What to do if you forgot your user password to log in to the system. How to easily reset a forgotten password on any version of Windows

From time to time, situations occur when a computer becomes inaccessible to its owner due to too serious security measures. Now we will discuss what to do if a person has forgotten the Windows 7 password. There are several options to solve this problem; we will consider them sequentially.

Forgot your Windows 7 password: what's the solution?

Let's start with the good news. The password can be reset and changed without reinstalling the operating system. Now we will look at several methods to reset your password. In some cases, you need to use a special program that runs from a special bootable CD or USB drive. Such software solutions typically support all server and desktop x64 and x86-bit versions of Windows. You can also achieve the desired result using the Windows 7 or Vista installation disk. We can say that this option is easier to implement.

Windows 7: forgot password - download the program

First, download a special program onto your computer that will help you reset your password and make changes to the Windows registry, offline, without loading the operating system itself.

Creating a boot disk with a recovery program

The process is simple. Unpack the desired archive containing the program and get an ISO image. Insert a blank CD into the drive and burn the image to disk. To do this, in a program that saves data on media, select “Burn disc from this image” (the name of the function may change depending on the selected program). As a result, on the disc you burn, you will see several files that contain the “.iso” format. Follow all program instructions that appear on the screen while recording.

Creating bootable flash media

This option is a little more complicated. First, unzip the archive and add its contents to the root partition of the flash drive. There will be no problems if other folders and files are already located there. Now you need to turn the media into bootable media. Open the command line, enter a special command via “syslinux.exe”, you will also need to specify the letter of the partition with your flash drive. Press "Enter". If no messages about various errors appear, then everything completed successfully.

Implementation

Let's move on to the next stage. Now, to recover your Windows 7 password, you need to boot your computer using the created USB or CD media. Press the “F8” key after loading the “POST BIOS”, a window will appear prompting you to select boot media. In some cases, this step may look different, since it directly depends on the model and manufacturer of the motherboard. Next, in the downloaded program, select the partition with the deployed Windows platform (system), and also specify the path to the required system folder. After this, follow the further instructions of the running program. Most often, you just need to press Enter to perform the default actions. Enter the path pointing to the system registry. Enter the username you selected to reset your password. After this, an exclamation mark will appear. Next, press the Y key. To be able to make changes, you must properly shut down Windows. When the password is reset, you will lose access to encrypted data if you created any. Remember that the only way to recover them is to remember your password. We do not recommend changing your password using such programs, as sometimes it may not work. However, erasing your password can always help.

Recovery using the official installation disk

If a user has forgotten his Windows 7 password, an installation disk with the operating system can help him. This method only works in Windows 7 and Vista. The solution works just fine. First of all, boot your computer from the operating system installation disk inserted into the drive. Once the files are copied, you will be prompted to set your language preferences. Leave everything as is, click the “Next” button. In the window that appears, instead of the “Install” option, click in the lower left corner the item called “System Restore”, so “Windows” will proceed to search for installed operating systems in order to restore them. You may encounter a message indicating that problems have been detected in the current boot options. You can ignore it by clicking the “No” button. Going to a new window, select your system, click “Next”. A window will open with a list of various settings and system components to restore. You could say they don't really matter. Go to the very bottom and click on “Command Prompt”. Next on the line, enter the command facing “sethc.exe”. Press the Enter key. Replace the required utility. Press "Enter" again. Close your command prompt window and click the Restart button in the available menu. After this, perform a standard boot from your hard drive. After the login window appears asking you to select a password and user, press the “Shift” key 5 times. This should bring up the command prompt. In it, enter a special command indicating the user and new password and press “Enter”. Close the Command Prompt and click Restart. That's it, the password has been changed. Put the files back where they belong. After this, you can enjoy receiving a new password. Then follow the instructions. So we looked at what to do if the user forgot the Windows 7 password. We hope our tips were useful to you. There are other methods, but we will not consider them, since they are more complex.

Hello dear readers.

