POLL: POWERSHELL VS. GUI - DO YOU WANT TO BE A DEVOP OR AN ADMIN?
Forgot the administrator password? The Sticky Keys trick
If you forgot the administrator password you can easily reset the password on Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP with the Sticky Keys tricks. It works always.
By Michael Pietroforte - g+ - Thu, August 12, 2010 - 216 comments Michael Pietroforte is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) with more than 28 years of experience in system administration.
Update: I published a new guide that explains how to reset the Windows 8 administrator password without the need of any third-party tools.
Forgot the administrator password? There are many ways to access a Windows installation if you forgot the administrator password. Today I’ll show you another procedure to reset the Windows password by replacing the Sticky Keys application. This program allows you to use the function keys SHIFT, CTRL, ALT, or the Windows key by typing one key after the other instead of pressing them simultaneously with the second key. The main advantage of this password reset method is that you don’t need third-party software; another plus is that it is easy to carry out because no Registry hack is required, as when you offline enable the built-in administrator.
Please note that resetting the password from an account other than the corresponding user account always means that the user loses the credentials stored in the Windows Vault, stored Internet Explorer passwords, and files that you encrypted with the Encrypting File System (EFS). Of course, if you have a backup of these credentials, you can restore them; likewise, if you have exported the private EFS key, you can import it again after you have reset the password.
Like with all other solutions that allow you to reset the Windows password without having an account on the corresponding computer, you have to boot from a second operating system and access the Windows installation while it is offline.
You can do this with a bootable Windows PE USB stick or by using Windows RE. You can start Windows RE by booting the Windows Vista or Windows 7 setup DVD and then selecting “Repair” instead of “Install Windows.”
By the way, you can’t use the Windows XP boot CD for this purpose because its Recovery Console will ask for a password for the offline installation. However, you can use a Vista or Windows 7 DVD to reset a forgotten Windows administrator password on Windows XP.
This works because Windows RE, which is based on Vista or Windows 7, will let you launch a command prompt with access to an offline installation without requiring a password.
To reset a forgotten administrator password, follow these steps:
- Boot from Windows PE or Windows RE and access the command prompt.
- Find the drive letter of the partition where Windows is installed. In Vista and Windows XP, it is usually C:, in Windows 7, it is D: in most cases because the first partition contains Startup Repair. To find the drive letter, type C: (or D:, respectively) and search for the Windows folder. Note that Windows PE (RE) usually resides on X:.
- Type the following command (replace “c:” with the correct drive letter if Windows is not located on C:):
copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\
This creates a copy of sethc.exe to restore later. - Type this command to replace sethc.exe with cmd.exe:
copy /y c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe
Reboot your computer and start the Windows installation where you forgot the administrator password. - After you see the logon screen, press the SHIFT key five times.
- You should see a command prompt where you can enter the following command to reset the Windows password (see screenshot above):
net user your_user_name new_password
If you don’t know your user name, just type net user to list the available user names. - You can now log on with the new password.
I recommend that you replace sethc.exe with the copy you stored in the root folder of your system drive in step 3. For this, you have to boot up again with Windows PE or RE because you can’t replace system files while the Windows installation is online. Then you have to enter this command:
copy /y c:\sethc.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe
great trick, thank u !!
seems interesting. lets see if it works. nice post man
Why so complicated? Just use the Kon-Boot CD and login with any password
Kon-Boot has some disadvantages. I will post a review next week.
So any cd/usb live-OS/dualboot would work since it’s just a matter of copying a file?
I would suggest a third option, namely Knoppix (or almost any distro, since they all live-boot today). Unlike Trinity Rescue Kit, they have full GUIs if that floats your boat. An old live-CD in the bookshelf saved my windows-life a few times back then.
Something most may not know is that software can be installed from the package manager while running the live environment! Nice if a tool is missing by default
Very clever trick!
Very Nice! Works like a charm!
Thanks!
Excellent tip! and extremely easy to setup. Thanks Michael.
