How to Reset or Change a Lost Windows XP Password

If you have forgotten the \*\*Administrator\*\* password set long ago, or if you never knew it, you can reset it. To do this, follow the steps below. Before starting these procedures, download the \*\*offline nt passwords & registry editor\*\* program by clicking on this link. Burn the ISO file inside this downloaded file onto a blank CD. Make sure the computer whose password you will reset has a working CD-ROM drive. Also, check that your computer's BIOS is configured to boot from the CD-ROM.

1. Insert the CD you created into your computer.
2. If your computer is on, restart it to boot the computer; if it's off, press the power button to turn it on.
3. After your computer starts, some text will scroll on a black screen. When it stops, you will see a menu asking you to make a selection, which includes the English text "Please select partition by number or". Press \*\*1\*\* and then \*\*Enter\*\*.

1. After seeing the text Windows/system32/config, press \*\*Enter\*\* again.

1. Now another selection menu will appear. From here, we press \*\*1\*\* and then \*\*Enter\*\*. This selects 'Password reset'.

1. To determine which user's password we will reset, press \*\*1\*\* again and then \*\*Enter\*\* in the menu that appears.

1. The current menu displays the users on the computer. From here, type \*\*Administrator\*\* and press \*\*Enter\*\*.

1. Now press \*\*1\*\* and then \*\*Enter\*\* to indicate that you want to clear the password.

1. The process will complete immediately, and it will return to the previous menu. On this menu, you should see \*\*\\*BLANK\\*\*\* next to the user whose password you just reset.

1. To exit, press the following keys in order: \*\*q ENTER y ENTER n ENTER \*\*