Many users encounter a situation where they set passwords for various services on the Internet or simply on their device, and then simply cannot remember the required combination. In the article below, I will tell you how to recover a password on a laptop, and in different areas. You will be able to deal with similar situations easily in the future.

There are several options for recovering the administrator password: through safe mode and using a utility. The first is this:

On the command line( )

As a result, everything must change. All we have to do is restart the system and calmly get to “ Desk» using a new combination of symbols.

Ophcrack( )

Another popular way if you forgot your password is to use a special utility. It will help you quickly get to the right place.
The application allows you to unblock access on different platforms and even in . True, for the last option you need to write the program onto a flash drive. This approach is especially convenient when there is only one account installed on the computer.

To achieve the goal you need to perform a number of actions:

All these methods work great for Windows XP.

BIOS( )

Sometimes some users want to protect their device and because of this, they set a password on everything they can. But often a situation occurs when an important combination of symbols is suddenly conveniently forgotten. And when the BIOS password is lost, users become limited in how they can control the laptop.

You can return all this, and in several ways. The first one is the simplest. To permanently save important data, recharge in the form of a battery is used. It needs to be pulled out of the nest:

Now, when entering the BIOS, you should not be asked for a password. If everything still remains the same as before, try again, only now remove the power source for a day. This move will definitely help reset all settings.

In addition, most motherboards have special buttons that allow you to reset parameters. Where exactly they are located, you need to look on the manufacturer’s website. The solution is to press a key or simply close two contacts.

Important! If you are not 100% sure of the correctness of your actions, it is better to contact specialists.

Mail( )

Some users often forget their email passwords. Especially for recovery, the developers of such services suggest entering a phone number or an alternative mailbox in advance, so that if the desired combination is lost, it can be quickly returned.

Our forgetfulness often plays various unpleasant jokes on us. Forgetting a password for a program or for Windows is a completely common thing and happens to literally every second user. Especially with those of them who write down passwords not in a notebook, but on pieces of paper scattered everywhere, or even rely on their powerful and bottomless memory. And who is not familiar with the situation when the password for an account on a network resource is forgotten - on some Facebook or Vkontakte.

Imagine that in this situation, valuable data or simply the carefully organized software environment of the Windows operating system is at risk. Who wants to reinstall Windows and reinstall all the programs? There are no such individuals in nature. The solution, in this case, is . We will talk specifically about Windows 7, since approximately the same password reset procedures are valid for the G8. And these, whatever you say, are the most popular operating systems installed on the computers of hundreds of millions of users.

To begin with, we will discuss the simplest reset procedure, which uses a bootable Windows image on a CD (like the common “LiveCD”) or a bootable flash drive with similar functionality. We also need a minimal understanding of the command line. Using these tools we will try to remove the existing administrator password. In conclusion, we will offer for consideration some other options for user action in the event of a forgotten password.

At the preparation stage

Preparing to reset your password in Windows 7 will involve one tricky procedure: we will replace the system's Sticky Keys program with the command processor.

The command processor - the cmd.exe file - is precisely the system utility that is responsible for providing the command line interface. To launch the console, you need to run this file. By replacing the sticky utility with the Windows 7 command console, we can manage the process of manipulating input and changing the password.

Please note that we will need a proprietary installer of the “seven”, which includes administrator functions, such as “System Restore”. Some stripped-down versions of installation disks and flash drives do not contain administrator functionality. So, let's begin our preparatory steps for the reset:

copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\

Thus, we copy the keystroke handler to the root of the “C:” drive, that is, we create a backup copy of the handler, which we need to remove and replace with the cmd.exe file. We do the replacement according to the command:

copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

That's all the system administrator's preparations for resetting the password on Windows 7. The reset itself will be described in the next section.

We are struggling with authentication in the system

To remove authentication from the system, proceed as follows:

We remove the bootable media from the system and log in through the normal Windows boot procedure.
When logging in, we will be asked to enter the password of the administrator or other registered user of the system.
Instead, press the Shift key five times. This will launch the command processor, which will allow us to remove the forgotten password. In order to reset it and remove all information about previous authentication, type the following command:

net user Username New password

As you can see, it also allows you to remove the old username and assign a new one to it.

