Many users protect their account with a password from unauthorized access. Undoubtedly, using a password increases the level of security and allows you to protect personal data. Reset Windows Password is relevant in case of its loss or when the user simply forgot the password and cannot log into his previously created account. There are several ways to reset a password, but there is no need to consider everything, so we will consider only the simplest and most effective method.

The easiest method to reset your Windows password be it the operating system XP, 7 or 8 - the use of a system software product referred to as: ERD Commander MS DaRT(the abbreviation stands for “Emergency Repair Disk” and “Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset”, respectively “Emergency Repair Disk” and “Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset”).

Simply put, the ERD Commander software toolkit is a boot disk with the Windows PE operating system and a set of special utility programs loaded from removable media (CD, DVD, USB, external hard drive) to restore the working state of the Windows operating system.

In order to reset your Windows password, you will need an ERD Commander image, which you can download by entering a query in the Yandex or Google search engines, the result will not keep you waiting. We downloaded the image, now we need to burn it to removable media; we didn’t have a CD at hand, so we chose a USB drive. If you don’t know “how to make a bootable USB flash drive,” you can look in this article.

After you have made a bootable USB flash drive and burned ERD Commander onto it, you need to set the Bios I/O system to boot from the primary device and specify your removable media.

If all of the above steps are performed correctly, a window will appear in front of you with a selection of operating systems and their bit capacity. Choose the one you need.

After some time, the system will prompt you to select an operating system from the list, indicate your system.

The “System Recovery Options” window will appear; select the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset menu item.

Note: for the Windows XP operating system, the location and name of the Windows password reset utility is different from Windows 7 and 8, so you need to follow this path Start → System Tools → Locksmith

Make the changes and restart your computer, and enter your new password when logging into your account. The Windows password reset procedure has been completed successfully!

If you have forgotten or don’t know your computer login password, you can use a special boot disk, BootPass full, which contains several programs that can be used to reset your Windows password or change your Windows 8 user password.

The BootPass 4 boot disk contains many different programs, and below is a list of only programs for resetting or replacing the Windows 8 password.

For Windows xp and lower systems

  • Active @ Password Changer.
  • Windows Gate.
  • Paragon Password Cleaner.

For Windows 7 and below systems

  • Reset Windows Password.
  • Elcomsoft System Recovery.
  • Windows key Enterprise.
  • Locksmith.
  • Recover My Pass.
  • Admin Pass Resetter.
  • Active@ Password Changer.
  • Windows Password Killer.

For Windows 8 and below systems

  • NTPWEdit.
  • Kon-Boot.
  • Password Reset.
  • Windows Key Enterprise.

Many of these programs can crack or replace the Windows 8 administrator password, and some can even guess the Windows password. Some of these programs can recover the Windows 8 administrator password after it has been changed or reset. Some of these programs can remove personal information about the account owner.

How to use BootPass

To use these programs from the BootPass disk in Windows 8, you need to burn the BootPass image to a flash drive or disk, and for this you can use the program. When the flash drive or disk is ready, you need to insert one of them into the computer and turn it on (after setting the BIOS to run first from the drive or from the USB port)

Boot disk main window

A window will open with the names of the programs. Select the Windows 8 password reset utility called Kon-Boot v2.4 and press Enter on your keyboard.


Login to windows

Now wait a minute until the Windows password cracking program resets the password and all you have to do is log into Windows 8.1 by clicking on the arrow without entering the password. The system will start and now you can change the password on it, and if you do not change the password, then the next time you start the computer (without using a flash drive with the program), you will need to enter the password to log into the system.

Let's describe the problem

  • computer, laptop with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8
  • the built-in user Administrator is disabled or the password is also forgotten
  • all users on the Windows login screen are password protected and you don't know a single one
  • user with forgotten password - a regular local account, not Windows LiveID (with mail)

If any of the above do not match, the recovery process may be different.

Problem solving process

What is needed:

  • ability to use torrent networks
  • be able to burn an ISO image to disk/USB
  • the disk itself (CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW...) or any blank USB flash drive of any capacity
  • changing the computer boot order

The method and programs indicated below are supplied “as is” - AS IS, they are not responsible for POSSIBLE damage and inoperability. The author has used this method on several computers and so far there have been no problems.

1. Download BootPass

BootPass - boot disk (Windows 7PE x86).

The disk contains full-featured programs for resetting and editing Windows passwords, programs for removing ransomware banners

Like most bootable disks, they are downloaded in ISO format.

Because a disk image in ISO format is already a standard and can be written by any program, even using standard Windows 8 tools.

Download BootPass from a torrent network (for example, http://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4487280).

