Computer is locked up

[geno whirl]

I am trying to fix a computer for my friend because they accidentally forgot their password. It's vista and there's no password set on the administrator account, but the admin account wasn't set to be visible, so I don't know how to get into it without actually logging in to one of the accounts. I have already tried Ophcrack to no avail and I'm getting pretty frustrated. Stuff like this reminds me to be more modest when it comes to saying I have knowledge in computers . Does anyone have any idea of how I could possibly fix this?

 

[dsv101]

When you get to the log in screen press ctrl+alt+DEL and a dialog box should pop up asking for a user-name and password.
For the user-name type in administrator
Leave the password blank and press enter or log in
This should log you into the admin account and you should know what to do from here (change the password on the used user-name)

hope this helps, i haven't done this in a while so tell me if this works, I am 99% sure this works though!

 

[vskid3]

If the login isn't setup to work with dsv101's advice, I think if you hold F8 at boot and boot into safemode it will show the admin account.

 

[geno whirl]

I've already tried both of those countless times and they didn't work. Not a very good first experience with vista

 

[dsv101]

Wow, im stumped, admin must be disabled, or windows just sucks completely! i have 4 os's on my laptop, linux mint, ubuntu linux, live hacking linux, and windows 7! idk why though. Ill try to figure out a solution for you still...may take some good ol' time though.

 

[Mako321]

Gimme a second- I have a program to do crack the stuff, but the bookmark for it is on another computer and I don't remember the name.

 

[geno whirl]

I am currently using a program called LCP5. It's really customizeable, cutting out a lot of unnecessary searches. Apparently, the password is about 5 to 6 digits and all numbers, but i ran that through and it didn't work, so I'll probably broaden my search to 4 to 7 or something like that.

 

[dsv101]

Try calling bill gates and and tell him hes stupid, then go home and keep trying to crack the password.
PS bill gates is a genius, microsoft sucks though

 

[geno whirl]

Well, I was able to just delete the passwords by using this. Thanks anyway for the help you guys

 

[bic]

I like the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor tool (it's on the UBCD). Trying to reverse-engineer the password is a waste of time (unless you're trying to break in without them knowing ); just blank it, run CHKDSK, and set a new password.

 

[dsv101]

I know this thread is old, but i recently found a program that boots as a live cd that lets you erase passwords, activate/unactivate admin accounts and such, plus more

http://www.pcloginnow.com/

site looks like a scam but it was worth the try to me and it worked like a charm!

I know you already fixed your problem, but this takes about 5 mins to do.