Everything is ready, you can log in with new credentials.

This seems to be the easiest way to reset your credentials using the console. All that remains is to “plant” the file sethc.exe that we moved in its place. Copy it back to the C:\Windows\System32 folder. There are alternatives to this procedure, which can be found here: http://www.3dnews.ru/623507.

Please note: To follow most of the instructions in this article, you must use a local Windows account with administrator rights.

How to set a password on a Windows computer

If other people have access to your computer, it is wise to protect Windows with a password. This way, your settings and data will be safe: without special knowledge, no one will be able to view or change them. Windows will prompt you for a password when you turn on your computer, when you change your account, or after resuming from sleep mode.

Open Start → Settings (gear icon) → Accounts → Sign-in options.
Click "Add" under "Password".
Fill in the fields according to the system prompts and click “Finish”.

How to set a password on Windows 8.1, 8

In the right sidebar, click Settings (gear icon) → Change PC settings. In the menu of the window that opens, select “Accounts” (or “Users”), and then “Login Options”.
Click on the " " button.
Fill out the fields, click “Next” and “Finish”.

How to set a password on Windows 7, Vista, XP

Open the section “Start” → “Control Panel” → “User Accounts”.
Select the desired account and click “Create a password” or immediately click “Create a password for your account.”
Fill in the fields using the system prompts and click on the “Create password” button.

If strangers do not have physical access to your computer, it may be better to disable protection. This will eliminate the need to enter a password every time the system starts.

Use the Windows + R key combination and enter in the command line netplwiz(or control userpasswords2, if the first command does not work). Press Enter.
In the window that opens, select in the list the account for which you want to remove the password, and uncheck the box next to “Require username and password.” Click OK.
Enter the password, confirm it and click OK.

Windows will stop asking for a password only when you turn on the computer. But if you lock the screen (Windows keys + L), log out, or the computer goes into sleep mode, the password prompt will still appear on the display.

If the “Require username and password” option is not available, or you want to completely remove your Windows password rather than disable it, try another method for more experienced users.

To do this, open the account management section using one of the instructions at the beginning of this article.

If the open section says that you are using a Microsoft online profile (sign in with email and password), disable it. Then use the system prompts to create a local profile, but do not fill out the password fields during the process.

After you disable your Microsoft account, the system will no longer sync your settings and files across different computers. Some applications may refuse to work.

If the local profile is initially active in the account management menu, then simply change the current password, leaving the fields for the new password empty.

If you delete an old password, the system will never prompt you for it until you add a new one.

How to remove the password when resuming from sleep mode

If you disable the password prompt when Windows starts, the system may still prompt you for it when you wake up. But you can deactivate this feature separately using these instructions.

In the search bar in Windows, enter “Power Options” and click on the link found to the section with the same name. Or find it manually through the Control Panel.
Click "Require a password when you wake up," then "Change settings that are currently unavailable" and check the "Don't ask for a password" checkbox.
Save your changes.

How to remove password when waking up Windows XP

Open the “Control Panel” → “Power Options” section.
In the window that appears, open the “Advanced” tab and uncheck the box next to “Require a password when exiting standby mode.”
Save your changes.

If you have forgotten your password and cannot log into your local Windows administrator profile, there is no need to reinstall the OS. There is a simpler solution: resetting the password protection. To do this, you will need another computer, a USB drive, and a free password reset utility.

Create a bootable USB flash drive on another PC

Download the Lazesoft Recover My Password installer on any available computer.
Run the downloaded file and complete the installation.
Connect the flash drive to your computer. If necessary, make a copy of the files stored on it, since all information will have to be deleted.
Open Lazesoft Recover My Password, click Burn Bootable CD/USB Disk Now! and create a bootable USB flash drive using the program prompts.