You can download not all files, but only the necessary ones - the BootPass.iso file itself.

The rest are optional:

  • Iso-Burner.exe is a very small program (646KB) for burning an ISO image to disk.
  • Rufus.exe or WiNTBootic.exe to burn ISO image to USB
  • text files - for information and instructions

2. Burn BootPass.iso to disk

Now we burn the downloaded BootPass.iso image to a CD-RW optical disk or USB.

There are many recording options, we will show only 3:

2.1 Using standard Windows 8 tools

In Windows 8 this is very easy to do. Right-click to open the context menu and select “Burn disk image.”


Don't forget to insert a blank disc.

2.2 ISO-Burner

If you downloaded this program as part of a torrent, then when you launch it, the Active@ ISO Burner window will appear. There are only 2 fields - specify the path to the ISO image, select a CD-RW or DVD-RW recording device. Click "Burn ISO".

2.3 used to UltraISO

Because it can write both simple files and ISO images to optical discs and to USB, HDD, it can also create bootable disks itself and save in ISO format. In general, an advanced program.

You can download it from torrents, from the official website.

P.S. UltraISO is a shareware product, you need to buy it later if you like it. By the way, you can check whether a recorded disc will open in Explorer or not.

3. Change the computer boot order

If your boot order is already set to CD-ROM (DVD-ROM) first, or you know how, feel free to skip this step.

There are 2 ways to change the boot order of your computer:

3.1 BIOS

The BIOS of any computer has options for selecting the sequence for booting the system. If these options are not automatically displayed when you turn on the computer, press the F2 or Del buttons - they may differ depending on the model and build of your BIOS.

In the BIOS you need to go to the BOOT section and in Boot Sequence select CD/DVD as the first boot device.


Save the settings and exit (SAVE AND EXIT)

3.2 without BIOS

Most modern computers have the ability to assign a boot order without entering the BIOS. To do this, use the quick boot menu, which is called up by pressing a special key immediately after turning on the computer (for example, F10, F12 or even F8 - depending on the motherboard model).


Usually, when loading, the BIOS itself prompts you on the screen which key you need to press.

P.S. The disc must be inserted into the drive.

4. Boot the BootPass Disk

The recorded disc has been inserted, boot from CD/DVD is set, the drive is working properly, and then this window will appear.

We have a variety of programs to choose from that reset Windows passwords.

Password Reset v3.0 is enough for us. If it doesn't work, you can try others.


  • Select the user with the forgotten password and click OK. The program asks if you are sure of your desires, the answer is YES! (OK)
  • Next it will ask whether to repeat (OK) or reboot (Reboot) the computer?
  • We repeat how many users need to clear passwords and reboot the computer.
  • Confirm reboot @Yes
  • Remove the disk from the drive and click OK

5. Check

As soon as Windows boots, it will ask which user to select. Windows will not ask you for a password.

If all is well, don't forget to set a new password for your user.

P.S. In your password, use capital letters, numbers, and even better, special characters - *-+-=/?...

P.P.S. You can use phrases (rarely used) written on the English keyboard as a password. For example, "Saint Bagheera1002" -> "Cdznfz

6. What to do if

failed to reset Windows password

Go to step 4 and try another program.

Windows stopped loading

Remove all drives and USB. In the BIOS, set to boot from the HDD/SATA/SSD hard drive. As a last resort, run Windows recovery or call a wizard.

If you suddenly forgot the password for your Windows account, then you have no choice but to look for a way to reset it or install a new operating system, which in my opinion is complete madness in this case :) Nowadays you can find many different reset methods on the Internet passwords for Windows operating systems using the built-in boot tools of Windows itself, as well as using third-party special programs. Some methods are suitable for some versions of Windows, some for others, and some methods are too complicated for beginners. Previously, in one of the articles, I showed one way to reset a password using a bootable console program built on Linux, however, all actions there must be performed in the form of commands on a black screen and for beginners this may be difficult.
In this article, I will show you the simplest option for resetting an account password in any version of Windows (I even tried it on Windows 10) using the Reset Windows Password boot program. The reset process takes just 4 steps!

I would like to warn you right away that if you used a Microsoft account to log in to your computer, and not a standard local one, then none of the programs will be able to reset its password, since the Microsoft account password can only be changed on the company’s website. Therefore, this method, like all similar ones, only works if you have forgotten the password for a standard local Windows account!

The program is bootable, that is, it cannot simply be installed on a computer as is usually done. The program will launch from a disk or flash drive when the computer boots. Those. The program will need to be written to a disk or flash drive first!

