Lost login password

Been awhile since I've fixed one of these problems. A friend dug out an old laptop from storage to give to his daughter. Now he can't remember the admin/user password so he can get on to windows.
I vaguely remember I use to go into the "regedit" and removing it that way, but I can't remember the steps.
Anyone remember how to completely shut the login password off so you don't even have to use a password.

Or would it be better to use this ophcrack-xp-livecd I have on file

All advise is greatly appreciated!

 

Another quick thought, If I was to clear the CMOS, wouldn't that erase all the passwords.
I know the EFS would be unreadable, but he said he had copied everything over to his new laptop, back in '07

 

I don't get called upon too often for this one either, but I'll see what I can do for you.
I too, have ophcrack-xp-livecd burned and ready to use for the next time, but I have not used it myself. That sounds like the quickest and easiest route.
Clearing CMOS will not help at all.
Accessing the registry has to be done using another computer/operating system/live CD operating system anyway. XPKeyDecrypt.exe was the one I have used (I think?) .... import hive ... etc., with the drive in question connected as a slave to another computer.

Best of luck.

 

Not sure if it helps but i have an option in Bios to remove/reset password ? (never had to use it)

 

Unfortunately it will not help ... that is related to the password which can be used to secure the BIOS ... and will be cleared by "resetting CMOS" to the default values if the battery is removed/capacitors shorted.

Trussman needs the password (or needs to clear the password) to actually log into the Windows operating system. It should be a straight-forward job with the tool that he has at-hand.

 

PCs typically have several types of passwords: there's the Windows password, where Windows starts to load, you see the blue 'Welcome' screen, then you see list of users and you select one and have to enter a password; there's a 'power-on-password' (aka POP) that comes up almost immediately after powering on the computer; and some laptops also have a hard drive password that is required to boot from the hard drive, but you can boot to a CD (or floppy if it's an old laptop) without this password. With laptops, if it's the power-on-password, there isn't much you can do, as swapping CMOS batteries generally doesn't fix the issue; if it's a laptop and a hard drive password, you MUST change the hard drive; you cannot format and reload Windows; if it's a Windows password, there are several fairly simple ways around it, and the only freeware method I'm aware of can be found at this link. If you create the boot CD as described, and follow the step-by-step exactly as described, it isn't too tough. Paid alternatives are ERD2007 (now owned by Microsoft), or the Active@BootCD which has a free demo but I don't know if the demo has the password changing module activated or not. If you work on lots of PCs, the $80 price tag on the Active@BootCD is well worth it for the features it has, I've saved numerous PCs using it. A list of features for the Active@BootCD can be found at this link. IMO, worth every penny.

 

Not sure as to the type of password, it had. But I remembered that there's a backdoor way and I tried it and it worked.

Here is the steps I took:

1- Held down the F8 key on start-up, so I could get into safe mode
2- When I selected safemode, the Administrator screen appeared and I
clicked on it.
3- Typed In Administrator in the username, and I left the password blank
4- Clicked yes, on pop-up screen
5- Clicked start
6- Open Control Panel
7- Clicked on User Accounts
8- Clicked on each Account listed
9- Click on Remove Password, on next screen
10- Clicked Remove Password again
11- Restarted computer

Then it let me in, without any problems

 

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It's absolutely scary that this works!
Take my word for it.
It does!
Thank you!