I apparantly changed my Vista password to something I either can't remember or mis-typed. I have tried and tried to login. I created 2 accounts (mine/my wifes - as administrators, and my daughters (with parental controls). My computer is a Dell. I called their On Call support people - talked to 4 different technicians (none of which spoke very good English), and they were not able to get me in. I'm wondering if anyone else might can help. Is it possible that the account is somehow disabled due to the number of times I have unsuccessfully tried. Further, I downloaded from www.password-reset.com, their software on another computer, and burned the .iso file to a CD. When I booted up off the CD, the program ran and found the user accounts - the only problem is, without purchasing the license key, it won't actually let me reset the passwords. I'm trying to decide if it's worth $40 or not. Are there any other know solutions? Thanks, chipper990

Hi chipper990, Thank you for the post. I fully understand the inconvenience the issue has caused and that the current situation can be frustrating. However, please understand that password recovery is not supported by Microsoft. Ive included the following KB articles for your reference: Microsoft policy about lost or forgotten passwords http://support.microsoft.com/kb/189126 Hope the information is helpful. Sincerely, Joson Zhou Microsoft Online Community Support

I was able to find software that allowed me to reset the password. It worked like a charm, and I'm now back in. chipper990

Did you get the software to bypass? I have a rootkit in my computer that has locked me out of my admin account. I know the password, it is over 42 characters, said to be unbreakable. I have an error stating group policy failed "access Denied". What do I do. My computer came with Vista pre-installed. Even with a Account attached. I just reinstalled, but Now I find this was the rootkit account. That was put into my computer years ago, way before I bought it. What can I do? Sentenio

Hi Sentenio, Not sure if it will work for you but the ISO tool downloadable at this link http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/worked for me and is what Chipper was recommending. At first, I could not get it to work because I was not taking the propper steps to burn an ISO onto a CDR. A coworker showed me what to do using Nero. Let me know if you need help with that part of it. Disclaimer: While I successfully navigated the ISO tool and was told that my password was reset to blank, I have been unable to test the results because now I am having an issue with hal.dll. Argh. Fun times.

software doesnt solve everything you know, to bypass login passwords do the following: reboot Pc use hot key for boot menu (example: F8,DEL,ESC) boot into Safe mode login as administrator enter password if required ( normally set to default EG. password or just click on it) disable your main account password log into it when your Operating system is installed then there is an automatic adminstrator account which is created. let ne know if anyone has any luck.. thanks

I'll try it tonight!John

This does not seem to work on Vista. The admin account is disabled by default. Any additional help you could offer would be greatly appreciated Thanks

John, I have Vista Premium, not sure if that makes a difference. I would the have the software you used also to reset/bypass the admin password. Thanks.

hey chipper990, when you first boot up your computer press F8 in which usually takes you to the advance boot options page, select 'safe mode' and this administrator account should have no password by default. when you are in go into control panel and remove passwords from each account. then boot up normally and your in mate. email me on: Simonsmith90@hotmail.co.uk let me know the outcome. *** depending on the manufacturer the advanced boot options hot key may be DEL so try each as soon as the black screen initilizes the memory ect..***

I was able to reset my user account password on my HP laptop running Vista Home Premium (did not have SP1 installed at the time) using the tool found on this website: http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/. What you'll need is access to another computer that you can burn the ISO image onto a CD with. I used Nero Burning Rom to make a CD that worked (tried using Windows burning utility and it didn't work to boot from). If you can't do that I could mail you the CD I made. I wouldn't say this is a fail safe solution or that I can guarantee it will work for you. I was pretty darn surprised when I got through it successfully and was able to get into my user account without any loss of data or anything else. Read all the documentation on the website (above) and follow the instructions exactly. Good luck!

Please helpme with this issue. It is driving me crazy and boy do I feel stupid. the fact is I am like you, I have a daughter and she love to be on the computer all day. when I cant be home to watch her I changed the password but oops this time I forgot to write it down.

for vista go to command promt and type net user administartor active:yes to unlock built in admin cheerss.i.e.9.0