Some kids came over the other night and I allowed them to use my computer for a couple hours. What I didn't know is they are little pranksters and decided to change my system password to something completely random. They then logged off before they left and when I went to get back on my computer, I wasn't able to log on. Is there any way I can recover my password or just override it? My entire life is on that computer right now.
see if this free utility can help you, that's what I use when I forget my password, it works everytime. http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ In the future you might want to install a free program like "returnil", this program will allow people to change your wallpaper,edit your registry etc but nothing is permanent. when you reboot your computer is back to normal. It's a good program to have when strangers use your computer. http://www.majorgeeks.com/Returnil_Virtual_System_Personal_Edition_d5702.html
or better yet you might want to find the little buggers and throw the fear of death into them.im a little impulsive that way.
When you load the computer in normal mode: If you have the Welcome screen hit Ctrl-Alt-Del-Del. NOTE THE 2 DELETES. This will load a screen where you enter your username and password manually. For user type Administrator and hit Ok. There should be no password. Do that and remove your password.
By welcome screen do you mean where you would usually type the password? Because I tried CTL ALT DEL DEL at that screen and nothing happened.
Yea, the welcome screen as in where you click on your user name and type in your password. If it didn't work then boot up the computer in Safe Mode by hitting F8 when it loads and log into administrator that way and delete the password.
the nt password reset utility is a iso you download, then you use nero to burn into a cd. Next you will use the bootcd to bootup your computer. Just choose all the default settings and press next everytime. This will reset your administrator password, then remove the cd and reboot. You should now boot into windows without a password.