I prefer live cd/usb tool.
For me this is a security breach…
Otherwise tnx for the news…
it very nice
but is it work in win xp?
You could use %windir% and %systemdrive% for not worrying about the partition letter
Yeah this works on Windows XP.
Gigi, you can’t use environment variables here because you have to use Windows PE to boot up. %winddir% does not point to the offline Windows installation.
brilliant!!!
ophcrack
Because most people pick simple passwords
Hey Michael,
I used this method and it worked perfectly!
I understand why you recommend to reload that other file since everytime i do 5 shift clicks it automatically opens the window.
I’m not very good with computers though. What would be the commands to reverse the process?
Thanks,
Riv
furicle, ophcrack might take a little longer, and you wouldn’t use it to crack your own password because you don’t use simple passwords, right?
Riv, boot up again from DVD, access the command prompt as described in option 2 and then enter copy /y c:\sethc.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe. After your rebooted everything should be back to normal.
Thanks for posting this. My sister received a computer from a friend who had forgotten their admin password and was able to get her on through the steps you posted. So once again thank you.
Thanks so much for the nice publication!
It saved me from reinstalling Windows which was going to lead to the loss of my Programs. I am the only one with the administration privileges. I changed the password unknowingly while trying to explore more on the use of the command prompt. Otherwise its now okay!
Thanks
By the way how does one replace the sethc.exe after he is successful? Thank you
Ivan, I have added this info now at the end of the article.
Yeah this is great!
Thanks i am going to try setting it back and copy it.
cheers mate, you saved my a**!
Very simple and worked perfectly.
What a usefull trick. But .. A patch/hotfix exist for this vulnerabily ? Because it’s dangerous a lot. I can acces to any programs, netsh or even any other exe file. This is not very secure … I guess that is present in server too ?
Admin backdoor ? =/
7 a) net localgroup administrators you_user_name /add
Even simpler method: download the orphcrack.iso
burn a CD. boot the system and as it boots, the Lice Cd will reveal ALL Passwords on the system.
I must be missing something, especially since everyone finds this easy. I’m a complete idiot when it comes to computers and these step-by-step instructions seemed to be working correctly, however, my password didn’t reset. When I get to the “Shift 5 times” prompt that is at the top of this article it doesn’t show “The system cannot find…..” message. Instead it looks like it’s running correctly. Any ideas? I have the CD and can access the command prompt. I found the partition drive information to make sure I’m using the correct drive letter….?!?
Thank you Michael! Your Sticky Keys trick solved my problem.
Engineer Mike. Please I didnot understand the step 7. After pressing the shift key 5 times. It brought the command but I didnot know what to type there. Also I didnot understand what you mean by checking “SCREENSHOT ABOVE”. Please can you send the solution to my e-mail address I need it urgently. I will be expecting it sir. Thanks a lot. You are unique.
thanks – this was a great help !
thomas
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brilliant. Thanks so much.
what do you mean Boot from Windows PE or Windows RE and access the command prompt.
Boot with a Ubuntu Live CD, but it’s the same steps.
Thank you !
Utterly impressive, it’s clean, no residual effects, no software to install. I could only wish to be good enough to have figured this out.
Does this still work? I just tried this today and it hung at the Windows 7 boot up screen and then did a memory dump
Was there a hot fix released from Microsoft to fix this?
worked great 4 me!!
I tried this to fix the RA Media Server account problem on a Dell but the password does not reset even though the command is successful.
Doesn’t work for me. Most likely because I’m new to this thing
When I open the console and type in my username and password, it says my syntax is wrong.
Pls help me out.
PS: as an example, if my username is Jason Tang and the password i want is littlecat67, what should I write in the command prompt? (if it isn’t too much of a hassle, can I have the FULL command?)
This is awesome! Sounds like it works great too! I have a client that lost their password and I’m gonna use this method. couldn’t you slave the drive to another pc instead of using a PE?
Michael,
Thank you!
