How to reset a bootable USB flash drive password. Windows Password Recovery: utility for resetting Windows account password

Due to numerous requests from readers, I decided to write detailed and simple instructions, how to reset password from account user in any version of Windows: 10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP.
So, you turned on the computer, and the system asks you to enter a password to log in. You enter the user's password, but it does not match: the “invalid password” error appears. What to do if no password is suitable, but you need to log in? There is a solution - you can reset your password using special program, recorded on a bootable USB flash drive. Now I’ll tell you how to create such a flash drive.

You will need to briefly use any others computer. To do this, you can contact a relative, friend, neighbor, maybe you have a computer at work - I think this is not a problem now.

So, we sit down at another computer or laptop. Insert any flash drive into it:

Download free program to reset Windows passwords – . You can download it from the official website (or from my Yandex.Disk):

Run the downloaded file lsrmphdsetup.exe:Install the program as usual: i.e. We agree with everything and press the ““ button in all windows. Next" In the last installation window, click the “ Finish” – the program will start automatically and its shortcut will be created on the desktop:

In the start window, click the button Burn Bootable CD/USB Disk Now!(“Burn bootable CD/ USB disk right now"):

In the next window select Windows version , which is installed on the computer where we will then reset the password. Not on the list Windows 10, but it’s not scary: if you have a “ten”, then choose here Windows 8.1 with your bit depth.

By the way, on one of the forums I saw a message that you can create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 8.1 64-bit, and it will be suitable for resetting the password on any version of Windows (I checked on Windows 10 64-bit and on Windows 7 64-bit - so and is):

After you have selected the desired version of Windows, click the “ Next”:

In the next window, place a marker on the item USB Flash and select the letter of our flash drive (it is already inserted into the computer). In my case, the letter of the flash drive: F.
Then press the button “ Start”:

The program will download the necessary components from the Microsoft website for some time:

After this the program will ask: “ Should you format your USB drive now?“All files, if they are on the flash drive, will be deleted. Press the button “ Yes”:

Now we wait until the bootable USB flash drive is created:

At the end of the process, press the button “ Finish”:

All! The bootable USB flash drive with the password reset program is ready. We take it out and take it to our computer.

Insert the bootable USB flash drive into your computer. And now comes the most important, and at the same time, the most difficult moment for those who will be doing this for the first time. We need configure the computer to boot from our flash drive .

Those who know how to boot a computer from a flash drive can go straight to the end of this article. For those who don’t know how to boot from a flash drive, I’ll try to explain as clearly as possible:

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In order to “force” the computer to boot not as usual (i.e. from the hard drive), but from the device we need (in our case, from a flash drive), we need to enable a certain setting in Bios computer.

To get into this very Bios, we must immediately after turning on the computer press a certain key on the keyboard (and press not just once, but many, many times until we see the BIOS on the screen).

On different computers On laptops this key is different:

• The most commonly used key is Delete(or Del ).
• You can also often call up the BIOS using the key F2(and on some laptops Fn+F2 ).
• Keys are used less frequently Esc, F1, F6 and others.

In general, immediately after you press the Power button on your computer or laptop, do not wait until it starts Windows boot, and immediately start pressing the key many times Delete on the keyboard. After a few seconds (5-10) you should see Bios.

If nothing like this appears, but your Windows starts loading as usual, then we don’t wait for anything else: we restart our computer again (you can directly use the Reset button) and try pressing another key many times - F2.

If you don’t get into the BIOS again, reboot the computer again and try pressing the next key - Esc. After F6 etc. But hopefully you won't have to experiment for so long: in the vast majority of cases, either the Delete or F2 key works.

By the way, a hint about which key to load the BIOS usually flashes at the bottom of the screen immediately after turning on the computer. But for some reason no one looks at her, or does not have time to look at her.

On different computers Bios different, and it looks different for everyone.

For example, on my computer it looks like this:

On another computer it will be like this:

On the third computer it’s like this:
That is, I’m saying this to what to write separate instructions to every Bios is almost impossible.

The main thing that anyone who needs to configure booting from a flash drive should know: in the BIOS (no matter how it looks like for you) you need to find the section where the word is present Boot(from English “Loading”). By using the arrows on the keyboard to navigate to this section, we set it to first place in the list of boot devices flash drive.

In Bios, the flash drive may be displayed with its own name (for example, Transcend), or as USB-HDD; There are other options. One thing is important: it must be selected as the first device from which the computer will boot.

Usually the flash drive is “raised” to first place using the arrows on the keyboard, or the keys +/- , or F5/F6.

