Johnny Helpdesk

To summarize this blog, the following are the simple steps I took to reset (clear) an Administrator password in Windows Vista:

• Boot from the CD on the system where the account in question exists
• <enter> [To boot normally]
• <enter> [To select the default drive]
• <enter> [To select the default path to the Windows Registry]
• <enter> [To edit a user account]
• <enter> [To edit user data and passwords]
• <account_name> [To select the desired account to manipulate]
• "1" [To clear the password]
• "!" [To quit the edit user menu]
• "q" [To quit the main menu]
• "y" [To save changes]
• <enter> [To exit the program]
• CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot

Additionally, a flash video is available below which shows me going through the process of clearing a password with Petter's chpwnt utility. You can click to full-screen button on the player to view the video better. You can also pause and resume the video numerous times to examine the output as the video moves along quite quickly.