This was my wife’s computer. We had not forgotten the password. Somehow, it had changed. One day we were not able to access the computer.
I used this technique and it worked just as you said. I used a variation, though. I used a Ubuntu install disk.
It works! Thank You!
Great advice! It worked for me by slaving the hard drive to another pc, then taking ownership (boot to safe mode, right click the file, select properties and goto security tab) of cmd.exe and sethc.exe on the locked out drive. A quick copy and paste via explorer then renamed cmd.exe to set.exe and I was in. Thank You!
oh and btw. I have ophcrack, john the ripper and Cain and Abel. It was not a simple password.
mike, i would really like to thank you for saving me alot of time and money. this fiz is very detailed and works great, i will recomend you to everyone
thank you
Can’t thank you enough.
Every other method seemed to think there was no windows partition or no ntfs partition. (all my usual methods and some new found by searching) This was my first job on windows 7 and I was stumped. I used the thread for making a usb Windows PE and then continued onto this thread.
Worked like a charm and is actually easier than it appears to be from the directions.
This method was my last resort as it appeared the most complex. Really it wasn’t.
I am thinking of leaving it and not changing back as I do not doubt I will have more issues to fix from this specific user down the road.
Thanks a bunch.
My brother tried this several times and has problems entering the command after hitting the shift 5 times. Can you please tell me EXACTLY what to enter as a command if for example my user name is katrina and my new password is cat?
Kathy, it would be: net user katrina cat
Hi, i had problems when i tried to change user password, because the name wasn’t listed in the net user list, then i tried typing the command “compmgmt.msc” in the command prompt, this opened the window of computer management and there i could change the user password. (Sorry for my english, but hope this could help others people). From Colombia Thanks for the help.
this does not work on NTFS win xp accses denied
Amazing. Thanks
This one works!!! Good look bro! thanks…For those of you who have problems, follow his instructions step by step, every single detail.
Got to step 7, thanks. How do I input a double account name?
This seems too good to be true. Are there any circumstances it does not work? Will it work with a 64 bit windows 7 system?
thanks a lot.it worked on my acer aspire 6920g.also saved me a lot of money and time.thanks again.
I was waiting for your reply to double user names, (user names made up of two words), as this seems to ruin the syntax. The system tries to use the first word of the name as the user, and the second as the password.
How does one get around this?
I have the problem that I know the user password, but after entering the password the system gives the error “group policy client service failed the logon”
Not sure what this means or needs to fix it.
Ed
Hi, I changed my password last week and i cant remember it, I lost the CD that came with my laptop. please tell me how to get in the computer!!
ZACH. Sure I can tell you how to get in the computer. Read this article.
Excelent! I use Ubuntu LiveCd and works!
Thanks!
The Sticky Key solution worked.
I used the Ultimate Boot CD to get a GUI environment.
Then, I found that the sethc.exe file was locked (could not rename). Step 4 did not work. So I did the following:
5. Use http://download.cnet.com/Unlocker/3000-2248_4-10493998.html Unlocker. Download to a USB flash drive from your pc. Insert USB flash drive in target pc, and install it.
6. Delete the sethc.exe file usning Unlocker (right click file and you will see Unlocker options). (remember that you have a copy at the root of c:) Rename cmd.exe to sethc.exe.
7. Reboot your computer and start the Windows installation where you forgot the administrator password.
8. After you see the logon screen, press the SHIFT key five times.
9. You should see a command prompt where you can enter the following command to reset the Windows password (see screenshot above):
net user you_user_name new_password
If you don’t know your user name, just type net user to list the available user names.
10. You can now log on with the new password.
11. Rename c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe to cmd.exe. Move sethc.exe back from C:\ to C:\windows\system32\ .
Thanks for the help. I hope my addition helps others, too.
Dear Friends,
thanks a lot for your help, really great! I spent one week over night to solve this problem, I tried a lot of method without positive result. finally i find this page.
I recover the my mother in love PC….I got 1000 positive points!