Having set the setting we need in Bios, we must leave it, not forgetting to save the changes made. To do this you need to go to the section Exit(it’s usually the last one) – and there select the item “ Save and Exit” (“Save and Exit”). And then confirm once again that we are leaving by clicking “ Yes”.

That's all: if you did everything correctly, the computer will reboot and boot from the flash drive (press the Delete key again, or F2, or something else - no need!).

Many people don’t even want to get involved with the creation bootable flash drive with any software, because They are afraid that they still won’t be able to configure the computer to boot from it. I tried to describe this entire process of booting from a flash drive in as much detail as possible. If you have mastered this text, I hope it has become at least a little clearer and now all that remains is to practice.

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So, I created a bootable USB flash drive with a password reset program on another computer. I insert this flash drive into my computer and turn it on.

Immediately I press the key many, many times Delete on the keyboard. After a few seconds I get into Bios.

Using the arrows on the keyboard, I go to the section Boot(although in my Bios you can work with the mouse - in older versions of Bios this will not work).

Here my first device now is hard drive (ACHI PO: WDC WD50...):
I select this line using the arrow on the keyboard and press the key Enter. A list of devices from which you can boot opens. In my case, this is a hard drive and my flash drive (it is listed here twice). We raise to the first place in the list - flash drive(if there is a choice: USB or UEFI, then choose UEFI). We do this using the arrows on the keyboard or keys +/- , or F5/F6:

Now the flash drive is in first place in the list of boot devices:

Now we exit here, saving the changes. To do this, move the arrow on the keyboard to the last section Exit. Select the line Save Changes and Exit- press the key Enter:

Then select Yes:

After a while, a menu opens in which, using the key Enter we select an item Lazesoft Live CD:

Wait while it downloads:

In the next window, check that the item is selected Reset Windows Password(“Reset Windows password") and press the button Next:

A window will pop up with a message about non-commercial use of the program - click Yes:

Click again Next:

In the next window highlight the username, whose password will be reset and click Next:

Click on the button RESET/UNLOCK:

The password has been successfully reset - click OK. Then Finish:

We go to “ Start” and press Reboot Computer(“Restart computer”):

Click OK:

After the computer restarts, we can login to windows without password!

A little earlier, I considered a situation where a bootable system image was required, but it may not always be at hand, in addition, usually the weight of the system administrator’s working disks (we’re talking about LiveCD with software) is much less.

Today we will talk about working with specialized software for editing the SAM (Security Account Manager) database. I once described a procedure in Windows.

The SAM file itself (what a pun) is located in the windows\system32\config (for a 32-bit system) or windows\syswow64\config (for a 64-bit system) directory and you won’t be able to access it (and especially write it). That is why we use various LiveCDs, which can be found in large quantities on a root tracker or other site dedicated to the work of a system administrator.

For example, here is the following assembly: LiveSeven (LiveCD AZJIO v5.6 from 01/01/2013 CD/USB WIM) from the root tracker weighs a little more than 270 megabytes, but allows you to quite passably solve various system administrator tasks in the operating system, so I recommend downloading and burning a disk or flash drive. Since the collection is the author’s, there is no piracy in this, I think the creator will only be glad that people are using his collection.

By the way, I found a very nice way to burn ISO files onto a flash drive. If anyone didn’t know, this is easily done without various third party utilities, regular UltraISO. Open the ISO image, insert the USB flash drive, select “Boot -> Burn image” hard drive…”

And, of course, the “Record” button.

Read more in a separate article:

Well, okay, how to burn a disc, put it in BIOS loading from the media – I think it’s not a problem. After loading we will see the system desktop - this is good:

Here is a kind of “Start” menu, select “Password reset -> Reset Windows Password”. Then I will analyze the work with the “Password Renew” program for comparison.

In the main program window, select Russian interface language and SAM operating mode. That is, we work with local base accounts. I suspect that it is possible to work with the AD database of a Windows domain controller; I have not tried it yet, but the opportunity is nice.

In addition, there is a drop-down list of actions; we are interested in resetting or changing the user’s password. Click Next.

Next, the program automatically determines the location of the SAM and SYSTEM databases (they are stored in the config directory) and represent registry hives. Why might you need to specify the paths to these files manually?

Case 1. We have several operating systems installed and we need to reset passwords in a specific one of them.

Case 2. We have separately located registry hive files taken from another computer (for example, we were sent these files by mail and need to reset the password and return it to the owner).

One way or another, the ability to specify these files manually is present and you need to remember this. In our case, the system was installed alone, so the program determined everything correctly.

Next, a list of users appeared that exist in the SAM file. Here we select the person whose password needs to be changed/reset. By the way, here you can see whether you have administrator privileges and whether a password has been set at all.

