This post describes how to reset a forgotten Windows 7 administrator password:
First create a Windows 7 installation disc or pen drive. For pen drive, you can use Rufus.
Once you have an installation medium, boot off it. You may need to tweak the bios settings at boot to enable booting from this.
Once installation starts, choose “Repair your computer” option. Get to the command prompt, and execute the following command:
copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\ copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe
Reboot PC. Start windows, get to the login screen, and press Shift key 5 times to get an admin (elevated permissions) command prompt. Execute the following:
net user myuser newpwd
to change the password for the user “myuser”.
If you dont have an admin user installed, create one now:
net user /add [username] [password]
This creates the user account.
Add the new user to Admin group:
net localgroup administrators [username] /add
As a security precaution (even though Windows is inherently a security risk), always set a bios password to prevent novices from accessing your system internals. Of course, they could always open the chassis, reinsert the battery to disable the bios password. 😉
Joel G Mathew, known in tech circles by the pseudonym Droidzone, is an opensource and programming enthusiast.
He is a full stack developer, whose favorite languages are currently Python and Vue.js. He is also fluent in Javascript, Flutter/Dart, Perl, PHP, SQL, C and bash shell scripting. He loves Linux, and can often be found tinkering with linux kernel code, and source code for GNU applications. He used to be an active developer on XDA forums, and his tinkered ROMS used to be very popular in the early 2000s.
His favorite pastime is grappling with GNU compilers, discovering newer Linux secrets, writing scripts, hacking roms, and programs (nothing illegal), reading, blogging. and testing out the latest gadgets.
When away from the tech world, Dr Joel G. Mathew is a practising ENT Surgeon, busy with surgeries and clinical practise.