Marco.
I am bit lost! I have followed the instructions till where sethc.exe is backed up and restart and have rebooted the pc with windows xp cd. I have started re installation but do I need to install the OS in a different folder?
I have get 2 options:
1,To use the folder and delete the existing windows installation in it , press L.
2, To use a different folder. press ESC.
what option do I choose? the ultimate goal is to just reset password and not change any settings on the OS.
Dear Michael
Its working…
I am working with a Indian OEM(Hardware)where we need to give POC of our newly launched products. After every POC we used to format our Demo units as admin password is untraceable and its time consuming. But now onwards no formatting will be required as we can reset the password by your easy trick. Thanks a lot. excellent!
Biswajit
as another user stated..i have a 2 name user account..how do you enter a dual name account. It worked for admin account, but its disable, but not the 2 name user account. how do u enter a 2name user account?
sam, don’t boot from the CD. Remove the CD before you reboot.
chuck, type this: net user “Name1 Name2″ password
well still no luck still with the 2name user name…thx anyway…i did your registry trick instead..enabling admin account..SWEET!! UDA MAN
hey there, my brother has a toshiba netbook and it doesn’t have a drive for a cd, so is there a way to do it without a disc ?
Worked like a charm. Thank you very much for this tutorial!
Awesome, worked like a charm… Nice trick
awesome!!!
works on windows server workgroup or domain member or domain oontroller- at the command prompt type compmgmt.msc, dsa.msc, etc… WOW. Even works across an rdp session, yikes!
Worked perfectly, thank you!
Awesome dude! Thanks, that worked like a charm.
Fantastic little trick! Saves me time when doing recovery work. Too often is a PC dropped at the flat, with no admin password relayed!
Thank you sir, for sharing.
Hey!
cool trick! except….it seems to give me access denied messages…why? Is there something I can do to fix this? Could it be that there are Parental Controls on my computer?
Amazing, but I can’t do it myself, I will have to find someone who knows what they are doing. I have an employee leave me on bad terms and I don’t know his passwords.
he stole all my files through a network from his PC
You are a God among men. This works just as well with Vista 64-bit.
Thanks for the tip.
M.
Nice!! got it working on Win7. Just like to hightlight,
“step 5, Reboot your computer and start the Windows installation where you forgot the administrator password.” is bit misleading. You don’t have to start the windows installation you just need to restart the pc and when you are prompted for the credentials you need to hit “SHIFT” 5 times.
Am I right?
Sorry, but something is awry with the instructions. I waited and waited for the logon screen to show up. I waited till a new operating system was installed. When I did get to the logon screen on this new OS, hitting the shift key 5 times brought up the sticky keys msg. For those whom it tryly worked, congrats.
Did this exercise on windows 7 and it worked .
5 Suppose to read, Reboot windows normally, not from CD/DVD and when the log on screen appears proceed to 6.
Thank you .
Win 7 64 Ult; worked wonderfully!
THANKS Michael!!!
It’s working well with the french version of Windows 7.
Awesome dude! Thanks, that worked like a charm.Thank you very much.
thanx dude it work well
Thank You Michael, You Help my Problem..
I Used Opcrack and then the user not showing
Then I Used Opcrack to do your step
Then Enabled my User Administrator
Restore File
and Log In into Administrator and Change That User
and many thanks… Everything goind good.
Do we need a CD to reset the password? I don’t understand. But all my work is under the administrator and I forgot the password. Can someone just give me easier steps? Obviously I’m not that bright.
Thanks Michael! Works like a charm! Thanks alot!
Thanks very much, worked a treat with my Vista PC, saved my bacon!
machael thanks 4everthing.but i need the key like xp is cctrl+delete.
machael thanks 4everthing.but i need the key like xp is ctrl+delete.
Thanks. The Sticky Key worked great to restore our lost Vista password the first time through. Some instructions required some thinking but we figured it out. The screen shot helped clear up some confusion with you_user_name vs your_account. Maybe change “you_user_name” to “your_user_name” and add an instruction to replace “your_user_name” with your logon name and new_password with the new password you want to use would help.
