Ever had an occasion when you've removed a computer from a domain, and can't remember the administrator password to log on locally? I've been guilty of this on several occasions (I had it last week when I removed a domain controller from the network, and was left with a file server that I could not log in to!)
I know there are various utilities that enable you to reset the password, but this is a useful way of doing it without any hacks, or third party tools. This works with Windows 7 and Server 2008. Although I haven't tested it on other versions of Windows, I don't see why it won't work on those.
- Boot your PC from your Windows 7/Server 2008 installation Disk.
- When you are prompted, choose your language.
- Select partition and installation version and click next.
- Select Repair your Computer
- Select Command Prompt (Open a command prompt window)
- Type the following :-
- cd c:\windows\system32
- move utilman.exe utilman.exe.bak
- copy cmd.exe utilman.exe
- Restart your computer
From the command line, type :-
net user administrator P455word
Try logging on with the new password - Voila!
Don't forget to copy back the original utilman.exe file.
