Have You Completely Forgotten Your Windows Password? Here's How You Get Back In 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you have devised a strong password for your PC and then completely forgotten it? While it can be a terrible situation, there is a way that you can get back into your computer. This is a way that a hacker would use, though. All you need to make this work is your Windows installation DVD. Let’s take a look at how you would use this method on a Windows 7 computer with a Windows 7 disc.

Using the Windows 7 installation disc

Getting back into a password locked computer involves using a Windows installation disc to repair the computer. You need to load the DVD up and then set the computer to boots to the DVD drive first (usually, you need to hit either F2 or Delete when the bios screen shows up).

Once your computer boots into the installation disk you’ll see the standard Windows installation dialog box. After you pick the correct language, hitting Next brings you to the screen that gives you the option to repair your computer. This is where the fun starts.

Your computer will throw up a System Recovery Options dialog box at this point. When you hit Next , you’ll find that the dialog box gives you many options. You need to pickCommand Prompt .

Using the Command Prompt

You need to use the Command Prompt to make a few adjustments to your OS. The problem is that in the mode you are in at this point, your C: drive has a different drive letter. You need to locate the correct drive letter to continue. To find the right drive letter, you need to key in the string type bcdedit | find "osdevice" into the Command Prompt. Right away, you get the answer – OS device partition = , followed by the correct drive letter, whatever it is. In all the steps that follow, you need to use the drive letter that you get here.

Let’s say that you’ve been given the drive letter “E”

At this point, you need to type in the following string into your Command Prompt: copy e:\windows\system32\sethc.exe e:\

Once you hit Enter , you get a file copy confirmation. Then, you need to type in this string: copy e:\windows\system32\cmd.exe e:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

All of this assumes, of course, that you’ve been given the drive letter E . If you were given the letter D or F , you would use that in place of E in the strings above. Once you hit Enter on this last string, you are asked to type Yes, No or All. You need to type in Yes. You get another file copy confirmation then.

You’re almost done

You now need to take out the installation disc and then restart your computer. When the screen comes up that asks for your password, you need to press the Shift key five times in quick succession. This brings out the Command Prompt . On the prompt, you need to enter the string Net user , followed by the username that you wish to use and the new password. For instance, if your name is Sean and you wish to use the passwordJamesBond , you would type in the string Net user Sean JamesBond . When you hitEnter , your username and password are reset. You just need to enter the new password in and away you ago.

Now that you’re in

In the first step above, you used a string in the Command Prompt to overwrite an important file called sethc . Now that you’re in, you need to bring the old file back. To do this, you need to open the Command Prompt as administrator. Then, you type in the string Copy c:\sethc.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe . Bingo! You’re done.