Andy
i really went to say thank you
you are so great
but i want to ask you something
from where did you get this?
thanks so much… just installed 7 and a lot of software on a secondary computer a few weeks ago and already forgot the pass (and of course the hint was wrong)!
saved me a ton of time!
Thank you so much. My son lost his Windows 7 administrator password and your advice let me change the password. It worked perfectly. My son thanks you too.
It works like a champ! Thanks.
Thanks! I found it very hard to interpret the instructions though. Maybe some more screenshots are order for the less computer fluent.
Thanks again
Many thanks dude , it worked
Great stuff and easy one.. I had been struggling for all download and recovery tools download…
Brilliant! My dad has been getting a lot of spam and spyware on his computer. I finally set him up with a User (not Admin) account. Forgot the password after… This worked so well, I cannot thank you enough! Thanks a lot!
Many thanks,It works…
Not complicated at all and worked great!! Thanks a million! (:
Thank you dear sir!
Great! Your trick really works. Quite simple. Many thanks.
Absolutely awesome! It worked for me faultlessly! I am very thankful for your help. These steps did not only work, they were extremely easy. Thanks again!
Amazing tip!.. you rocking.. saved so many ppl day by this post..
Thanks Sir, U r amazing.
Thank you for this article, I have heard about this before but never tried it.
But I have a question, is there any known file were windows store passwords? And if yes, is it possible to back it up before doing this?
Thanks again.
SPLENDID!
worked fantastically.. i can definitely see the advantage of this, don’t have to waste a disc if you don’t have any of those boot cd’s made.. where as with this i was able to just use my already existing win 7 disc (although my install was vista, it worked fine) and worked a charm
nice trick, done in less than 30 mins…..
Absolutely brilliant, thank you.
Just used this to fix my brother’s pc.
This was like OMG YOU SAVED MY ASS.
And I’m a pretty heavy geek, but there’s always some trick we can learn.
As like others guys here, I was pretty upset and was really afraid of using third-party tools to mess up with my SAM database.
Thanks a lot Microsoft sometimes leave this stupid software holes behind.
And you saved me a lot of trouble, thanks!
You are a life saver!! ive been locked out of my vista laptop for over 2 years; i was about to sell it for parts and amazingly found this page from google! thank you so, so much finally have a laptop again!
But what if Sticky Keys is disabled? Why is disabled? Because if you hold SHIFT (to stop autorun on cd for example) it activates, or some KVM use double SHIFT as a special action, etc.
Worked great — thanks a million +1
Brilliant, worked like a charm!
So great! That’s really work for my trouble. Thank you so much.
Awsome dude. Really clean solution.
Was confused in the beginning though, I was typing:
net user Admin new 12345.
I saw a few peeps confused up her too. So for all:
User name: Admin
New password: 12345
Command: net user Admin 12345
Keep up the goodwork!
This has been one the best tricks I ever came across!!! Thanx a mill guy, you rock!
It works like magic with no error….
Bravo i tried this method and worked successfully…
Thanks a lot
Impressive.
Thanks for your work, it helped me a lot.
Great! Thank you very much.
Great stuff man.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! Instead of OS disk used NTFS4DOS boot disk.
it worked!!! thanks but i do have a problem now. my product key is invalid.
Brilliant!
You saved my life, THANK YOU!!!
You can start Windows RE by booting the Windows Vista or Windows 7 setup DVD and then selecting “Repair” instead of “Install Windows.”*********
As a rule, I can figure out anything but his one is tough. I put in the CD and got to repair but I can’t find a way to get to the editor.
Will you please help me out. I am in desperate need of getting into my adm account. Thank you so much
You are blessed. It worked perfectly. I appreciate. Thanks so much.
ok…i tried this and it gives me a syntax suggestion. What command would it be if user is Libby Mae and password is blondie? (on log in screen)
thank you, great help.
