I used to use a linux based floppy for reset forgotten local passwords on Windows machines. I haven’t really kept up with whether those solutions still work or not, especially since they do not really seem needed any longer. There are a couple loopholes in the Windows 7 login interface that can allow you access to an administrator command prompt to issue a “net user” command to change the password. Both use the same kind of procedure. One replaces the sticky key command and the other the shutdown\/restart button action.<\/p>\n
Boot off of your installation DVD.<\/p>\n
Proceed until you get to the second or third screen, and select “Repair your computer.”<\/p>\n
This will then detect your Windows installation, and bring up a menu with five or six options to choose. Select the “Command Prompt” option.<\/p>\n
From the command prompt, you are going to create a backup of the files you are going to replace with the command prompt executable.<\/p>\n
Sticky key option:<\/p>\n
copy D:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\SETHC.EXE D:\\
\ncopy D:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\CMD.EXE D:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\SETHC.EXE<\/p><\/blockquote>\nor<\/p>\n
Shutdown\/Restart button option:<\/p>\n
copy D:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\UTILMAN.EXE D:\\
\ncopy D:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\CMD.EXE D:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\UTILMAN.EXE<\/p><\/blockquote>\nExit out of the Command Prompt and reboot.<\/p>\n
Once the machine has rebooted use the following to access the adminstrator Command Prompt.<\/p>\n
Sticky key option:
\nPress the Shift key five times.<\/p>\nShutdown\/Restart button option:
\nClick the red Shutdown\/Restart button in the bottom right corner of the logon screen.<\/p>\nOnce you have the Command Prompt up enter:<\/p>\n
net user MyUserName MyNewPassword\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You should get a message stating that the command completed successfully.<\/p>\n
Don’t forget to copy the backup SETHC.EXE or UTILMAN.EXE in the D:\\ drive back to D:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32.<\/p>\n
copy D:\\SETHC.EXE D:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
or<\/p>\n
copy D:\\UTILMAN.EXE D:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I used to use a linux based floppy for reset forgotten local passwords on Windows machines. I haven’t really kept up with whether those solutions still work or not, especially since they do not really seem needed any longer. There are a couple loopholes in the Windows 7 login interface that can allow you access [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[249,62],"class_list":["post-1075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-documentation","tag-password","tag-windows-7"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1075"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1077,"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions\/1077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jim-zimmerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}