Vista password.....

I'm working on a laptop.... an eight year was playing around and somehow managed to change the login password. Vista has "reset password" showing and when clicked on, it asks for a USB flash drive as a 'password reset disk'. I'm not too familiar with Vista yet, so I need some help here. I put my flash drive in thinking that Vista would create the reset disk, but it responds "this is not a password reset disk. try again" or something similar. So, how do I turn my flash drive into this password reset disk??? Any help is appreciated!

hd2k

BTW- The owner of the laptop will be leaving town at about 5pm PST (2 hours from now), so the quicker the better!! THANX!

EDIT- I just went here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930381/en-us But how are you supposed to do this when you can't log in :banghead !!!! Freekin Microsoft $%*@!*

 

Nevermind. Problem solved. I used this: http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html and it worked like a charm Downloaded the .ISO, burned to CD, put the CD in the laptop and booted to it, followed the instructions, and..... PRESTO!!! I've had this link in My Favorites for awhile now and wasn't sure if it was Vista compatible; IT IS! I'm a happy hopper

hd2k

 

http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/
use at your own risk
"If you forget the administrator password and don't have a password reset disk or another administrator account, you won't be able to reset the password. If there are no other user accounts on the computer, you won't be able to log on to Windows and will need to re-install Windows." Microsoft said that.
Install alternative operating system to separate partition to access files. Possibly boot with Linux live CD to access drive. There are more options with XP. Possibly create password reset disk on another Vista OS. If you have a backup, reinstall, apply backup without system state. Hope you can figure it, we have two teenagers in the house, and put up safeguards against these things from happening on the account they use, but even the Titanic was "unsinkable".
Your quicker than I am

 

Make that disk hopperdave2000! Been up 24 plus hours so I tend to ramble and get off course. Start a new job in the next few weeks, regular hours and a real paycheck. Guess I should make a boot CD for this XP system too. Kind of like doing a living will, we talk about it but talk is cheap. Drawing up the papers is another matter.
Bug

 

Well i remember being warned about creating that disc when i installed vista. Its like the encrypted files recovery disc, your supposed to create it when you start out using feature.

 

When creating a password, do you have to use a flashdrive or disk? I don't remember doing that in the process of creating a password. If I have already have the password can I go back and opt NOT to have a password at all?

 

Check the date of the thread before replying please.