possible to reset a forgotten password for the built-in administrator?

kilroix · 30 Jan 2015

A few months ago, I got a "user profile service failed to log on" message (or words similar to this). In the process of correcting this, I learned of the built-in administrator account, & how to enable / disable it. Unfortunately, I gave this built-in administrator account a password; unfortunately, because I now have forgotten the password. Also, there is not another user account with administrator privileges on my laptop. Any suggestions for somehow resetting the forgotten password for the built-in administrator account?

Berkey · 30 Jan 2015

Welcome to the Forums!

First, try this
· Open Control Panel > User Accounts and select the option that allows you to change other accounts;
· Select the Administrator account;
· Turn off password required. Changing this option will not require a password.

In this section you can change administrator and user accounts and pass words

There are other options as well such as:
Password Reset : Using System Restore in Windows 7

How to Reset Your Forgotten Windows Password the Easy Way

Berkey · 30 Jan 2015

Forgot one

User Account Password - Change

gregrocker · 30 Jan 2015

This is why it's not recommended to operate as the Built-In Admin unless you really know what you're doing, and to forget a password you set for it is fatal since you must have the password to create another Admin account.

Nor can we help you crack passwords here since we don't now who you are.

So unless you can remember it I'd do a Clean Reinstall Windows 7.

One of the steps shows how to rescue your files from the old install using the Win7 installation media which is provided.

Berkey · 30 Jan 2015

gregrocker said:

This is why it's not recommended to operate as the Built-In Admin unless you really know what you're doing, and to forget a password you set for it is fatal since you must have the password to create another Admin account.

Nor can we help you crack passwords here since we don't now who you are.

So unless you can remember it I'd do a Clean Reinstall Windows 7.

One of the steps shows how to rescue your files from the old install using the Win7 installation media which is provided.

Made this mistake a long time ago because I thought being the admin was "superior" but ended up having to clean install, luckily I was planing on doing so, but I won't be making that mistake again anytime soon.

Alejandro85 · 30 Jan 2015

Berkey said:

I thought being the admin was "superior"

Not really. The built-in administrator account is for all purposes exactly the same as any other administrator account created afterwards.

The only differences are that it cannot be deleted and it has a fixed, hardcoded SID.

Berkey · 30 Jan 2015

Alejandro85 said:

Berkey said:

I thought being the admin was "superior"

Not really. The built-in administrator account is for all purposes exactly the same as any other administrator account created afterwards.

The only differences are that it cannot be deleted and it has a fixed, hardcoded SID.

I know that now, I meant years ago when I would always set my account as the Admin, due to the fact that I thought having all access was the best choice, until I screwed something up and couldn't gain access to the account.

Regular account for me nowadays