You boozed it up with your friends last night, and now youve
gone and killed the brain cells that held your Vista password. What
do you do? Thankfully there is a way to reset your password so you
can get back in, but youll need access to another computer, and
your wallet, to make it work.
1. You go to logon but you cant remember your password. Try as you
may, its not letting you in.
2. Theres an option to Reset your password, but you find when
you click it that you should have previously created a Reset Disc
as I described in an earlier tip. If you had created that disc,
youd be able to reset your password without further hassle, but
since you didnt, its going to cost you in time, effort, and
dollars.
3. [email protected] Password Changer to the rescue! I always prefer free
alternatives to any task, and Ive read that there is a way to
reset a password through a Linux disc, but Ive also heard you need
to know Linux to build it and make it work. In a situation like
this where you need to get back in easily and quickly, sometimes
spending a few dollars is justified (if youre time and data isnt
worth the cost of the software, you can always reinstall Vista). On
another computer, go to the Password Changer website and purchase
Active Password Changer ($39.99-$59.99). The method Ill be
displaying here is available through the less expensive 3.0
version. Look for a review soon that will show how the newer 3.5
version works. Note that there is a demo version available that
works for all but the last (and most important) step of actually
resetting the password.
4. Once youve purchased and installed the software (they send you
a link to download the software), create a bootable ISO CD/DVD
using the steps I describe in my post called ImgBurn: A free Vista
compatible disc image burning package. Youll find the iso image
file at C:\Program Files\Active Data Recovery Software\Active
Password Changer\Pwd-changer-boot-cd.iso if you used the default
installation options.
5. Once you have the boot disc created, pop it into your Vista
computer and start it up. Depending on how your BIOS is set, it may
automatically boot from the disc, or you may have to bring up a
boot device menu. On Dell computers you can do this by pressing F12
at the beginning of the boot process, most boot screens will
display information on what key you need to press to get the menu
where you will then want to choose your CD/DVD drive (Leave a
comment letting others know your brand of computer and how you got
to your boot menu!).
6. When the computer boots from the boot disc youll see this
initial screen asking how youd like to boot. Type 0 to do a clean
boot with the [email protected] Password Changer software.
7. Youll then get three options, I selected option 2 (type 2 then
press Enter to let the software go find the file it needs.
8. The software will search the available drives on your computer
looking for SAM databases, which is where your user account
information is stored.
9. Once it finds it, press Enter to continue. If you have more than
one OS installed, youll need to select the one you wish to
reset.
10. Youll see a list of accounts that exist in the selected SAM
database. If youre the only user on the computer there will likely
be three accounts: Administrator, Guest, and your account. Type the
number of your account (probably 1) and press Enter.
11. Youll see how the software is going to change that users
account, namely by clearing the users password. Press Y to tell it
to make the change.
12. Done! Youll be told that the change was made, your password
has been reset to be empty. You can now eject the boot disc, and
restart your computer.
13. Vista will load, and if yours is the only account, it will
automatically login. Youre back baby!
