Good free password reset tool for Vista and 7?

I've spent way too much time on this. I have a computer in the shop that I just can't seem to reset the password to, even with different peices of software.

The software I am using may work, and the problem may be a screwed up OS, but I'm not sure.

I've run across Vista machines like this now and then. There are times when you have to reset the password, like the machine was given to them, a spouse with something to hide, changes the password, forgotten password, etc. XP I have been successful with, though.

Is there anything free out there that works reliably, that you have experience with?

I may end up buying the software I need, but free would work well right now.

Troy

ntchpwd is a good linux utility.
ophcrack used to work for me.

Tried ophcrack on this machine. Did not work for some reason. I don't know about the other one you mentioned.

We got our hands on the password, but still, finding some good free password tools would be valuable to me in the field.

I tried the "offline NT password recovery," something named like that. That didn't work either.

I think it may have had something to do with this particular machine, and the file system being messed up or something.

Troy

reply to post by cybertroy


Try logging in as "Administrator" with no password. Works every time for me. Then just reset the password for the user. If you lost the Admin password, there are tools out there, but I think none are free.

Ultimate Boot CD has a pw editor.
ultimatebootcd.com

This worked for me
home.eunet.no...

try creating a password reset disk for next time

here are some more tools which might come in handy

Yeah, I don't know what the deal was about resetting that password. I finally just told my friend to get the password, and so the computer was dis-infected after that. I made one of those ultimate boot CDs some time back. The problem with some of my disks is that on some machines they run fine, on some they will not. Like with my Knoppix or other flavors of Linux I use for data recovery, some of them simply will not work on some machines. I think it may be a compatibility issue of the disk itself. If someone could recommend a brand of optical media that has high compatibility, then let me know.

I haven't found a way to use a live Linux distro, on a hard drive that will not allow you to mount it, because of improper Windows shutdowns. If the system is so messed up that it just loops, I don't know how to fix the problem, other than just use the hard drive as a USB drive through an adapter on a different machine. I prefer the Linux Live CD data recovery method on messed up machines. It means I don't have to take the machine apart. It makes things convenient. Of course I think if I had a reliable Ultimate Boot CD, I could use it for data recovery as well.

Troy