In response to the many OH NOES! moments I've seen on varying forums, I'm posting this for the informative purposes of the masses. Be good. But if you're a regular here, you probably already know about these.

If it's a Windows password, Find OPHCrack on Sourceforge and burn a copy of the LiveCD.

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

You can also use the Offline NT Registry Editor. (NOT IF YOU USE Encrypted File System! YOU NEED TO RECOVER THE OLD PASSWORD! USE OPHCRACK.)

http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

If it's a BIOS password, try to determine what BIOS you're using, and then try a backdoor password. I refer you here:

http://www.pwcrack.com/bios.shtml

If no go, pop the hood and move the CMOS jumper into the reset position, restart, change the BIOS password, (write said password down), save settings, turn off PC, put the jumper back in place and reboot.

This is for informational purposes intended for GOOD - and for lazy techs who don't want to have to call the customers to ask for the password and get chewed out for it. Mostly for the techs. =D

Edited July 31, 200818 yr by Altruist

Actually, in this scenario using OPHCrack is a waste of time if you have physical access to the box. Use Peter Nordahl's utility to set the administrator password to blank (*) and then login and change whatever password for the target account(s). If you used EFS and forgot the password then I guess you could waste the time, but...

Just for the record, don't forget WindowsGate:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21204

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4070

Here is my new small tool WindowsGate for accessing any local users accounts without password knowing.

It is designates for work with Windows Live CDs.

Version 1.1 features:

target OS can be installed on any paths

two gates available now:

msv1_0.dll patch

utilman.exe replacement (WinKey+U shortcut) - run any process with system privileges from WindowsGate

Version 1.0 features:

Unlock/Lock functions (enabling/disabling logon password validation)

existing passwords remains untouched (without password reset or overwrite operations)

windows registry remains untouched

without password (hash) cracking

SFC/WRP remains active

support for all NT version: 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008

jaclaz

ophcrack is an awesome tool

the free version works with a-z and 0-9 (ie if the password has @ in it, it won't find it), plus finding out the password instead of changing it means you don't have to take ownership of files/folders etc