Hi I need help, basically I am using option 4 to reset the administrator password. However when I boot to Windows RE I cannot able to find the sethc.exe file in the X:\windows\system32 directory. I am not sure is it because of the access problem since I was only given access as a standard user where I just log in to domain but not give rights to install any applications..
Thanks
Lifesaver! May the Lord of IT save us all from users…
Wow! after day day of struggling and false leads, I found your solution and it worked in 10 minutes! Thank you.
Amazing
thanks a lot
Woow! This is great thank´s
works perfectly.
thanks great trick, workded a treat
Great article. Thx
Thanks a lot this is awesame help
Keep up the good work!!!!
Cheers
WORKED LIKE A CHARM. THANKS SOOOO MUCH!!!!
Thank-you. I haven’t had to access a command prompt in years and was scared to death! You made it easy.
Great! it works without any glitch .. thanks a lot
Thanks a lot Michael, saved me a lot of trouble!
Very helpful! Thanks!
Yes, it works like a charm on Windows 7 x64
Here is some suggestion:
1) for those who concerned about security, remember that “physical” security is the first. No matter how hard is your security, ones who physically get your computer could do whatever needs to go into the system
2) I would suggest to “rename” the file sethc.exe (like rename it to _sethc.exe) instead of copying to other location. So, after the password reset, you could rename it back
-rlai000
I’m working on a Win 7 Starter & the default admin account was never activated. The user has forgotten the password & this is a close as I’ve gotten to unlocking it without buying software. None of the steps works. Can’t get a command prompt, can’t get into BIOS setup to boot from a USB (password protected – forgotten). Nothing seems to work.
Can you send me a video link on how you carry about this trick. Im very new to computers and I am already receiving trouble at step2. It keeps giving me syntax errors and some other errors as well.
I have lost my Vista passwords so after some “search and destroy” I landed here and see some hope. I also found that torrents for MSDaRT 5.0 and 6.0 is available so I am going to use 6.0 for my machine.
Thanks to the author.
Michael,
Yesterday I was trying to log in to my wife’s laptop’s admin account when I realized that I had forgotten the password. No matter what I tried, just could not remember it. I tried ophcrack but I had set the password so complex that it was useless. Then I came across your site and was able to reset the password in 10 minutes. Thanks for publishing this very useful method.
Arun
thanks dude,it worked great.brilliant…
you may use hiren boot CD version 15.0 and above..
in there- use the offline password manager
http://mirror.leaseweb.com/hirensbootcd/Hirens.BootCD.15.0.zip
very good trick!!! Thanks for share it.
awesome.
you saved my day
million thanks
Awesone, It works just fine and easy
A bunch of thank
Great, girlfriend locked herself out of her computer, I’m now the hero.
Thank you for this method!
Brilliant fix thanks – I used the vista replace file method worked a treat.
Thank you SOO MUCH! I was trying for the past day to recover my password and everything failed but this!
Instead of using Windows PE, I took my main HDD out and placed it in another PC and followed your guide (had to change ownership of the sethc.exe file to overwrite it).
Thanks again!
Hi Michael,
I followed your steps, but in step 6 I encountered a new problem. After hitting 5 times “Shift” I got the promt but than every key I hit produced a “?”. Thus I was unable to type in “net user etc”.
Do you have any suggestion for that?
Thank you!
Mikel
Hi again,
I found the solution by chance. The Laptop I used had an inbuilt tripple letter set: german, english and russian. Apparently only the russian one worked. Probably this was the default keyboard which Vista must have been used when I was encoding the password.
Note I had not forgot my password but it just did not work anymore.
Thanks! Works like a charm!
Thanks Michael
I had a problem invoking the cmd editor to restore the original sethc.exe file.
How do I do this?
Kevin
Kevin, you have to boot up again from CD. You can’t replace system files while the OS is online.
