Member Avatar for muju_433

Can anyone tell me how to change the windows XP admin password??
What we did is we have gone through safe mode and break the password and when we restarted the system the options has gone like there was no option called remove password or enter old password.We don't want to change the password and the hint is the other systems which are connected in sharing with this system is having the same password and we do not know the password. So how to know the admin password can anyone tell us so tht we can enter that password and do the things carefully

Bye take care

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  • 3 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by happygeek

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Building on points from and , there are two different goals here: recovering the original password (often impossible) and regaining access by resetting it (practical). The safest order of attempts is: confirm whether the account is local or domain, try a non‑destructive recovery, and only then use an offline reset—after copying any important data off the disk.

First check domain vs workgroup: at the XP logon screen the “Log on to:” box shows the domain name if the machine is domain‑joined. Domain account passwords cannot be changed from the local machine—domain administrator intervention is required. For workgroup/local accounts, proceed with local recovery/reset options.

Non‑destructive recovery: boot an Ophcrack LiveCD/USB to attempt cracking the account hash. It can reveal short/simple passwords without modifying the disk, but it is not guaranteed to work on complex passwords. If recovery fails, use an offline reset tool (Offline NT Password & Registry Editor / ntpasswd) to clear the local account password. High‑level steps: make a bootable media, boot the PC, select the Windows partition, choose the local account, clear the password, write changes, reboot and log on with a blank password, then set a new one in Control Panel or via the command line:

net user Administrator newpassword

or

net user SomeUser *

Important cautions: resetting a local password will break access to EFS‑encrypted files and can invalidate saved credentials or mapped shares that relied on the old password. If multiple machines used the same local account/password for sharing, changing one machine’s local password will disrupt those connections—coordinate changes or recreate matching accounts on the other machines. Only perform these actions on systems with proper authorization. If access to files is the priority, boot a Linux live CD first and copy essential data to external media before any reset. ’s timing comment aside, these steps cover practical, low‑risk options for regaining access.

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Member Avatar for binoj_daniel

You cannot get the old password but if you want you can reset the old password to a new one. Retrieving the old password may be a tough task.

Member Avatar for anirudh33

hi there,

Have you tried again entering using your safe mode and then changing the password from there?

Anirudh

Member Avatar for happygeek

I imagine it's a little late, seeing as he was asking over three years ago now...

commented: my bad..........i am still confused how come i missed the date +1
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