How can I reset the Windows 7 password on a netbook?

[astro]

Picked up one of these thisafternoon at the local thrift. Unit is in more or less new condition and and it seems the last user loaded a password into Windows 7. Windows 7 will not allow me access unless I use a password reset disk, but it seems that this needs to be something I would have created previously when setting up the machine.

Windows says there is no workaround other than a full re-install. Is this true? Am I boned?

[JSexton]

It’s not easy, but it’s doable. This will get you started.

[TimeWinder]

I assume that you don’t care about the re-install, but you don’t have the disks. You should have gotten them with the system, but we’ll also assume that bird has flown.

Many HP systems have the “recovery” disks on the hard drive, it’s usually F11 at startup (hold it down while the computer boots). If that works, you’re golden. If not, you’ll need to order new recovery disks from here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00810334&tmp_track_link=ot_faqs/top_issues/en_us/c00810334/loc:1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=4041534

You shouldn’t need anything other than the serial number of the system and the product code for Windows (which should be on a sticker on the laptop somewhere).

[astro]

@TimeWinder

I assume that you don’t care about the re-install, but you don’t have the disks. You should have gotten them with the system, but we’ll also assume that bird has flown.

Many HP systems have the “recovery” disks on the hard drive, it’s usually F11 at startup (hold it down while the computer boots). If that works, you’re golden. If not, you’ll need to order new recovery disks from here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00810334&tmp_track_link=ot_faqs/top_issues/en_us/c00810334/loc:1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=4041534

You shouldn’t need anything other than the serial number of the system and the product code for Windows (which should be on a sticker on the laptop somewhere).

Worked perfectly - Thanks.

[astro]

@TimeWinder

I assume that you don’t care about the re-install, but you don’t have the disks. You should have gotten them with the system, but we’ll also assume that bird has flown.

Many HP systems have the “recovery” disks on the hard drive, it’s usually F11 at startup (hold it down while the computer boots). If that works, you’re golden. If not, you’ll need to order new recovery disks from here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00810334&tmp_track_link=ot_faqs/top_issues/en_us/c00810334/loc:1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=4041534

You shouldn’t need anything other than the serial number of the system and the product code for Windows (which should be on a sticker on the laptop somewhere).

Tried that and it’s a perfect solution, but it got a bit confused by the registry path for Win 7. Looks like it would be the bomb for everything else. Nice to know there is product like that. Thanks.