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Hey all,

I know this has probably been answered a number of times, but I wanted to hear from you all directly. No vendors or sales people, please.

I used to use Hiren’s boot CD to reset passwords for local accounts when a user has forgotten their password, couldn’t log into another profile, etc. However, since all the updates Windows 7 has come out with and my latest attempts, this has kind of become hit and miss.

Does anyone have any free recommendations on tools that can do this specifically on Windows?

34 Spice ups
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NTPassword - http://www.chntpw.com/

Ophcrack - http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

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Neither work for people on Win 8 or higher who use a live account, they will need to do that another way

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Since 8+ I had no luck with Hiren either,

I use the old use Linux, swap utilman with cmd and then reset PW via cmd
Had this not fail a single time so far. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

However as Rod said, it has to be a local account. If it is a live account there is not much you can do but try to reset it online.

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Bootable Win10pese with ntpwedit. If the disk isnt seen in the pe due to drivers it gets slaved off a running machine and ntpwedit is used there.

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For Windows I use ERD commander, for Linux I pray and format the drive

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ERD commander which is part of the DART suite since M$ acquired it… Last known version i have seen it run on is W7. After that for a more recent version i’d have to buy a new set and as wanting to get it on my own i don’t qualify for it.

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My to go has always been

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

never failed me once

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Had a kid come in with his recent late fathers Windows 8 laptop. (who didn’t need anything off it) last thing on a friday.I did a re-set on windows 8, not knowing what it would kill off. It appeared to leave all account stuff in tact, just let you log in without a password.

but before that, it was something on Hirems 9.5 that had a tool that disappeared at some point in later versions

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I’ve been using this thing for years. Great application:

You’re welcome!

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The password reset tool in fog works well I think.

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+1 for Trinity Rescue Kit. Quick and easy to reset or clear local user password.

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Here’s a link for a powershell script that will do it for you:

https://4sysops.com/archives/change-the-local-administrator-password-on-multiple-computers-with-powe…

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You beat me to it… Powershell has/is becoming my way of life… I left my laptop at home the other day and booted up a standard machine here at work. I was lost as my powershell profile is stored on my local machine…

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+1 for TRK only thing I have used for years now - only for local accounts. MS accounts for 8/8.1/10 are not the same.

winpass

http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=42

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NT password has worked fine for us on customer machines. Worst case is unlock the admin account, then change the user password in command line. If it is an online account, you have to do it online.

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Assuming the user has a local admin account, why not activate the administrator account for windows 7 on the machine?

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If the user cannot remember their password, how do they log in? If they cannot log in, sounds like time to format & reinstall. The machine can no-longer be considered secure. This time, add a local admin account of your own with a password you record.

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kon boot