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I have a user who called me from a different location today. She forgot the password for her computer at home, so she cant log on, and doesn’t know the administrator account.

Obviously its not our hardware, not part of our domain or anything, but she has always been nice so I would like to help her out.

What do you all use when/if you run into a situation like this? I believe the last time I had to do it personally, I used Ophcrack, but it has been a while. Have you found any that are easier to do than others? She is about 4 hours away from me, so it would definitely have to be talked through over the phone.

Thanks!

7 Spice ups
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OphCrack is still the go-to for something like this.

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Hirens Boot CD…?

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What would (do) I do when I run into a situation like this?

Send them to Geek Squad.

I would not touch that with a ten foot pole.

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Also if she has the Windows DVD/CD you could try this:

never tested it though so I’d research if you were gong to try

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.Try booting to safe mode. It will enable the administrator account. If it’s a home user more than likely they didn’t set an administrator password on setup.

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Hirens Boot CD can clear the password, though, I’d be charging her $$$$$$$ to fix her issue.

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Hmm this is interesting, and looks like something she could do, I will definitely give it a try

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Another easy thing to try, thanks

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She has always been nice, and very helpful when fixing issues with their office (like I said, 4 hours away) so I don’t mind helping out.

But on the other hand, I’m not going to spend much time on this if there isn’t a fairly easy solution

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I use PogoStick.

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

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That technique does indeed work. I’ve used it several times in the past.

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Ophcrack has always worked for myself.

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hirens boot cd - offline password utility, easy to use

but otherwise - one of those geek squad type people, because you really cannot help

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I use windows 7 dvd.

  1. Boot to do the dvd and choose repair. Choose CMD.

  2. Perform a CD to the C:\windows\system32 dir. type the command:

Rename utilman.exe utilmanold.exe (This will free up the name utilman.exe)

Rename cmd.exe utilman.exe (allows for cmd to be run at logon screen)

  1. Boot up normally and at the logon screen, at the bottom left corner click the Accessories and the CMD will appear.

  2. Type net user administrator * (press enter)

  3. Windows will ask you to set a password for the admin account (or some other account you specified).

  4. Once in windows rename untilman.exe and cmd.exe back to their original file names.

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