How to reset your Windows password using Ubuntu

[melbin]

How to reset your Windows password using Ubuntu

Resetting your Windows password is as easy as resetting your Ubuntu password. What you need is a bootable Ubuntu system (ie. USB, CD or anything) and software called chntpw

Please find the steps o reset your Windows password below.

1. # Boot from your bootable device (Ubuntu Live Session)

Shutdown your computer and boot up using your bootable system. So you run Ubuntu on Live Session that means you run your system without install it!

2. # Set your repository

Goto Synaptic Package Manager -> Settings -> Repositories -> Ubuntu Software and check the “Software restricted by copyright or legal issues” checkbox. And don’t forget to reload synaptic.



3. # Install CHNTPW

Install from Synaptic Package Manager or use this command on shell:

sudo apt-get install chntpw

4. # Resetting Windows password

# Mount your “Windows installed” device

It’s depending on your system, example:

sudo mkdir /media/WINDOWS
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/WINDOWS

On my system Windows installed on /dev/sda1 and I want to mount it to /media/WINDOWS that I’ve created before.

# Goto your Windows system configuration folder

Located at [WINDOWS_DEVICE]/WINDOWS/system32/config/:

cd /media/WINDOWS/WINDOWS/system32/config/

# Cracking the SAM file

There a SAM file on Windows system configuration folder. That’s the file we’re looking for. Let’s crack it

chntpw SAM

And if you see the output similar with image below, it’s mean you can crack the SAM file.



As you see, there are 5 choices. Just type “1″ and press “ENTER” to reset your password.

Note: I’ve try this on my system and work well! But I’ve never try another choices (2-4) yet, you can try yourself.

[Deminemo]

As Windows 7 has occupied a high market share, more and more Windows 7 PC users are bothered by forgot Windows 7 password. Indeed, a forgot administrator password in Windows 7 is never a pleasant thought. Therefore, how to reset Windows 7 password has turned into a universal problem.

Method one : Reset windows 7 admin password with Ophcrack

Time: More than 2 hours
Recommend: ★

Official Website: Ophcrack

Ophcrack is a famous and free Windows password recovery software. The big disadvantage of ophcrack is the large ISO file. The 496Mb file takes a while to download, what is more, can you image how hard to burn such large file to a blank CD? It will enlarge unsuccessful rate. But once you succeed in burning a bootable CD, it will take only minutes to recover your lost Windows password.

Method Two: Reset windows 7 admin password with Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

Time: More than 1 hour for a new user
Recommend: ★★

Official Website: Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

The Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is one of the fastest free Windows password reset tool. It will remove Windows 7 password instead of recovering the Windows password like ophcrack.

The ISO file is only 3 Mb. So there is no problem to download or burn this file.
But what slows down the whole Windows 7 password reset process is the DOS based interface which is inconvenient. Sometimes, I even don’t know what to put in. So if you are a newbie with computer, it might take you a while to reset Windows 7 password with Offline NT Password & Registry Editor.


Method three: Reset windows 7 admin password with Windows Password Unlocker

Time: 5 Minute!
Recommend: ★★★★


As an easy method to recover the forgot Win 7 password, there are only four steps as follow:

Step1: Download Windows Password Unlocker and install it.
Step2: Burn the ISO image file onto a blank CD/DVD.
Step3: Boot up your Windows 7 PC by the bootable burned CD/DVD in minutes.
Step4: Remove the forgot Windows 7 password on the operation interface and logon PC without password.