Fix, Recover, Restore and Repair Windows XP - Password and Document Recovery

Windows XP: Password problems - Reset password - Password and document recovery

Most installations of Windows XP don't have a user password set because that is the default setup. However if a password has been set and it has been forgotten, recovering it can be difficult.

You should also be aware of the flaw in Windows XP that allows a user with a Windows 2000 CD to boot a Windows XP PC and start the Windows 2000 Recovery Console, which then allows Windows XP to operate as Administrator without a password - even if the Administrator account has a strong password. Read the story here:

XP passwords rendered useless - https://windowssecrets.com/info/

Information on passwords can be found under Help and Support in Windows XP. To find it, enter the word passwords in the Search box. It includes a User accounts overview, how to set passwords, hints on choosing passwords, creating strong passwords, etc.

Here are some Q&As that deal with password problems on this website:

How to log on to Windows XP if you forget your password or your password expires

How can I get rid of the need to enter a password to log on to Windows XP?

I Forgot My Administrator Password! - Can't Log On to Windows XP?

The idea of having a password is to prevent people without it from using the computer or from logging on as the Administrator, so, understandably, it isn't easy to recover from this situation, but you'll be glad to know that it can be done. However, the data must not encrypted using the Windows XP Encrypting File System (EFS) or other encryption, because you will not be able to gain access to encrypted files by changing the administrator password.

Backtrack-linux.org's Linux-based security tools package, BackTrack 4, is available free on its download page provided below. Despite being a Linux tool, I have found that BackTrack 4 is the most Windows-compatible (works with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7) password-cracking utility and is also the easiest to use.

Backtrack 4 Final Release - http://www.backtrack-linux.org/downloads/

I assume you know how to download, burn, and boot a BackTrack CD. Just remember that the PC's BIOS must have the CD/DVD drive set as the first boot device if you want to boot the system from a CD/DVD boot disc. To use BackTrack fully, you need to know a bit about Linux. If you're not familiar with Linux, the two YouTube videos linked to below provide step-by-step instructions on how to reset the password and recover the original password.

Reset Passwords on Windows XP and Vista using Backtrack 4 - Captions and Voice Included - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIeJkjB3okE

Cracking Windows 7 password using Backtrack 4 Live CD - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTqV8oTzK4M

BackTrack 4 has many other tools. Several tutorials on how to use them are provided on the BackTrack website. For example, almost any file on a failed PC can be accessed, making it possible to recover and back up data files before formatting the boot hard disk drive completely to reinstall Windows.

To make use of the method of password recovery provided in the following article, you have to make use of the Ultimate Boot CD to change the password. The old password is not necessary.

How Do I Gain Administrator Access Without a Password? -

http://www.pcworld.com/article/150749/how_do_i_gain_administrator_access_without_a_password.html

However, perhaps you would prefer using a password-cracking tool such as Openwall's John the Ripper from http://www.openwall.com/john. It can be used to find out what the passwords used in Windows NT/2000/XP are.

Forgot your Windows NT/2k/XP/Vista admin password? -

"This is a utility to (re)set the password of any user that has a valid (local) account on your Windows NT/2k/XP/Vista etc system. You do not need to know the old password to set a new one. It works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer and boot off a floppydisk or CD or another system. Will detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts! There is also a registry editor and other registry utilities that works under linux/unix, and can be used for other things than password editing." - http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Active Password Changer from http://www.password-changer.com/ costs $20/£40 can reliably reset the local administrator and user account passwords of computers running Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003/Vista.

If those utilities fail you can try a password-recovery service.

These are usually expensive but the Login Recovery service from http://www.loginrecovery.com/ is free unless you use its instant-access service. "Login Recovery is a service to reveal user names and recover passwords for Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. As long as you have physical access to the computer, your passwords can be recovered."

On startup, the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) file that contains the passwords is locked, encrypted, and is therefore unreadable. You download the software to create a bootable floppy disk or CD. (Remember that to boot from a floppy disk the BIOS Setup Program must be set so that the first boot device is a floppy drive/CD/DVD drive. You then boot the system with it and it makes a copy of the SAM file. Then you make use of another PC that is connected to the web to upload the file that is extracted to the Login Recovery site. You should have the password back within 48 hours.

Petter Nordahl-Hagen's Offline NT Password & Registry Editor - An excellent free tool that can reset the administrator password and gain access to the system. It modifies the encrypted password in the Registry's SAM file, thereby allowing access to the account in Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista systems. An image file is used to create a bootable floppy disk or bootable CD that is used to modify the administrator password and access NTFS partitions. It is not necessary to know the old password to set a new one. You can also use it to unlock disabled or locked user accounts . The program now includes Windows Vista support. - http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

If those options don't work, try the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor from http://www.home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd. It looks complicated but when mastered it does the job well and is available as a bootable floppy disk or as a bootable CD. You can also use it to edit the Windows Registry.

If that is of no use, you can try using the Emergency Boot CD from http://www.ebcd.pcministry.com/. It is capable of resetting the Administrator password.

If you are still at a loss, if have a Windows XP installation/setup CD, you can try the following relatively easy method of password recovery that is provided on this page:

I Forgot My Administrator Password! Can't Log On to Windows XP? - http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=305

The method doesn't take advantage of a security flaw in Windows XP, because you have to have your XP installation CD and its Product Key, otherwise you won't be able to complete the process.

Alternatively, if you can boot the system from an operating system such as Linux that is compatible with the NTFS file system that Windows XP Professional uses, then you can use a program specially written to remove or reset the password file entries. There are several such programs that have been put together that come provided with the files for a Linux boot floppy disk or CD.

