How to Access VISTA without a Password

Member

By Limowreck
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating:

(5 Ratings)

Access Vista without a Password

Lose your Vista Administrator password? Not to worry. You can easily access Vista and reset your administrator password in a few simple steps.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Vista

Step 1

START THE COMPUTER. DO THIS BY PRESSING THE POWER BUTTON. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL WINDOW LOADS TO PERFORM STEP 2.
Step 2

PRESS F8 KEY ***BEFORE*** WINDOWS VISTA BEGINS START UP. THIS WILL PROVIDE A LIST OF OPTIONS FOR HOW TO PROCEED.
Step 3

CHOOSE TO START YOUR COMPUTER IN "SAFE MODE".
Step 4

OPEN THE START MENU.
Step 5

OPEN THE CONTROL PANEL (from within the Start Menu).
Step 6

SELECT "USER ACCOUNTS AND FAMILY SAFETY" IN THE CONTROL PANEL POP-UP WINDOW.
Step 7

CLICK THE "CHANGE YOUR WINDOWS PASSWORD" LINK BENEATH THE "USER ACCOUNTS" SECTION.
Step 8

CLICK "REMOVE PASSWORD". VERIFY AND SUBMIT.
Step 9

RESTART YOUR COMPUTER NORMALLY. DO NOT PRESS F8.
Step 10

TO RESET A PASSWORD, ACCESS THE "USER ACCOUNTS AND FAMILY SAFETY" MENU AGAIN. THIS TIME CLICK "CHANGE YOUR WINDOWS PASSWORD", PROVIDE THE DESIRED PASSWORD, VERIFY AND SUBMIT. THIS TIME, WRITE YOUR PASSWORD DOWN.

Tips & Warnings

This process is not necessary if your computer is already running. It is easier, if the pc is running, to create a new user account and grant administrator privileges.

Comments

cooldown12 said

Flag This Comment

on 10/11/2009 it did not work for me

on 1/20/2009 Did you really try this? When you boot in SAFE mode, you still have to log onto the computer if user management is active. SAFE mode disables many drivers, as a means of bypassing driver conflict problems. It does not subvert security.

To recover, you will either need to reinstall Vista or use a 3rd party boot up utility that will allow you to override a user password (of course, not sanctioned by Microsoft).