# Alright-I screwed the pooch and instantly forgot my Windows Admin password-any recourse? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795 "2010-02-20T19:32:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/1 "2010-02-20T19:32:08Z")
Last night, in a weak moment (given how absent-minded I am) I decided to give my default (admin) Vista account on this machine a password. Come this afternoon, naturally, it has completely slipped my mind despite my saying it over and over for a solid minute last night. Fortunately I had an unused account (non password protected) floating around, and I was able to login to the Dope. There were several applications available for DL which promised to help you reset the password after you created a boot disc, but even they were kindly enough to warn you to that doing so might be problematic if not catastrophic. So am I better off just sticking with this new account, even if it means I’ll have to completely reconfigure Firefox (trying to remember all the sites I typically visit, and hoping that an important bookmark I was saving isn’t needed) and Windows to suit my needs? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/2 "2010-02-20T19:45:22Z")
I have no idea how problematic or catastrophic it was to my computer, but I’ve used a site to get my password back. Small thing you download and could fit on a floppy disk. 1. Download onto medium of your choosing. 2. Restart computer and get in to the BIOS and tell the computer to boot off disk/floppy first. 3. Program will do it’s thing and give you a LONG string of numbers that you write down. 4. Stick said long string of numbers into the website where the program came from. 5. Wait three days or pay some money and get the result immediately and it’ll give you your password. EDIT: None of [these](http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/passrecovery.htm) are the one I used and described above, but they seem ok. **[This](http://www.loginrecovery.com/)** is what I used. It’s safe to give them your e-mail address as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/3 "2010-02-20T19:59:48Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > **[This](http://www.loginrecovery.com/)** is what I used. It’s safe to give them your e-mail address as far as I can tell. This sounds like a number of bad ideas rolled into one convenient package. ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/4 "2010-02-20T20:04:15Z")
I recommend you use the Offline NT Password Editor at [Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor](http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/). You will be able to reset or blank the password. This is far more secure than sending your password hash to a third party site and trusting they do not do anything evil with it. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/5 "2010-02-20T20:04:29Z")
Well my friend who find the place for me at the time gave them his own e-mail address. So that takes care of a few of them. 😛 He also said he’d used it before to no ill=effect. So from my much more direct experience, I’m labeling it safe. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/6 "2010-02-20T20:08:05Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Last night, in a weak moment (given how absent-minded I am) I decided to give my default (admin) Vista account on this machine a password. Come this afternoon, naturally, it has completely slipped my mind despite my saying it over and over for a solid minute last night. Fortunately I had an unused account (non password protected) floating around, and I was able to login to the Dope. There were several applications available for DL which promised to help you reset the password after you created a boot disc, but even they were kindly enough to warn you to that doing so might be problematic if not catastrophic. So am I better off just sticking with this new account, even if it means I’ll have to completely reconfigure Firefox (trying to remember all the sites I typically visit, and hoping that an important bookmark I was saving isn’t needed) and Windows to suit my needs? Just in case the other account has admin rights too, you could use it to reset the administrator account’s password. I don’t have Vista, but in Windows 7 you can get there by going to Control Panel, User Accounts, eventually finding your way through the maze of screens to a Manage User Accounts link, click on “Advanced” several times and you finally arrive at a screen listing Users and Groups. Go into Users, right-click on Administrator, choose Set Password. There’s probably a more direct way of getting there from the command line or something. [edit] there is a quicker way - run lusrmgr from the run box ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/7 "2010-02-20T20:21:13Z")
Hypnotist. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/8 "2010-02-20T20:53:05Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > [edit] there is a quicker way - run lusrmgr from the run box Or, at a command prompt, NET USER administrator newpassword 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/9 "2010-02-20T22:33:28Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Just in case the other account has admin rights too, you could use it to reset the administrator account’s password. I don’t have Vista, but in Windows 7 you can get there by going to Control Panel, User Accounts, eventually finding your way through the maze of screens to a Manage User Accounts link, click on “Advanced” several times and you finally arrive at a screen listing Users and Groups. Go into Users, right-click on Administrator, choose Set Password. > There’s probably a more direct way of getting there from the command line or something. Thanks-I indeed got the option to do so, and not even a requirement to put in the old one, but it has the warning that “If you do this, Administrator will lose all personal certificates and stored passwords for Web sites or network resources.” I guess that includes the password for my net connection too (tho I don’t know how it would muck up my passwords for like the Dope). ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/10 "2010-02-20T23:20:20Z")
Another handy tool is “Ultimate Boot CD for Windows”. Search for and download it, burn to CD, and boot from it. It has lots of tools for repairing problem windows, including blanking the admin password. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/11 "2010-02-20T23:52:58Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Thanks-I indeed got the option to do so, and not even a requirement to put in the old one, but it has the warning that “If you do this, Administrator will lose all personal certificates and stored passwords for Web sites or network resources.” I guess that includes the password for my net connection too (tho I don’t know how it would muck up my passwords for like the Dope). I think it just means cached password hashes and the like. It won’t affect your access to third party sites such as the Dope. Also not sure if you would still have access to any encrypted files/directories created under that account, although I’m guessing you didn’t have any. Maybe **Quartz** can answer that one ;). ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/12 "2010-02-21T07:04:56Z")
> [@](#): > > I guess that includes the password for my net connection too (tho I don’t know how it would muck up my passwords for like the Dope). Firefox or IE? It wont affect Firefox. Stored passwords, NTLM credentials, or any password Windows stores itself will be affected. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/13 "2010-02-21T07:56:14Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > He also said he’d used it before to no ill=effect. So from my much more direct experience, I’m labeling it safe. Giving your password out to anyone, regardless of the circumstances, is never safe. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/14 "2010-02-21T08:23:43Z")
Not to mention you can replicate that service locally by downloading 0phtcrack livecd here: > **[Ophcrack](https://ophcrack.sourceforge.io/)** > > Ophcrack is a Windows Password cracker based on Rainbow Tables Just boot that CD onto the offending machine. no need to pay anyone, send email addresses out, etc. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-i-screwed-the-pooch-and-instantly-forgot-my-windows-admin-password-any-recourse/529795/15 "2010-02-21T09:14:23Z")
also recommending EBCD – Emergency Boot CD it says: Change password of any user, including administrator of Windows NT/2000/XP OS. You do not need to know the old password."