Ophcrack LiveCD is a Linux-based password cracking tool that can be obtained from http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net. It is free bootabe version of the Linux operating system, but is more difficult to use than the affordable commercial products.

Note well that if Windows XP Pro has been set to use encrypted folders, resetting the password will render them inaccessible because they can only be decrypted if the original password is used to access the system.

Password problems and password information in the MS Knowledge Base

All of the possible problems with passwords in Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition are dealt with in the MS Knowledge Base.

Click on the MS Knowlege Base article's Reference Number to go to that article on Microsoft's site

REFERENCE NUMBER	TITLE AND DESCRIPTION OF THE ARTICLE'S CONTENTS
306214	How to create and use a password reset disk for a computer in a domain in Windows XP - This article describes how to create and use a password reset disk for a computer that is a member of a [network] domain. You can use a password reset disk to gain access to your Microsoft Windows XP Professional-based computer if you forget your password. For additional information about how to create a password reset disk for a computer in a workgroup, or a computer that is not networked, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 305478 How To Create and use a password reset disk for a computer that is not a domain member in Windows XP
305478	How to create and use a password reset disk for a computer that is not a domain member [that is not networked] in Windows XP - This article describes how to create and use a password reset disk for a computer that is not a member of a domain in Microsoft Windows XP. If you experience problems, troubleshooting steps are provided at the end of this article.
321305	How to log on to Windows XP if you forget your password or your password expires - This article describes how to log on to Windows XP if you forget your password or your password expires and you cannot create a new one. If you have forgotten your user logon password, and you are not sure if you created an Administrator password, start Windows XP in Safe Mode and try logging on as Administrator using a blank password. If you have not created a password reset disk and you have also forgotten your Administrator password, you cannot log on to your existing Windows installation for security reasons. According to Microsoft you must perform a clean installation of Windows XP, re-create all user accounts, and reinstall all of your software. However, this is not necessary if you have not implemented the Windows XP Professional Edition's Encrypting File System (EFS), which Windows XP Home Edition does not have. If you do not use EFS, you can install Windows XP to another partition and recover your documents from the password-blocked installation via Windows Explorer. If you do not have another partition, you can elect to install Windows XP in a folder with a different name from the default Windows folder and recover your documents in the same way. If you are using EFS, you must have backed up your EFS Certificates and the Recovery Agent. Visit this page for more information on EFS - Free file encryption with the Windows XP Encrypted File System (EFS) Tutorial, Usage, Security, and Trouble-Shooting.
308421	How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP - This article provides information on how to take ownership of a file or folder to which access has been denied by replacing the security permissions in order to allow access. If access to a folder has been denied and you have implemented the Windows XP Professional Encrypting File System (EFS) and also reinstalled Windows XP Professional (Windows XP Home Edition does not has EFS), this article cannot provide any assistance. To recover EFS encrypted folders you must have backed up your EFS Certificates and the Recovery Agent. Read the information for the article above for a link to information on EFS.
810877	Windows Prompts You to Change Your Password Although No Password Was Configured - After you upgrade to Windows XP Professional, you may receive the following error message: Your password will expire in a number days. Do you want to change it now? You may receive this message although you have never used a password.
810605	You Are Prompted to Type a Password After You Upgrade to Windows XP - After you upgrade from Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition or Microsoft Windows 98 to Windows XP, you may be prompted to log on by typing a password. This symptom may occur even if no password previously existed or was specified during the upgrade process. When this occurs, you may not be able to log on, regardless of the password you type.
295050	Information on System Restore and Password Restoration - This article describes how the restoration of passwords is managed by System Restore on a Windows XP-based computer, and describes which types of passwords are restored and which are not restored.
310715	Scheduled Tasks cannot run with a blank password - After you schedule a task by using the Scheduled Tasks tool, the task may not run at the time you chose. If you view the status of the task, you may receive the following error message: The scheduled task did not run because no user account password was entered.
305478	How to create and use a password reset disk for a computer that is not a domain member in Windows XP - This article describes how to create and use a password reset disk for a computer that is part of a workgroup, or that is not connected to a network. You can use a password reset disk to gain access to your Windows XP-based computer if you forget your password.
282866	How to automatically log on to a user account in Windows XP - This article describes how to automatically log on a user account during the Windows startup process. NOTE: This process only works if the computer is not joined to a domain. Alternatively, if you want to log on and retain your user password automatically, download and install the free TweakUI from Microsoft's site.
310562	Passwords Are Lost After Upgrading to Windows XP - After you upgrade to Windows XP from Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), certain passwords may no longer be saved. Uninstalling Windows XP does not restore these passwords.
318026	Passwords Are Unexpectedly Assigned to User Accounts After You Upgrade to Windows XP - When you upgrade or install Microsoft Windows XP, passwords may be assigned to user accounts that previously had no password or you did not assign passwords to any user accounts during the installation process. As a result, you cannot log on to the computer.
298252	Cannot Change the Password for the Administrator Account in User Accounts in Control Panel - After you log on as an administrator to a computer that is not a member of a domain, when you double-click User Accounts in Control Panel to change the password for the built-in Administrator account, the Administrator account may not appear in the list of user accounts. Consequently, you cannot change its password.
308402	"The password is not valid" error message appears when you log on to Recovery Console in Windows XP - When you attempt to log on to Recovery Console in Windows XP by typing the correct password for the local Administrator account, Recovery Console may display the following error message: The password is not valid. Please retype the password. Type the Administrator password: This error message may occur even though you typed the correct password. If you start Windows XP, successfully log on by using the same password, change the local administrator's password, and restart the computer to Recovery Console, you receive the same error message.