I caught a problem. My brother stupidly changed my Windows 7 password the other day, but then he forgot the new password exactly. Now both he and I cannot access to the machine. Can you give me some methods to access my computer again? Any advice is appreciative.
The following 2 methods can help you reset the password. You can get a try.
1. Use Windows 7 built-in administrator account
If you are using Windows XP, you may know a good way to get back the forgotten XP password is to unhide the Windows built-in administrator account. Then can we still use the same way to retrieve a Windows 7 forgot password as you may wonder? I am afraid I have to tell you "No". This is because the account (built-in administrator) in Windows 7 or Vista, is disabled by default, so that we cannot use it until we enable it.
If you have your Windows 7 administrator account which was the account you used day to day locked out, but you have other standard user account or guest user account, you then can enable this Windows 7 built-in Admin to reset your forgotten admin password. Now follow the below steps to enable the built-in Admin:
1. Log on with other accessible user account which is not with administrative privileges.
(Note: If you have other administrative user account on your Windows 7 computer, you can directly use that account to reset your forgotten password and skip this method.)
2. Open the Local Users and Groups management from "My Computer > Management".
3. In the left pane, please click on the Users folder. Then Click on Administrator in the middle pane. Next, click on Properties.
4. Uncheck the Account is disabled box, then click OK to finish.
5. Log off your computer and you will see the built-in Administrator logon icon enabled from the log on screen. Then just click on it without entering any password to log on to built-in admin and next reset your forgotten Windows 7 password from Control Panel there.
2. Use Ophcrack to recover Windows 7 password
Ophcrack is the first tool I would like to introduce to you, as it is thought the best free Windows password recovery tool, because it is fast and easy enough for people who lost or forgot their password for the first time. No need any technical knowledge, you just need to do some clicks follow the steps below:
1. Download the free ISO image from its website on an accessible computer and then install the program on the accessible computer.
2. Put a CD/DVD or USB flash drive into the accessible computer, then burn the program into the CD/DVD or USB flash drive to make the CD/DVD or USB flash drive into a Windows password reset disk.
3. Insert the burned CD/DVD or USB flash drive into your locked computer, then boot from the disk to reset your lost or forgot Windows password.
Note: Though it is easy and fast for people who lost or forgot their password to recover the password, but some users of this tool recommend that this tool can just recover less than 14-character password on Windows 7.