In the next window, we can perform certain actions with the already selected account - change the blocking, disabling, and expired password flags. Install New Password– I was pleased with this option; you can not only remove it, but also set an arbitrary one. Mark the required actions and click the “Reset/Change” button.

Everything is ready!

As I promised, I will consider another program in the same area. It's called Password Renew.

After launching the program, we are prompted to select the Windows folder.

Click “Browse” and select our Windows directory. By the way, here is the difference from the previous program - there is no way to feed it third-party SAM files.

Select from the drop-down list the desired user and set a custom password. 123, of course!

I thought for a long time about what to reap next. It turns out that the second item on the left is “Apply”. Some kind of not very successful interface, the principle of the sequence “Left-to-right, top-to-bottom” is violated. Oh well. But the program worked.

In addition, you can create a new user. Select item 2.2 “Create a new user” and set a name and password. Also click 1.2 “Apply”. Well, we can add administrator rights 2.3 point.

To be honest, the program’s interface is not very good, but it works and this should be taken into account. Who knows what will be in our hands in a difficult situation?

We remind you that attempts to repeat the author’s actions may lead to loss of warranty on the equipment and even to its failure. The material is provided for informational purposes only. If you are going to reproduce the steps described below, we strongly advise you to carefully read the article to the end at least once. The editors of 3DNews do not bear any responsibility for any possible consequences.

Windows has long used the SAM system to store and manage all user passwords. All information in it is well protected, so in order to find out the password, you will have to spend a lot of time and resources, especially if it is quite complex. Most often, however, there is no need to find out the password at all - just reset it or change it. Several utilities have been developed for this, one of which we will use. Another important point is that, obviously, when the OS is running, it will not allow you to just break into the password storage. Therefore, you need to make sure that your computer supports booting from a CD/DVD or USB media in order to launch the necessary utilities.

The most famous of them is Offline NT Password and Registry editor, which can work with passwords and Windows registry XP/Vista/7. Download the USB or CD version of the utility, burn the downloaded image to disk, or use our tips for creating a multiboot flash drive. The utility does not have GUI, but you shouldn’t be afraid of this - everything in it is quite simple and understandable. In addition, the desired option is often offered by default, so you only need to press the Enter key.

Boot from removable media Offline NT Password and Registry editor. You are unlikely to need additional boot options, but in some cases you will have to empirically select those that will help the utility start. The next step is to select the partition number on which Windows is installed. You will have to navigate first of all by its size. In principle, until the very last moment the program does not make any changes to Windows, so in case of an error, you can simply start the password reset procedure again.

Then the utility will ask you to specify the path to the folder where the SAM files are located (in fact, this is a registry hive). The default is X:/Windows/System32/config, this is what the program offers at the beginning. Then you need to select the first item (Password reset), since we are going to reset the password.

Then everything is simple. Select the first item (Edit user data and password) and enter the user name or identifier in the format 0xabcd, Where abcd is the RID listed in the first column. RID is useful if the username is not displayed correctly or cannot be entered. For example, when using Cyrillic.

All that remains is to specify item 1 (password reset) or 2 (password change) for the selected user. Exit the password editing mode by entering an exclamation point and pressing Enter.

Everything is almost ready. Enter q, press Enter, and then agree to the changes by entering y and pressing Enter again. We refuse to continue working in Offline NT Password and Registry editor ( n), remove the flash drive or CD and press the treasured combination Alt+Ctrl+Del to reboot. Done - the password is reset!

This was an easy way to reset your Windows 7 password. There shouldn't be any difficulties with it. You just need to be attentive and careful. Problems can only arise if the necessary drivers for working with the hard drive are missing. Then you will have to put them on a floppy disk (if, of course, you find a living representative of this almost extinct species and a working drive for it) or on a USB flash drive and at the first stage select the fetch additional drivers item.

For the second and third methods, you only need the Windows 7 installation disk and nothing else. A more complex option involves enabling the initially hidden “Administrator” account by editing the registry from the Windows 7 installation environment. In the future, you can log in under this account and edit any other account in the OS. By default, “Administrator” does not have a password, which only plays into our hands.

So, let's boot from installation disk and press Shift+F10 to open the command line, where we enter regedit and press Enter to launch the Registry Editor.

Selecting a section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, and in the menu select “File” → “Load hive...” (File → Load hive...). We need to open the SAM file, which is located in the folder \Windows\System32\config on the partition where Windows 7 is installed. When opening, you will be prompted to enter the name of the hive to load - enter any.

