Legal: Bypass user passw Win 7 Ultimate

[totempael]

Hi!

My gf got her friend visiting for a week and knew I'm good with computers, so she brought her old school-laptop for me to fix. I fixed it, (it was on repair loop) but we're stopped on the login screen.

She can't remember her old password, and she's tried a lot. Her password tips is also there, but it's more confusing than any help.

I tried f8 on boot to start in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, but her the login screen is a meet and greet, so no use. Im guessing the person who fixed it before (which she has no contact with) maybe enabled the hidden administrator account as her only account. NOT SURE about that.

There is only one account, which is hers. I can enter BIO, safe mode startup-menu (which require password once loaded) and for some reason there's no recovery -> command prompt possibility her which I've found. Booting from a win cd and pressing R gives me a menu and I can access GRUB command prompt, which I have NO experience with.

Im not interested in thrid-party software. Apparantly there's no reset-disk available.

Please help! They had a deal to watch old movies and pictures from the computer (my gf and her friend), so maybe I can game again when this is up and running (or maybe they expect me to watch? oh god..) But please! :)

[raupi]

For obvious reasons there is no built in way to enter the system without the password. There is third party software that can apparently read out passwords, though you never know what else these tools might do. Reinstalling windows would fix your issue if you need an effective solution and have some spare time.

You could throw in a linux live cd beforehand to gain access to the stored files if you need them.

[rotNdude]

Was this old PC part of a Windows domain in her school? If so, you're probably out of luck trying to get it to run with the existing OS.

[totempael]

It was not a part of her old school system, Im pretty sure about that.

How and where to get Linux? I have no experience with that.

[Hare+Guu!]

Try to shrink the current partition with the install disk, then make a new partition with the freed up space and do a new os install. As long as they didn't disable sharing, you can just grab the old files off the old install then wipe it as needed and reintegrate that old space into the new partition.

The only problem is you might need a new os serial to do this. Laptops come with oem os which uses their own serial. If they still have their serial somehow, you can just use any oem win 7 and just plug those numbers in.

All of that will actually take a while since you will have to find an oem win 7 installer. You're better off trying to make them remember.

[totempael]

I actually had a Win XP cd laying around (since university time - free-ware, yay) but that install was also met with the login screen. That's why Im thinking that the active account is actually the hidden administrator account which for some reason might have been enabled. If that wasn't enabled I think I've would have found a way in, but no...

In a desperate move I tried using a usb flash disk with boot to DOS, but I can't access the hard drive from there, like:

C:\> D:

Which you can in command prompt changing from folder to folder, or hard drive to hard drive. It doesn't show up with dir either. My hope was to use net user command to reset/disable password on her account.

My Usb flash drive is 4gb, if xp is lesser than that installed, I might be able to boot from it, but I still think I won't be able to access the real hard drive from a booted xp system. It's like the pc is in lock down (Which I've heard can happen to computers if theire fresh installed and failed to register win within 30 days, but not sure about that.

[Icedwhisper]

This article explains nicely how to do that:
http://www.isunshare.com/windows-7-password/bypass-windows-7-logon-screen-and-admin-password.html
Basically, boot up using Safe Mode with Command Prompt, type net user, Remove the Windows 7 login user password with net user command.

For example, if the login user is "isunshare", just need to type command "net user isunshare *" in command prompt window and press Enter button three times. Then Windows 7 login user password would be removed. Restart computer and you could bypass Windows 7 login password to sign in.

Note: Or you can type net user command "net user isunshare 12345" to reset Windows 7 login user password to one you know. Once you restart Windows 7 computer and see the user, just need to select it and type new password to login Windows 7.

[totempael]

Icedwhisper の投稿を引用：

This article explains nicely how to do that:
http://www.isunshare.com/windows-7-password/bypass-windows-7-logon-screen-and-admin-password.html
Basically, boot up using Safe Mode with Command Prompt, type net user, Remove the Windows 7 login user password with net user command.

For example, if the login user is "isunshare", just need to type command "net user isunshare *" in command prompt window and press Enter button three times. Then Windows 7 login user password would be removed. Restart computer and you could bypass Windows 7 login password to sign in.

Note: Or you can type net user command "net user isunshare 12345" to reset Windows 7 login user password to one you know. Once you restart Windows 7 computer and see the user, just need to select it and type new password to login Windows 7.

So here is someone who wants to help but failed to read the problem correctly :)

[Seven7]

Hare+Guu! の投稿を引用：

You're better off trying to make them remember.

Google is full of guides how removing grub password and resetting password in nt systems
but soldering & iron more reliable...

[Icedwhisper]

totempael の投稿を引用：

So here is someone who wants to help but failed to read the problem correctly :)

Well I read your post again and relized my mistake, sorry. Anyways, isn't there a advanced troubleshoot option available on Win 7 where you can use the CMD without logging in (Like in Windows 8 & 10)?

[totempael]

Ive never been in grub before, quite hesitant of using that, but maaaybe if Im desperate enough :)

The troubleshooting cmd is what Ive been trying to enter, but not sure if my memory fails me when all I can think of is Safe Mode with Command Prompt (which requires login).

[totempael]

I figured win xp use 2-3 gb on fresh install, so I'll try to make a win xp bootable usb flash drive.

[Icedwhisper]

Found it!
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/682-command-prompt-startup.html
Boot to the System Recovery Options screen, and select the Command Prompt option. In the Command Prompt, type net user command to remove Windows 7 login user password

For example, if the login user is "isunshare", just need to type command "net user isunshare *" in command prompt window and press Enter button three times. Then Windows 7 login user password would be removed. Restart computer and you could bypass Windows 7 login password to sign in.

Note: Or you can type net user command "net user isunshare 12345" to reset Windows 7 login user password to one you know. Once you restart Windows 7 computer and see the user, just need to select it and type new password to login Windows 7.

Hope this helps :)

[totempael]

THEY REMEMBERED IT! Thank god.

Thank you everyone for taking your time and answering it :)