Boot your computer using a flash drive

Insert the prepared USB drive into the computer for which you have forgotten the password.
Turn on (or restart) the PC and, as soon as it starts to boot, press the key to go to the BIOS settings. Usually this is F2, F8, F9 or F12 - depending on the equipment manufacturer. Most often, the required key is displayed on the screen while loading the BIOS.
While in the BIOS menu, go to the Boot section if the system does not redirect you there right away.
In the Boot section, install the USB flash drive to the first place in the list of devices that appears on the screen. If you don't know how to do this, look around - there should be some control tips nearby.
Save your changes.

If the BIOS is also protected by a password that is unknown to you, then you will not be able to reset Windows password protection using Lazesoft Recover My Password.

Perhaps instead of the classic BIOS you will see a more modern graphical interface. In addition, even in different older BIOS versions, the settings may differ. But in any case, the procedure will be approximately the same: go to the Boot menu, select the desired USB drive as the source and save the changes.

After this, the computer should boot from the flash drive on which the Lazesoft Recover My Password utility is recorded.

Reset your password with Lazesoft Recover My Password

Select Lazesoft Live CD (EMS Enabled) and press Enter.
Reset your account password using Lazesoft Recover My Password tips.
Reboot.

After these steps, Windows will stop asking for the old password, and you can set a new one according to the instructions at the beginning of the article.

In this article, I will tell you how to reset the administrator account password (or create a new one) without using additional programs. You will only need a Windows 7 installation disc or a system repair disc. This method should be used if it is not possible to reset the password using standard methods, for example, when the password for a single account is lost

Stage #1 - Setting up the command line to start before the Windows login screen

Boot from the Windows 7 installation disc or recovery disc.

Note. If you do not have an installation disk or a recovery disk, but have a LiveCD with Windows PE or another Windows is installed on another partition of your hard drive, you can use them - go to step No. 3.

In the language settings window, click Next---> [only when booting from installation disk] click System Restore ---> Next ---> Command line

(drive_letter): \Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM

Note. In some cases, the OS disk may not be visible to the recovery environment, in which case you will need to download the driver in step 2. You will need the same driver that was used when installing the OS.

Enter a custom name for the loading section. In the example - 888.

Stage No. 2 - Reset your password or create a new user and log in

After rebooting, continue to log into Windows 7 normally. Before logging in, you will see a command prompt window.

Password reset

To reset your password, enter the following command and confirm its execution with the key Enter

net user username new password

Important! If your username or password contains spaces, enter them in " in quotation marks " .

In the picture below for the user Adm7 password is set tL942G8dWp.

If you have forgotten your account name, enter the command net user without parameters to display all available accounts.

Create a new account

If you don't have any administrator accounts, you can easily create one. To do this, enter the commands below sequentially, pressing the key after each Enter.

For Russian(localized) Windows:

net localgroup Administrators username /add
net localgroup Users username /delete

For English Windows:

net user username password /add
net localgroup Administrators username /add
net localgroup Users username /delete

The commands sequentially perform the following actions:

Creating a new user.
Adding a user to a group ( Administrators).
Removing a user from a group Users (Users).

If you want to set the password to never expire for all accounts, enter the following command at the end:

net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited

When you finish typing, close the Command Prompt window.

You now have an account with administrator rights and a new password. Simply select a user and sign in to Windows:

How does this work?

To change user settings, you must have access to the Windows Control Panel or Command Prompt running with administrator rights from Windows. Since login is blocked, changes must be made before login.

To do this, at the first stage we enter the registry editor of the recovery environment and load a part of the registry (hive) of the installed Windows 7 into it. Using the parameter SetupType we indicate that before the next login to Windows, you must execute the command from the parameter CmdLine, and in CmdLine specify the command line (cmd.exe). These options are originally intended to perform administrative tasks during silent Windows installation, but we use them for our own purposes. After this, the registry hive is unloaded and the computer is sent to reboot. Then everything is simple - in the command line window that appears, we perform the necessary operations with users and log into Windows.