Now you need to select a section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hive_name\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\000001F4 and double click on the key F. An editor will open in which you need to go to the first number in line 038 - this is 11. It must be changed to 10. Be careful and do not make a mistake - you only need to change it, without adding or deleting other numbers!

Now we need to select our bush HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hive_name\ and in the menu select “File” → “Unload hive...” (File → Unload hive...), and then confirm unloading the hive.

That’s it, you can reboot by removing the pre-installation disk and log in under an administrator account. In the panel Windows management in the user management section you can change the settings of another account. Including changing the password.

Stayed last method, incorrect. Why wrong? Because we'll do the substitution system files, and this is an ignoble matter. What is the main idea? It's simple - the OS has the function of detecting sticky keys enabled by default. You've probably encountered it at least once, and if not, just quickly press Shift at least 5 times, and you will see this wonderful window:

This window belongs to a small auxiliary program sethc.exe, which is located in the Windows system directory. Moreover, it even starts on the welcome screen, when you are asked to select a user and enter a password. But it can be replaced with something useful. For example, cmd.exe. Naturally, not directly in the running OS, but after booting from the installation Windows disk 7 and pressing Shift+F10.

You need to start by identifying the drive letter on which Windows is installed. The easiest thing is to simply view the contents of the root partition with the command dir. C: will most likely be seen as D:, but not necessarily.

Having decided on the volume letter, we execute two simple commands - with one we copy the original file, just in case sethc.exe to the root of the disk or wherever you like, and change the second one to cmd.exe.

Copy d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe d:\copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

We reboot, quickly press the Shift key (or Ctrl, or Alt) several times and observe the window with command line. You need to enter another command in it, substituting the name of the desired user and a new password accordingly. Other options for this command can be found in the official help.

Net user username new password

If you want to return everything to normal, you need to boot from the installation disk again, open the console and run the command:

Copy d:\sethc.exe d:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

However, you don’t have to restore anything, but leave this little trick in the system just in case. In addition to the methods listed above, there are many other methods for resetting or recovering a password in Windows, but we will not consider them now. Once again we urge our readers to be attentive and careful when working with the internals of the OS, and even better not to bring the situation to a “surgical” intervention in SAM. Good luck restoring access to your accounts!

Today we will consider a situation that many computer users have already encountered and/or may still encounter. Namely, what to do if you forgot the password to turn on your computer. This can happen to anyone. You can also forget or lose a note with a password in no time. Especially when this password often has to be changed, as some users do (for example, mothers trying to limit the time their children spend on the computer).

So, today we’ll look at one of the ways to effectively solve this problem. Of course there are many methods resetting or recovering (or hacking) a forgotten Windows login password or user unlock. Gradually I will add descriptions and others.

This method is distinguished by its versatility. That is, this method Resetting a forgotten computer password is suitable for various operating systems Windows systems : 2000, XP, Vista, 7, Server 2003, Server 2008, etc.

Let's use the utility.

Accordingly, in the first case, we write the image file to disk (read how to burn an iso image to disk), in the second, we create a bootable flash drive (in this case, we simply copy all the files in their archive to a blank flash drive). Choose which option is more convenient for you.

After this is done, we insert our disk or flash drive into the computer (we need to boot from one of these media) and turn it on. If your operating system still starts and asks you to enter forgotten password, which means you’ll have to do a little more magic to launch the utility from a disk/flash drive. Read how to boot from external media.

If such a picture appears on the screen, it means that everything was done correctly, and you were able to load Offline NT Password and Registry editor from the disk/flash drive.

Click Enter and wait. Now the program prompts us to select the partition on which the operating system is installed (in other words, where we will reset the password). The disk is selected by entering the desired number. The screen tells us how many partitions the program currently sees and what their sizes are. Actually, this is the only information available to us here about the sections, so we can only rely on it. But don't worry, if you select the wrong partition by mistake, the utility will simply not be able to erase the password, and you will return to this menu, where you can enter a different partition number and try again.

In my case, two partitions are displayed: 1 - 10.7 GB, 2 - 5490 MB. If you remember how big yours was Local disk C , then choose a partition with a similar size. I select section 1. I enter a number from the keyboard 1 and press Enter .

Next you need to specify the directory where the file is located SAM(storing the registry branch). The program itself offers us a default directory ( Windows/System32/config ), where this file is usually located. We agree, click Enter .

Next, we are asked to choose what action we want to perform. Enter the number 1 , which corresponds to password reset (Password reset), and press Enter .

The next step is to also choose the desired action. Enter the number 1 - change accounts and passwords (Edit user data and passwords ). Click Enter .

