Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
If you have lost your Windows password there is no way to recover it, but all is not lost.
I've lost my Windows Password! How can I log in?
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If you've lost your password, it cannot be recovered. If you've lost your machines administrator password, there's no way to recover that either.
In short, you can't login.
However that doesn't mean that all is lost.
There are two basic ways to recover, but both require that you have physical access to your machine. The first is boot from a floppy (or CD-ROM) often in Linux, and run a utility that will reset the administrator password on the machine. The second avoids the password altogether and simply boots from a floppy or CD-ROM with network connectivity so that you can copy important data off of the machine before you reformat it.
This thread out on Experts Exchange includes a number of those approaches and links to tools for recovering your data and/or resetting passwords.
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Article C2067 - June 16, 2004
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
Hey guys, If your pc is running with windows XP easily u can break the password, also can change the password without knowing administrator password. Get "Winternals" bootable CD and try it.
Posted by: shan5dx at September 11, 2008 3:29 AMive lost the password of my administrator account ( ie the one we get after pressing ctrl+alt+del)
Posted by: ashu at November 23, 2008 6:56 AMHELP
ive lost my INSPIRON B120 dell windows password and ive tried what u said but it doesnt work.. what can i do???
Posted by: Maria at November 28, 2008 11:42 AMi've lost my administrator password! th F8 trick didn't work , tell me u now what's wrong!
Posted by: David at December 3, 2008 10:08 AM04-Dec-2008