Can I somehow get the password of the currently logged in user account ?

[Leslie Brooks]

A friend defined on his computer to logon WITHOUT having to enter the password.

He logs in automatically as "Administrator".

Now I convinced him to use the logon screen with password.

How can we find out now the current password for the Administrator account
which ic currently active (he forgot it)?

If this is not possible: How can we at least overwrite the old password with a new without having to
enter the old password ?

Les

 

[Gordon]

A friend defined on his computer to logon WITHOUT having to enter the password.

He logs in automatically as "Administrator".

Please be aware that it is VERY BAD PRACTICE to use the built-in
Administrator account on a day-to-day basis and as the only account on
the computer. If the account gets corrupted, as it may well do, then the
ONLY way into the machine is by doing a repair install of XP. set up a
User account and give that Admin rights for daily use, leaving the
built-in Administrator account for emergency access only.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

A friend defined on his computer to logon WITHOUT having to enter the
password.

He logs in automatically as "Administrator".

Now I convinced him to use the logon screen with password.

How can we find out now the current password for the Administrator account
which ic currently active (he forgot it)?

If this is not possible: How can we at least overwrite the old password
with a new without having to
enter the old password ?

Les

Boot the machine with a boot diskette from here:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html
then follow the prompts.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 1/16/2008 2:26 PM, and on a whim, Leslie Brooks
pounded out on the keyboard:

A friend defined on his computer to logon WITHOUT having to enter the password.

He logs in automatically as "Administrator".

Now I convinced him to use the logon screen with password.

How can we find out now the current password for the Administrator account
which ic currently active (he forgot it)?

If this is not possible: How can we at least overwrite the old password with a new without having to
enter the old password ?

Les

Hi Les,

Read here:
http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

I've used the Offline NT Password with success many times, but there are
other options there also.

Report back,

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Nepatsfan]

A friend defined on his computer to logon WITHOUT having to enter the password.

He logs in automatically as "Administrator".

Now I convinced him to use the logon screen with password.

How can we find out now the current password for the Administrator account
which ic currently active (he forgot it)?

If this is not possible: How can we at least overwrite the old password with a
new without having to
enter the old password ?

Les

If your friend is able to logon with the Administrator account, is the icon for
the Administrator account displayed when he opens the User Account applet in
Control Panel? If so, he can change the password there.

If the Administrator account isn't displayed in User Accounts, take a look at
the following web sites for info on how to make it appear.

Courtesy of Doug Knox, MS-MVP
Enable Administrator account on Welcome Screen
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_admin_ok.htm

Courtesy of Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP
How to login as Administrator in Windows XP
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/admins.htm

Keep in mind that the User Account applet that's launched by Start -> Run ->
control userpasswords2 also provides an area where the Administrator password
can be reset.

If none of these suggestions work, you can reset the Administrator password from
a command prompt by doing the following.

Go to Start -> Run and enter cmd.exe in the Open box. Click OK.
Enter the following command at the prompt substituting the correct info where it
says password.

net user Administrator password

If all these efforts fail, take a look at the following web sites for bootable
CDs that can be used to reset account passwords.

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Ultimate Boot CD for Windows®
http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Nepatsfan]

A friend defined on his computer to logon WITHOUT having to enter the password.

He logs in automatically as "Administrator".

Now I convinced him to use the logon screen with password.

How can we find out now the current password for the Administrator account
which ic currently active (he forgot it)?

If this is not possible: How can we at least overwrite the old password with a
new without having to
enter the old password ?

Les

Following up on my earlier response, I glossed over the fact that your friend is
using the built-in Administrator account. That account should be reserved for
emergency use only. Once you've sorted out the password problem, have him create
a new user account and copy his files from the Administrator account into the
new one.

How do I copy a user profile in Windows XP?
http://www.petri.co.il/copy_user_profiles_in_windows_xp.htm

To copy a user profile
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...cs/en-us/sysdm_userprofile_copy.mspx?mfr=true

How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/811151

Note: He'll have to create a third admin account to complete the above
procedure. The account can be deleted once the files have been copied.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[M.I.5¾]

A friend defined on his computer to logon WITHOUT having to enter the
password.

He logs in automatically as "Administrator".

Now I convinced him to use the logon screen with password.

How can we find out now the current password for the Administrator account
which ic currently active (he forgot it)?

If this is not possible: How can we at least overwrite the old password
with a new without having to
enter the old password ?

You can blank the administrator password with this:

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd

In theory it allows you to change the password to a new one, but results are
variable. It seems to be best to delete the password and then set a new one
in XP itself.

Note that if you have used the Encrypted File System in XP pro, then
deleting the password will also delete any access to those files (though
they shouldn't really be in the administrator account). But then if you
can't remember the password you are already in this hole.