Windows 7: Windows 7 Password file reset

Hi Guys,

First thing - I'm a Mac guy. No, I'm not an anti Windows type - that fight isa crazy one that I refuse to buy into. I use what I like. Simple.

However, for most of my adult life I have been a Windows guy, up until about Vista. So I know my way around a machine.

Today, I was called in to fix a problem: an employee was trying to hold my friend to ransom by changing his password on his work laptop and refusing to change it back unless his demands were met. It was his last day and there were some disputes. We promptly threw the guy off site and I was handed the laptop and asked to please fix and get data.

I have simply taken the hard drive out of the laptop, attached it to a SATA dock on my Mac and because I have the right software, the drive just showed up and I copied everything across.



I was wondering if there is a way that while I have access to the file system like I do, can I reset or delete the password? There is only the one user.

Your help would be much appreciated!

Liam.

Hello and welcome to the forums, LiamOnMac!

Do you mean the Windows 7 user password for that account? If so, follow the tutorials below:-


Password Reset Disk : Windows 7 / Vista

Password Reset


Hope that helps!

Thank you Solarmystic, but I don't have access to any windows machines here on which to create these tools on. My hope was that there would be a file, or a line in a file in the system folder that I could delete hence deleting the password - I may be thinking too Unix passwd file'ish here.

I have zero access to the laptop beyond the login screen. However, with the hard driv plugged into my Mac, I am able to access and edit anything...

Being a pure bred Windows acolyte and Mac OS virgin means that i'm unfamiliar as to the disk/file manipulation methods file used in Mac OS X on Windows files and directorys.. I'm not sure whether you can even load windows registry hives from a Mac OS X file system...

In the second link (password reset via the registry) you just need to use a Windows 7 System Repair Disc to boot from. You sure you can't procure that somehow?

I'll bring back some help, just hold on tight!

Liam,

I fail to understand. you have the data from the disk.

Return the disk back to the "win 7" computer.

Boot from a Win 7 DVD and install Win 7.

karlsnooks,

It was more just a simple little challenge to see if I could do something at the file level. For example, in a unix passwd file if you delete what is between the 2 "*" on a users entry, it deletes their password. I was just seeing if there was a work around - not cos I was stuck for the data or unable to use the machine, but simply to see if it could be done.

Machine has been restored, data is safe, so thanks for the help.

for future reference.
ive used a couple of the programs on this page but found PC Login Now and Offline NT Password & Registry Editor to be the better ones 7 Free Windows Password Recovery Tools