Creating a bootable disk/flash drive with the Reset Windows Password program and launching it

After the program is downloaded, you need to write it to a disk or flash drive. Instructions for burning the program as an ISO file on a CD/DVD disc are located, and for writing the program as an ISO file on a flash drive -.

Since modern laptops can often be found without a disk drive for reading disks, I think that the method of writing a program to a flash drive will suit most, especially since, perhaps, every computer owner has one.

After you burn the program to a disk or flash drive, you need to run it. To do this, you should restart your computer and configure your BIOS so that the computer boots not from the hard drive as usual, but from a recorded flash drive or CD/DVD disc.

In a separate article, I gave instructions on setting up the BIOS to boot your computer from a disk or flash drive, read it if you have difficulty loading the program:

Each computer may have its own way of configuring booting from a specific device, so it is impossible to give clear recommendations... But the article at the link above should help most.

When the program starts to launch, you will see a window similar to loading regular Windows 7:

Working with the program

When the Reset Windows Password boot program starts, the first window will ask you to configure the program.

First of all, select the Russian language (1), then in the “Operation mode” section select the item “SAM - working with regular accounts” (2) and at the end under the inscription “What do you want to do?” select “Reset or change user password” (3). When everything is configured, click “Next” (4) at the bottom of the window.

The program will perform a password reset (i.e. erasing it, resetting it to zero), and not replacing the old password with a new one!

In the next window we can select the path to the “SAM” and “SYSTEM” folders to reset the password.

If you use standard Windows, where nothing has been changed globally, then the paths do not need to be changed and they will already be set correctly:

C:\Windows\System32\Config\SAM
C:\Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM

At step No. 3, select in the window the Windows account for which we want to reset the password (1) and click “Next” (2).

At the last 4th stage, click the “Reset / Change” button:

You will be prompted to create a rollback file. Using this file, you can restore the ability of the system to work if it “breaks” after running the program.

In general, the program does not go where it is not needed and does not make any serious changes in Windows, so it is easier not to create a rollback file by clicking “No” in this window.

A notification will appear indicating that the account has been changed (the password has been reset) and you can close the program and check the changes. Just click “OK” (1) in the notification window and then “Exit” (2) in the program itself.

Now remove the disk/flash drive with the program from the computer and reboot it. Windows should boot immediately without asking for a password!

As you can see, this method for resetting Windows account passwords is very simple and difficulties may arise, perhaps, only at the stage of loading the program from a flash drive or disk. But among all the methods for resetting a password, I did not find a single one that allows you to reset the password without booting from a special boot disk. Therefore, you still can’t do without it, and it’s easier to figure out how to reset your password than to reinstall Windows :))

Have a nice day and good mood! See you in the next articles;)

Due to numerous requests from readers, I decided to write detailed and simple instructions, how to reset a user account password in any version of Windows: 10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP.
So, you turned on the computer, and the system asks you to enter a password to log in. You enter the user password, but it does not match: the “invalid password” error appears. What to do if not a single password is suitable, but you need to log in? There is a solution - you can reset the password using a special program recorded on a bootable USB flash drive. Now I’ll tell you how to create such a flash drive.

You will need to briefly use any others computer. To do this, you can contact a relative, friend, neighbor, maybe you have a computer at work - I think this is not a problem now.

So, we sit down at another computer or laptop. Insert any flash drive into it:

Download a free program for resetting Windows passwords -. You can download it from the official website (or from my Yandex.Disk):

Run the downloaded file lsrmphdsetup.exe:Install the program as usual: i.e. We agree with everything and press the ““ button in all windows. Next" In the last installation window, click the “ Finish” – the program will start automatically and its shortcut will be created on the desktop:

In the start window, click the button Burn Bootable CD/USB Disk Now!(“Burn a bootable CD/USB disk right now”):

In the next window select Windows version, which is installed on the computer where we will then reset the password. Not on the list Windows 10, but it’s not scary: if you have a “ten”, then choose here Windows 8.1 with your bit depth.

By the way, on one of the forums I saw a message that you can create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 8.1 64-bit, and it will be suitable for resetting the password on any version of Windows (I checked on Windows 10 64-bit and on Windows 7 64-bit - so and is):

After you have selected the desired version of Windows, click the “ Next”:

In the next window, place a marker on the item USB Flash and select the letter of our flash drive (it is already inserted into the computer). In my case, the letter of the flash drive: F.
Then press the button “ Start”:

The program will download the necessary components from the Microsoft website for some time:

After this the program will ask: “ Should you format your USB drive now?“All files, if they are on the flash drive, will be deleted. Press the button “ Yes”:

Now we wait until the bootable USB flash drive is created:

At the end of the process, press the button “ Finish”:

All! The bootable USB flash drive with the password reset program is ready. We take it out and take it to our computer.

