Regain Lost Windows Password With Linux

Check out this FREE method for retrieving forgotten Windows passwords. I works on Windows XP and Vista (not yet tested on Windows 7).

Ingredients: one Linux live CD (that auto mounts Windows partitions – e.g. Ubuntu, Backtrack, Fedora, openSUSE).



Save the .iso and burn it to a disc.



Boot from the CD and follow these instructions (assuming your are using backtrack, but should be similar for other Linux distributions):



1.Open a Linux terminal and enter the following commands:

2.cd /mnt

3.ls (make a note of the folders listed here. You might need them in the next step.)

4.cd sda1/Windows/System32/ (If this doesn’t work you might have the wrong hard drive: try replacing ’sda1? with sda2, hda1, or hda2)

5.mv utilman.exe utilman.old && cp cmd.exe utilman.exe

6.reboot (and remove the CD)

7.Once rebooted, at Vista or XP log in screen, press the Windows key + U to run CMD with system privileges. Replace the username below with one of your choice – it must not already exist!

8.c:\>net user username mypassword /add

9.c:\>net localgroup administrators username /add

10.Log in with the new admin account!