this only works if they did not change/set the default administrator account during setup.


there are several ways to reset the admin password and several tools like Knoppix-STD, EBCD, etc

This method is using Knoppix-STD and i've often use it to reset my laptop passwords on machines that have been disjoined from a domain in which case the local admin password is unknown.

1. download Knoppix-STDKnoppix-STD
2. boot with the Knoppix-STD CD and at the desktop right-click | XShells | Root Aterm
3. at the root Aterm shell console type cat /etc/fstab. This will list all the drive in your system.
4. mount the drive in which your system partition resides mount -o rw /dev/hdax /mnt/hdax where x is the partition.
5. browse to your newly mounted config directory in system32 within the windows directory cd /mnt/hda2/WINDOWS/system32/config which is where your SAM db are kept.
6. Run the chntpw program bundled with knoppix-STD by typing chntpw and run chntpw -l sam system security to list all users on the sytem.
7. to change the password issue the command chntpw -u administrator sam system security. when prompted with Do you really wish to disable SYSKEY? (y/n) [n] answer no. when prompted with Please enter new password: * enter the new password or leave it blank. When prompted with Do you really wish to change it? (y/n) [n] select yes. when prompted with Write hive files? (y/n) [n] select yes.
8. reboot the machine by right clicking on the desktop and selecting reboot. done.


NOTE: do not give links to hacking softwares or those that use brute-force attacks. meaning i will only allow techniques that resets the password but NOT reveal it.