Hi Michael,
Followed your instructions without any problems. After pressing shift five times, command prompt came up just fine. Typed net user and the user accounts were listed but also said “The command completed with one or more errors.” I went ahead and entered net user . The screen told me the command completed successfully. However, when I typed in the user name and password at the login screen, I got the response “your account has been disabled. Please see your administrator.”
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ron
Ron, you have to enable your account or the administrator account. Read this.
Michael,
Thanks for the additional help. The machine now boots into windows without a password but i can access nothing. i get an error, “The server process could not be started because the configured identity is incorrect. Check the user name and password.”
Ron
Ron, seems you not only have a password problem. Perhaps it is faster to reinstall everything?
Michael, worked like a charm. Thanks so much for posting this!
thank you very much. I was able to use a windows 7 home premium family 3 pack upgrade disk to boot into repair mode and reset the password on a windows vista install. The catch was that it needed to be the correct bit. I tried the 64 bit disk first and it didnt work but the 32 bit disk worked. Awesome. This helped me access the factory recovery built into the pc.
My account name is Mohamed Amajoutt what should I type in the command prompt of step 6. When I type “net user mohamed amajoutt new_password it gives me a syntax error. pleas help.
thanks
This Comment is for Simo
It doesnt seem like anyone verified that it works, but I saw a post where someone recommended this syntax.
net user “mohammad amajoutt” new_password
or
net user mohammad_amajoutt new_password
please let me know if any of these work. I havent had a computer to try this way. But I really cant think of another way to type it.
I believe if you type
net help user
it tells you to use quotes. Please verify if it works!
@ Simo
usually when working with files’ and folders’ names in DOS you should remove the spaces, so try this
net user mohammadamajoutt new_password
but we have to know the credential like user name and password of user account..
On step 4 it says my access is denied what do i do
Thanks
Michael,
Just wanted to say thanks. My girlfriend forgot her PW, and I used this trick to change it.
Worked like a charm. I am now a hero.
I don’t have an install disk because most new laptops come with a recovery partition, which of course cant be accessed without a password. lol so I removed the hard drive and added it to another computer running Vista. The permissions for sethc.exe needed to be changed in order to copy or rename it. Vista and Win7 let you do that easy. You can do this in XP but its not as simple. BAM! I’m in! Great article!
This worked perfectly, but I got confused also when it was time to change the password and user name..type…
net user doug 12345
doug is the name of the account on my machine and 12345 is the password I chose…worked perfectly!
I tried this on my daughters computer and the sticky keys message comes up after i press shift and not the command prompt what am i doing wrong
i m using windows 7
when i wrote that command in command prompt it says that
access is denied
o files copied
awesome
Genious, thank you very much…
IT WONT WORK 4 ME!!
Hello
Please help! I’ve tried putting the first thing in you say in the command box but it says “the system cannot find the file specified”. I tried exchanging c with d but still no joy. Any ideas please. Sam
Hi Michael, i am using Win 7 Professional in a notebook that belongs to my enterprise, and i don´t have administrator´s rights to install my personal programs, so i ask you, doing the steps you posted it, should i be able to log in like and administrator? My enterprise should be able to discover what i did? tks
flamento, yes the admins of your enterprise can detect that you changed the administrator password.
Worked on Win 7 64 bit….like a charm – very easy.
Thanks very much Michael
Nice trick and very easy to follow. Thanks o much.
I just followed this trick to reset my forgotten admin password on Win7.
I can not access my computer user name administrator account,. I was able to get into an other account that i was able to remember the password. but can not access any administrator objects with out the password. is there anyway i can access it any other way or clear the password so i can use that account again .
Thank you so much! I am NOT computer savvy but with your instructions I was able to access my Windows 7. I agree with inspectorgadgets comment earlier…I got a little confused when it was time to change the net user password. Luckily, I was able to figure it out. Thanks again!
Dear Michael
I use my name as account name with a space between them.
Hartwig Anxxxxx “one space” and then my new password.
I’m not successful
I would like same additional help.
