XP Password reset

[IT_N8]

I am helping a friend with their PC, and they don't remember the XP login password. I've tried the administrator w/ the blank password. They are on XP home not professional so there is no domain, and i don't currently have the Boot disks w/ me. Any other ideas on what i can do to reset the password to get access to Windows? I found a tool called "stellar phoenix recovery", but it looks like you have to be logged in to the system to use it for other passwords... Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Nate

 

[Harper]

Use this software tool
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

This is a utility to (re)set the password of any user that has a valid (local) account on your Windows NT/2k/XP/Vista etc system.
You do not need to know the old password to set a new one.
It works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer and boot off a floppydisk or CD or another system.
Will detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts!
There is also a registry editor and other registry utilities that works under linux/unix, and can be used for other things than password editing.

Most of the time, it will reset the first time around. However there is a few times where I have need to give this tool 2 or 3 attempts. Appart from that, I have been using this tool for a while now and I have yet to come accross a machine that I have not been able to crack.

 

[IT_N8]

Does it have to be a disk or can i boot from a jump drive?

 

[Harper]

I have alway burnt this to an CD

 

[nOcLuE98]

you can always go into safe mode, that should launch a admin account, you can log in. Then go to the cmd, and use net user commands to change the password on the other account.

 

[IT_N8]

Okay, so i lied they are on XP Professional, and the cd drive wont open.. I tried the boot disk from the program that "Keyboard Cowboy" recommended above, with no luck. This seems to be a custom built PC, so I can't figure out how to boot it in safe mode. At startup i can press Delete which takes me to the BIOS screen, or i can hit F9 which takes me to the "Gigabyte Recovery" program. the recovery program doesn't seem to have any options other than wiping out the HD and starting new. Any further suggestions or programs would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Nate

 

[IT_N8]

I saw a bunch of sites that said to boot in safe mode or boot in command prompt, but even if i select these then it still takes me to the windows login screen just like w/ the regular boot-up, so no matter what i choose it is wanting me to use a login at startup. Administrator/blank doesn't work..

 

[joelm3103]

Just a minor question, have you tried another CD/DVD Rom to see if it would open? Not sure if this method still works but you can try:

If your CD drive has a little hole in it (usually under the drive where you put the disc in) you can push a paperclip in there and that will force the drive open.

My cd rom drive is not opening.What should I do to open it? - Yahoo! Answers

and then try this:
I Forgot My Administrator Password!

 

[IT_N8]

Well, i got the cd rom to open now, but if i try to boot from disk it either says "boot from CD" then goes right back to the login screen or it says boot from cd and then says" disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter"

 

[joelm3103]

Weird, can you set the CD rom alone in the boot order (from the BIOS) and take out the HDD? See if that works?