If you forget your Windows 7 password, you've got trouble. If an ex-employee changes the account passwords on your small business's computers before leaving, you've got big trouble. Here's how to head off that possibility, and how to recover if it's already happened.
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You probably won't forget your own Windows account password, but you may well need to help a friend or relative who did. Business owners–laid off anyone lately? A disgruntled employee might well lock your business's main PC with an unknown password just before leaving even without ill-will, an employee might take another job or (perish the thought) succumb to illness without passing on the password. This could be devastating for a small business. What can you do?
Be Prepared
Windows 7 accounts come in two flavors, Standard and Administrator. In a business, you can head off many password problems by ensuring that all day-to-day activities occur under Standard accounts. Do keep one Administrator-level account active, with a strong password known only to you. That's also a good plan for the family computer. Give everyone Standard accounts and retain one Administrator account just for you.
Windows 7 accounts come in two flavors, Standard and Administrator. In a business, you can head off many password problems by ensuring that all day-to-day activities occur under Standard accounts. Do keep one Administrator-level account active, with a strong password known only to you. That's also a good plan for the family computer. Give everyone Standard accounts and retain one Administrator account just for you.
When it's necessary to install new programs or take other Administrator actions, go over and enter the password in the User Account Control window. Sure, it's a tiny effort, but Windows 7 doesn't ask for that password as much as Vista did.
In earlier versions of Windows, you could press Ctrl+Alt+Del at the Welcome screen to get an old-style entry box for username and password. You would enter the username Administrator, along with the corresponding password, to log in with the Administrator account. Of course, that only works when you know the Administrator password.
Windows 7 hides the Administrator account by default, and the Ctrl+Alt+Del trick doesn't work. Yes, by tweaking the Registry you can put Administrator on the Welcome screen. However, since any user with Administrator-level privileges can change the main Administrator password, there's no big benefit to doing so. If you ensure that nobody other than yourself can use the PC with Administrator privilege, you should be safe from password lockout.
Be Prepared, Part Two
Suppose you weren't prepared; suppose that disgruntled ex-employee had an Administrator-level account and changed the passwords for all Administrator-level accounts (yes, he could do that). Or suppose your dear uncle has simply forgotten his password from one day to the next. You can use a password reset disk to reset the account's password and thereby regain access to the system. Of course, you can only do that if you already prepared the reset disk, so do that right now.
Suppose you weren't prepared; suppose that disgruntled ex-employee had an Administrator-level account and changed the passwords for all Administrator-level accounts (yes, he could do that). Or suppose your dear uncle has simply forgotten his password from one day to the next. You can use a password reset disk to reset the account's password and thereby regain access to the system. Of course, you can only do that if you already prepared the reset disk, so do that right now.
Launch Control Panel, click User Accounts, and click the link "Create a password reset disk" at left. Follow the prompts to create a bootable diskette or USB drive that will let you reset your password. Then store it somewhere safe. Consider doing the same for relatives when you pay them a visit.
Get Your Geek On
There are a number of very intricate techniques to reset the password for a Windows 7 user account. Many start with Windows Recovery Environment (RE). When you boot from the Windows 7 DVD and choose "Repair", it boots into Windows RE. Once Windows RE is running, you can open a Command Prompt, perform offline Registry editing, and more.
There are a number of very intricate techniques to reset the password for a Windows 7 user account. Many start with Windows Recovery Environment (RE). When you boot from the Windows 7 DVD and choose "Repair", it boots into Windows RE. Once Windows RE is running, you can open a Command Prompt, perform offline Registry editing, and more.
If you know what you're doing, you can dig into the Registry, change just the right byte in the data for a specific binary Registry value, and thereby enable the Administrator account. Another trick involves temporarily replacing the program file for Window's "StickyKeys" feature with CMD.EXE. Once that's done, you can press Shift five times at the Welcome screen to invoke StickyKeys. This will open a Command Prompt from which you can reset your password by typing the right command.
However, for most users these techniques are just too arcane, and a mistake could cause serious trouble. If you've got the skills to perform these tricky password reset techniques, you can surely find full details on the Internet.
Get Help
Companies like Passcape Software, Elcomsoft, and others offer Windows password recovery tools at a reasonable price. Free tools are also available, though you'll want to check reviews before making a choice. Once you've recovered the password you're home free.
Companies like Passcape Software, Elcomsoft, and others offer Windows password recovery tools at a reasonable price. Free tools are also available, though you'll want to check reviews before making a choice. Once you've recovered the password you're home free.
Do be sure to choose a password recovery tool, not a password reset tool. If the user encrypted any files using Windows's built-in Encrypting File System, resetting the password will make those files inaccessible. Yes, Elcomsoft and others offer tools to crack EFS-encrypted files, but you can avoid that potential problem by recovering rather than resetting the password.
Follow Up
Now that you've regained access to the system, go back and follow the initial advice in this article. Set all the user accounts to Standard except for one Administrator account that only you can access. For day-to-day activity, use one of the Standard accounts. And create a password reset disk, just in case. That way you won't get burned again.
Now that you've regained access to the system, go back and follow the initial advice in this article. Set all the user accounts to Standard except for one Administrator account that only you can access. For day-to-day activity, use one of the Standard accounts. And create a password reset disk, just in case. That way you won't get burned again.
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