Password Recovery on Win7 Netbook With NO Optical Drive Using ERD Commander Maybe?

[Metalloid]

Hey Everybody, it's been forever since I've used the forums so I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section. Been out of the techie scene for a little while so I could use a little help.

Basically, a friend has a Windows 7 Acer netbook with no optical drive. Her son changed the password and of course can't remember it anymore. I'm comfortable with using ERD Commander 2k5 for password recovery but haven't really used the new versions for Vista and 7. Also, I have no idea how to put an iso onto a flash drive and make the BIOS recognize it as bootable.

Can anyone give me some direction? Or, is there maybe an easier way to go about resetting the password? If I remember correctly, resetting the password with ERD commander will wipe out all of the user settings, but at this point I doubt they really care as long as they are able to use the netbook again.

Thanks a bunch

 

[Metalloid]

Ok I found iso to usb and am pretty sure I can figure out how to burn the iso to a flash drive, but will the BIOS be smart enough to boot to it? Never done anything like this before

 

[Mongrelchops]

is there any other user accounts on the Install? (fingers crossed for you that there is another Admin account).

Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack has a password reset i believe, but a good util i have seen in use is Spotmau. If you can get an ISO of it to boot to USB, it will flatten whatever account password you want.

 

[Motorheader]

EBCD 0.6.1 should work for you. Here is the link to making it USB bootable:

http://www.prime-expert.com/articles/a02/saving-files-from-unbootable-netbook-without-dvd-drive.php

 

[fastamdman]

Doesn't every computer enthusiast have a "hacking" drive that simply puts the username and password onto a thumb drive on a .txt file?

Aka you just stick your hacking drive into any windows based system, it runs a prompt for X amount of time *usually depends on the machine* and then you pull out the thumb drive, put it into your own laptop, netbook, desktop whatever and bam you have the username and password in a text document.

Or maybe I have just been watching to many movies I dunno.

As far as a solution to your problem, if a child created the password I am sure you can guess it lol.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Can anyone give me some direction? Or, is there maybe an easier way to go about resetting the password? If I remember correctly, resetting the password with ERD commander will wipe out all of the user settings, but at this point I doubt they really care as long as they are able to use the netbook again.

Thanks a bunch

Trinity Rescue Kit is a free live Linux distribution that easily resets windows passwords. USB bootable: Trinity Rescue Kit 3.4

 

[Metalloid]

I never ended up trying any of the solutions b/c the guy called me back like 10 min after I posted this and told me that they called Acer tech support and did a cold reset.

Turns out the password was set to "bread" hahaha