A sign appears in front of us, which lists everything usernames (Username) and them identifiers (RID) . The program prompts you to enter a username from the list for which you want to reset the password. The program immediately offered me Admin- It is on this account that I want to erase the password. So I just click Enter .

Retreat. You, of course, can enter a different username, but it’s probably better to unlock the administrator account, and only then change the passwords for everyone who needs it.

If your username is written in Russian, then it is normal that it will not be reflected due to the Cyrillic alphabet. In this case, instead of the username, indicate it RID in the following form: 0xRID. That is, in my case: 0x01f4. Click Enter .

Now the program offers us the following options for action for the selected account: 1 - clear the password, 2 - change the password, 3 - make the user an administrator, 4 - unlock the account, q - exit and return to selecting the account. Enter 1 and press Enter .

Password removed! The job is done, all that remains is to exit the application. Enter exclamation mark and click Enter .

Enter q and click Enter .

We confirm the changes have been made. Enter y and press Enter .

We refuse to continue working in Offline NT Password and Registry editor and enter n , then click Enter .

We remove the disk from the wire or the flash drive from the usb socket, restart the computer and enjoy the result. Windows login password has been reset!

Naturally, the article is intended to help those who really forgot my password and would have had no other choice but to reinstall the system. Under no circumstances does the information provided cannot be used for any harmful purposes.

Something terrible happened - you somehow managed to forget your account password. Windows entries 10. What to do now? Of course, you can do it the old fashioned way - reinstall operating system. Or you can try removing password protection using a USB drive. You can learn how to create a flash drive to reset a Windows 10 password on a computer, laptop, or tablet from this instruction.

Creating a flash drive to reset Windows 10 password using the official method

Windows provides built-in tools for creating a USB drive, which you can later use if your login password has been forgotten or lost. However, there are several disadvantages to this method that make it less practical. The first drawback is that you can create such a drive only by logging into Windows. It turns out that users should take care of preparing a USB flash drive in advance for future use. Second, a device prepared for password reset can help in the case of a local account. It will not be able to remove or replace the password from your Microsoft account.

If you are used to thinking ahead, or you have already learned from bitter experience and are now planning to create a USB drive that will help you reset your password in the future, you need to do the following:

The final result should be a userkey.psw file on your drive. It contains all the data needed to reset your password. Interestingly, this file, if necessary, can be moved to any other drive and used in case of an unpleasant situation. To use a flash drive with it, you need to connect it to the computer, enter the wrong password on the login screen and click on the item that appears to begin the reset.

Using Online NT Password & Registry Editor to reset Windows 10 password

If you have forgotten or lost your password, and you did not have time to create a drive to reset it before this unpleasant incident, then it makes sense to use by third party means. In this case, the Online NT Password & Registry Editor utility. Like similar tools, it can reset passwords for user accounts, although only local ones. She can't reset her Microsoft account password. But it can help you bypass a blocked entry and get into the system.

Before using Online NT Password & Registry Editor, you need to burn it to a USB flash drive. To do this, you still have to get a computer somewhere. Next, do the following:

If something went wrong, you can download the archive marked CD, extract the ISO image from it and WinSetupFromUSB program. Please note that in your case, when setting up this utility, you need to check the box next to SysLinux bootsector/Linux distribution using.

So, you managed to create a USB flash drive to reset your password. What to do next? Here's what:

1. Connect the USB drive to the computer on which you need to reset the password or somehow gain access to the system.
2. Turn on your computer and boot the flash drive by selecting it in Boot Menu. About how to call this menu, can be read in the PC instructions.
   
   
3. Many different messages should appear on the screen. Don't get lost. That's how it should be. Press Enter to move to the next step.
   
4. Now the utility should detect the system partition of the hard drive and display a little information about it. All you need to do is indicate its number and move on.
   
   
5. After checking the partition for the presence of all necessary files, a list of possible actions will appear on the screen. Since you are interested in resetting your password, you need to select the first option.
   
   
6. In the next step, you must also select the first item.
   
   
7. You will see a table with a list of user accounts. In the very first column you can see the so-called RID number of each account. See what number is assigned to the entry you need and enter it below. If you are trying to access a computer with a Microsoft account, you must select the hidden account Administrator.
   
   
8. Now you are offered a list of actions with the selected user record. In the case of a local account, you need to enter the number 1. If at the previous stage you selected a hidden administrator account, you need to enter the number 2.
   
   
9. As a result, a message should appear on the screen indicating a successful password reset, or a successful attempt to activate the administrator account.
   
   
10. Next, you just have to press Enter, then enter q, and then - y to finalize the changes.
    
    
11. That's it for working with a flash drive Downloads Online NT Password & Registry Editor is complete. Pull it out and press it Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart your computer.