5 Ways To Find Lost
Windows Passwords
Lost your Windows password? Don't panic,
the world is not coming to an end.The Windows logon password is one of the most
important passwords we have memorized and if you've lost (okay... forgotten)
this password, the entire world can seem just out of reach.Lucky for all of us,
there are several ways to find your lost password in Windows:
Note: All
of the ways listed below to find lost passwords apply to Windows 7, Windows
Vista, and Windows XP. Some of these ideas might work for older Windows operating systems as
well.
1. Use
Your Password Reset Disk
©The easiest way to get out of a "lost Windows
password" predicament is to use your password reset disk - assuming of
course you have one. You'll know if you do.
Creating a
password reset disk, which can actually be a flash drive or a floppy disk,
depending on your version of Windows, is something you have to do before you lose your Windows password, not
after. So, as is probably obvious, if you never created one yourself before
losing access to Windows then this option isn't going to do you any good.
However,
once you do find your lost Windows password, as I'm sure you will with one of
the other methods below, come right back here and learn how to create a
password reset disk so you can avoid all this trouble next time.
Note: You only have to make a password reset disk
once. No matter how many times you change your password after creating the
disk, it will still work to reset your lost password.
2. Have an Administrator Change Your
Password
The next
easiest way to find a lost Windows password is to forget the idea of finding it
at all! Just have one of the other users on your computer change your lost
password for you.
This will
only work if one of the other people you share your computer with has a Windows
logon account that's setup with administrator level access. One account usually is
so be sure to give this a try with as many accounts as you can.
Tip: The first account that was setup in Windows is
often times setup with administrator access.
Obviously
you'll have to pass on this idea entirely if you're the only user on your
computer.
3. Guess Your Password
Don't
laugh! I know this might seem like obvious advice and something I'm sure you think you've done already. Your first
reaction to a lost password was probably to "think really hard" and
that didn't work.
The trick
here is to make an educated guess. Most passwords, even
complicated and well designed ones, are inspired by the people, places, and
things in the account holder's life.
For
example, could your lost Windows password have had something to do with a loved
one's birthday, a pet's name, an often dialed telephone number, etc.? See the
link below for tons of great ideas to get your wheels turning.
4. Hack
Into Windows With a Password Recovery Tool
Hacking
into Windows might sound dangerous, illegal, and too complicated but the
reality is quite the opposite.
Windows
password recovery tools are just software programs that you can freely download
from various legitimate websites and then use to either find the lost Windows
password or quickly reset/delete it, allowing you back in.
Important: In almost all cases where the three ideas
above aren't options, a Windows password recovery program is the successful
strategy. These password recovery programs are completely safe and easy to use,
even for a computer novice, as long as you can follow some step-by-step
directions.
5. Clean
Install Windows
This is the
option you really don't want to try but I include it here
because it's a surefire fix for a Windows lost password problem.
A clean
install of Windows is a complete erasure of your hard drive, followed by a
reinstallation of the Windows operating system. I have some great step-by-step
tutorials linked below but the clean install process is time consuming and you
lose everything in the process.
If you
skipped the Windows password recovery tool option above because it sounded too
complicated, please know that a clean install ismuch more involved.
