the login screen
• Login as a guest and logout again
• Select the main account and hit enter without entering a password
• This should show an error message
• Click on use your password reset disk and on next
• Click Next again and chose a new password and password hint for that account
• Clicking on Next and Finish should display the Windows XP logon screen once again
• Logon using the newly created password

If you still have a floppy drive you could store the password reset disk on that device as well eliminating the guest account steps.