How can I change my existing windows password if I have forgotten it? Should I just delete myself as a user and create a new user for myself? Is that possible? Any suggestions on this would be really appreciated.
Forgot Windows password.
- Thread starter Sam443
- Start date
You need to delete the username.pwl file in the windows directory. replace the username with the name of the user.
The next time you log on, windows will prompt you for a new password. There may be some other things that are stored in the PWL file, so you may lose some other settings or passwords, but it is easier than creating a new user.
This works for win 9x but probably not for NT.
The next time you log on, windows will prompt you for a new password. There may be some other things that are stored in the PWL file, so you may lose some other settings or passwords, but it is easier than creating a new user.
This works for win 9x but probably not for NT.
your username and password are stored as a *.pwl file on your harddrive... Do a search for it, and delete that file... Then you can just type in a new username and password the next time Windows starts...
What OS? If it's NT based and you forgot the Administrator password, then you will have to re-install the OS over your previous installation to get a new UID.
If this is NT and you had made a ERD (Emergency Repair disk), you could boot with the NT CD (or boot disks), choose "repair" instead of install and then insert the ERD when prompted.
Disclaimer: This should work in an NT/2K FAT-based file system. Good luck with NTFS... Check out SysInternals
After a little security "experiment" yesterday, I messed up the Administrator accounts on 3 of my Win2k boxes. I also fouled things up so that the other accounts on each box couldn't login as well. Don't ask.
Anyhow, after some looking I found a few ways to fix this without reinstalling or otherwise messing up the OS any further. One way involves the infamous logon.scr trick, but the fastest, best way I found is below.
Use a boot disk (one that has attrib.exe on it), and startup in DOS mode. If you don't have any, boot disks can be found here: Boot Disks.
Browse to the \winnt\system32\config\sam dir. (If you can't find it, type "dir /s sam" in your Windows folder to find out where to go). Type "attrib sam*.* -r -h -s" (no quotes), then type "ren sam !sam" & "ren sam.log !sam.log" -- reboot.
When WinNT/2K's login comes up, the only valid accounts will be guest and Administrator (no password). Logon as Administrator and recreate your accounts... That's all.
After a little security "experiment" yesterday, I messed up the Administrator accounts on 3 of my Win2k boxes. I also fouled things up so that the other accounts on each box couldn't login as well. Don't ask.
Anyhow, after some looking I found a few ways to fix this without reinstalling or otherwise messing up the OS any further. One way involves the infamous logon.scr trick, but the fastest, best way I found is below.
Use a boot disk (one that has attrib.exe on it), and startup in DOS mode. If you don't have any, boot disks can be found here: Boot Disks.
Browse to the \winnt\system32\config\sam dir. (If you can't find it, type "dir /s sam" in your Windows folder to find out where to go). Type "attrib sam*.* -r -h -s" (no quotes), then type "ren sam !sam" & "ren sam.log !sam.log" -- reboot.
When WinNT/2K's login comes up, the only valid accounts will be guest and Administrator (no password). Logon as Administrator and recreate your accounts... That's all.
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