Insert the bootable USB flash drive into your computer. And now comes the most important, and at the same time, the most difficult moment for those who will be doing this for the first time. We need configure the computer to boot from our flash drive .

Those who know how to boot a computer from a flash drive can go straight to the end of this article. For those who don’t know how to boot from a flash drive, I’ll try to explain as clearly as possible:

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In order to “force” the computer to boot not as usual (i.e. from the hard drive), but from the device we need (in our case, from a flash drive), we need to enable a certain setting in Bios computer.

To get into this very Bios, we must immediately after turning on the computer press a certain key on the keyboard (and press not just once, but many, many times until we see the Bios on the screen).

This key is different on different computers and laptops:

  • The most commonly used key is Delete(or Del ).
  • You can also often call up the BIOS using the key F2(and on some laptops Fn+F2 ).
  • Keys are used less frequently Esc, F1, F6 and others.

In general, immediately after you press the Power button on your computer or laptop, do not wait for Windows to start loading, but immediately start pressing the key many times Delete on the keyboard. After a few seconds (5-10) you should see Bios.

If nothing like this appears, and your Windows starts loading as usual, then we don’t wait for anything else: we restart our computer again (you can directly use the Reset button) and try pressing another key many times - F2.

If you don’t get into the BIOS again, reboot the computer again and try pressing the next key - Esc. After F6 etc. But hopefully you won't have to experiment for so long: in the vast majority of cases, either the Delete or F2 key works.

By the way, a hint about which key to load the BIOS usually flashes at the bottom of the screen immediately after turning on the computer. But for some reason no one looks at her, or does not have time to look at her.

On different computers Bios different, and it looks different for everyone.

For example, on my computer it looks like this:

On another computer it will be like this:

On the third computer it’s like this:
That is, I say this because it is almost impossible to write separate instructions for each Bios.

The main thing that anyone who needs to configure booting from a flash drive should know: in the BIOS (no matter how it looks like) you need to find the section where the word is present Boot(from English “Loading”). By using the arrows on the keyboard to navigate to this section, we set it to first place in the list of boot devices flash drive.

In Bios, the flash drive may be displayed with its own name (for example, Transcend), or as USB-HDD; There are other options. One thing is important: it must be selected as the first device from which the computer will boot.

Usually the flash drive is “raised” to first place using the arrows on the keyboard, or the keys +/- , or F5/F6.

Having set the setting we need in Bios, we must leave it, not forgetting to save the changes made. To do this you need to go to the section Exit(it’s usually the last one) – and there select the item “ Save and Exit” (“Save and Exit”). And then confirm once again that we are leaving by clicking “ Yes”.

That's all: if you did everything correctly, the computer will reboot and boot from the flash drive (press the Delete key again, or F2, or something else - no need!).

Many people don’t even want to bother creating a bootable flash drive with any software, because... They are afraid that they still won’t be able to configure the computer to boot from it. I tried to describe this entire process of booting from a flash drive in as much detail as possible. If you have mastered this text, I hope it has become at least a little clearer and now all that remains is to practice.

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So, I created a bootable USB flash drive on another computer with a password reset program. I insert this flash drive into my computer and turn it on.

Immediately I press the key many, many times Delete on the keyboard. After a few seconds I get into Bios.

Using the arrows on the keyboard, I go to the section Boot(although in my Bios you can work with the mouse - in older versions of Bios this will not work).

Here my first device now is hard drive(ACHI PO: WDC WD50...):
I select this line using the arrow on the keyboard and press the key Enter. A list of devices from which you can boot opens. In my case, this is a hard drive and my flash drive (it is listed here twice). We raise to the first place in the list - flash drive(if there is a choice: USB or UEFI, then choose UEFI). We do this using the arrows on the keyboard or keys +/- , or F5/F6:

Now the flash drive is in first place in the list of boot devices:

Now we exit here, saving the changes. To do this, move the arrow on the keyboard to the last section Exit. Select the line Save Changes and Exit- press the key Enter:

Then select Yes:

After a while, a menu opens in which, using the key Enter we select an item Lazesoft Live CD:

Wait while it downloads:

In the next window, check that the item is selected Reset Windows Password(“Reset Windows Password”) and press the button Next:

A window will pop up with a message about non-commercial use of the program - click Yes:

Click again Next:

In the next window highlight the username, whose password will be reset and click Next:

Click on the button RESET/UNLOCK:

The password has been successfully reset - click OK. Then Finish:

We go to “ Start” and press Reboot Computer(“Restart computer”):

Click OK:

After the computer restarts, we can login to windows without password!