Forgot your Windows admin password?

Overview

• 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.

Why

NT stores its user information, including crypted versions of the passwords, in a file called 'sam', usually found in \windows\system32\config. This file is a part of the registry, in a binary format previously undocumented, and not easily accessible. But thanks to a German(?) named B.D, I've now made a program that understands the registry.

This site provides CD and floppy images for end users to easily edit their forgotten passwords. But it also provides full source code and binary builds of the tools to allow others to use as they like for other purposes. Registry format documentation also available.

How to get it

The following is available for download and information:

• Password reset CD/bootdisk: Instructions & image to download.

• Utility/library update information, documentation, source code

• Frequently asked questions - Please read before asking questions about the passoword reset CD/floppy.