Thank you for your consideration.
I couldn’t get past the part where you press shift five times – when i do that it brings up a box which says ‘Do you want to turn on sticky keys?’ There is a Yes or No button but whichever one I press takes me back to the logon screen – I can’t get a command prompt.This is Windows 7 home and the logon screen has just the user name already written in and the singl password box underneath. I don’t have the ctrl-alt-del option.
nice thank you, you saved my data which i kept on my desktop thanks a lot
access is denied…
0 file(s) copied…
such things are shown over the command prompt screen.
what to do???
Bravo Michael very Nice!!! I just used this rather than the .iso method, i have used that method for years.
if your username is more than one word then you type
net user “your user name” password
Worked after typing in net user to list administrator name, which was spelled differently than the login in name. Thank you for publishing this information, saved me from installing Win 7 again!
Worked like a charm! That is a great trick. Easy and safe for the average user.
can anyone help me. After i finished step 4 and reboot my laptop. It just starts running windows repair again and again…but cannot see logon screen.
Thank You Very Much Mr. Michael Pietroforte
Your Post Help me very much as I was going to loose Some Special Programes Installed in My PC, which I could not afford to loose by Re-installing the Windows.
Thanks Again
Very helpful…. Thank you!
hi ,
i tried using this command, but when i type >net user administrator newpassword : whatever password i put in it still not let me login and saying about password requirement and policy etc
please help
Absolutely brilliant. I did the copying under Ubuntu LiveCD, it is really easy. Working well on updated Windows 7 Pro. Thank you!
Awesome. It works for me. Many many thanks.
really it is nice method ……………….
i agree your method ………………
Hello,
I tried the above but did not worked; so I just started the command prompt from the windows installation CD ( I have windows 7 Ultimate)
and typed : net user administrator 1234
clicked enter and the administrator account then was visible and password was 1234.
If the above command returns an invalid or unknown user account name, then type : net user
and the cmd will return the available user names.
Best Regards
Andreas from Cyprus
I tried this sticky fingers method but i now cant get to a command prompt. I turn off laptop the wrong way and it says start with safemode and command prompt but it simply reboots in safe mode and doesnt take me to the darn c prompt. I got to it once last night this way but i was using someone elses instructions and they didnt work. I suppose i am also a bit confused about the instructions anyway. I believe there is, for us pc for dummies people, a lack of steps or at least explanation of steps in the beginnin with the ctrl+alt+delete thing. Please help me! I am bed ridden and my laptop is my only livelyhood.
Thanks
Worked like a charm ! Thanks alot
I’m another one who can’t access the command line in the reboot. Pressing ‘shift’ 5 times brings up the sticky keys prompt. What’s the fix for this?
Got it! I was in the wrong sector the first time. when all else fails, re-read the directions slowly.
Omg thank you sooooo much !
Thanks, it works & not so complicated.
I guess I’m pretty dense but I don’t understand this line
“Please note that resetting the password from an account other than the corresponding user ”
You haven’t logged in, right? So your credentials are always lost this way?
@thatotherguy. Exactly. If you follow the method described here, you will loose data that was encrypted by Windows.
Hi All,
I used this method to get to a prompt, and then issued the “control sysdm.cpl” command in order to bring up the System Properties dialog. I was then able to take my laptop out of the Domain it belonged to. This was required to fix the “The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain has failed” error that came up earlier. My specific challenge was that I did not have any knowledge of the local logon’s password, and therefore couldn’t sign onto the computer either through the Domain or locally.
Thanks so much for this method.
Kind Regards,
David
When i try and do this on the other account (not administrator account) it says my access is denied. What should i do? I have windows vista.
This article saved my life. After losing the pwd on a 2003 box we were looking at reloading a dual os. Thanks to this sticky keys fix we were able to reset it and save countless hours.
Thanks! Definitely worked for me!
When trying either step 3 or 4 I get “the device is not ready.” I have tried using all the different USB ports on my computer. Any advice?