Lost Administrator Password

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
I have forgotten my Administrator password. I have tried a couple of the free password crackers, but no luck. Also tried the command net user, with no luck; I get the "Access Denied" message whenever I try this. I've looked at a lot of the threads here, but they all seem to be just a little bit different.
All I have access to is this other user profile, and I can't install anything on it without the Admin password.
I have the Windows DVD, and have tried a boot repair, but it tells me that the OS is booting correctly (which it is).
Where to from here ? It's wasted a helluva lot of time, and I just seem to be going round in circles.
How can I give this profile I am using Admin rights ? Don't seem to be able to do anything without the Admin password.
Thanks for any advice offered.

Snappa said:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
I have forgotten my Administrator password. I have tried a couple of the free password crackers, but no luck. Also tried the command net user, with no luck; I get the "Access Denied" message whenever I try this. I've looked at a lot of the threads here, but they all seem to be just a little bit different.
All I have access to is this other user profile, and I can't install anything on it without the Admin password.
I have the Windows DVD, and have tried a boot repair, but it tells me that the OS is booting correctly (which it is).
Where to from here ? It's wasted a helluva lot of time, and I just seem to be going round in circles.
How can I give this profile I am using Admin rights ? Don't seem to be able to do anything without the Admin password.
Thanks for any advice offered.

>>>> Also tried the command net user, with no luck; I get the "Access Denied" message whenever I try this
You got " access denied " because you had to run the cmd as administrator, and you can't do that if you have forgotten the admin password.

If you have not tried this....
Go to safe mode > do you see another admin account next to yours, an admin account that you have not seen before ?
If yes, that is your Built-in Admin account.
By default, it has not password > logon to it, and change your own admin account's password. This time write it down and safe-keep it.

In case you don't know how to go to safe mode....
Restart your computer > immediately and repeatedly, tap F8 key until you see a black and white window. That is your safe mode > use the arrw up/down key to select safe mode.

t-4-2 said:

Snappa said:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
I have forgotten my Administrator password. I have tried a couple of the free password crackers, but no luck. Also tried the command net user, with no luck; I get the "Access Denied" message whenever I try this. I've looked at a lot of the threads here, but they all seem to be just a little bit different.
All I have access to is this other user profile, and I can't install anything on it without the Admin password.
I have the Windows DVD, and have tried a boot repair, but it tells me that the OS is booting correctly (which it is).
Where to from here ? It's wasted a helluva lot of time, and I just seem to be going round in circles.
How can I give this profile I am using Admin rights ? Don't seem to be able to do anything without the Admin password.
Thanks for any advice offered.

>>>> Also tried the command net user, with no luck; I get the "Access Denied" message whenever I try this
You got " access denied " because you had to run the cmd as administrator, and you can't do that if you have forgotten the admin password.

If you have not tried this....
Go to safe mode > do you see another admin account next to yours, an admin account that you have not seen before ?
If yes, that is your Built-in Admin account.
By default, it has not password > logon to it, and change your own admin account's password. This time write it down and safe-keep it.

In case you don't know how to go to safe mode....
Restart your computer > immediately and repeatedly, tap F8 key until you see a black and white window. That is your safe mode > use the arrw up/down key to select safe mode.

That built-in Admin account is disabled by default.

Thanks to BriceH. That allowed me to give the other user profile admin rights, but I still can't change the password for the Admin account, as I still need to know the original password.
I'll try the safe mode method suggested by t-4-2. Can I use the registry method again on the Admin account ? It will be a few days before I can do this.
I'll let you know how I get on.
Thanks everyone.

I've just tried the registry method suggested by BriceH, with the Admin folder. It didn't recognise the Admin username; it had to be Administrator, and although I got the "Command Completed Successfully" message, I still can't open the Admin user profile.

At least I have admin rights on another profile.

There isn't another Admin profile in Safe mode.

Anyone have any more ideas ?
Thanks for our help so far.

Latest is that when trying to Switch User into the Admin account, I enter any password, the password entry box disappears, and I am left with my two user icons displayed. No message about "Incorrect Password". Nothing !

I'd still like to reactivate this admin user profile. Any ideas ?

Thanks