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  Billson3 wrote:

  My Dad 82 years old has just decided to take up the computer.   We set up his new notebook which has Vista with his name and a PW.   When he went to use it on his own the initial page wants his PW.   He unknowingly entered the wrong PW several times.   We cannot get past this page and change PW does not offer us the change but asks for a USB device or disk.

   

  It is probably asking for the Password Reset disk. Was this disk created when the password was added to his account?

   

  If not and he is using an Administrator account, you may be stuck?

   

  How can we get past this block and reset his PW?   This is surely a simple problem but I have not been able to find the trick.   Please and thanks

   

  Not simple, Vista is much more secure than previous versions of windows.

   

  If there is another Administrator account on the computer, you can log on with that account, go to User Accounts in Control Panel, select his account, remove the password, and then create another password and a pssword reset disk.

   

  Otherwise you will need to use one of the following options to recover.

   

  There are several ways to recover if you did not create a password reset disk when you set the password on that admin account.

  If you have a retail Vista installation disk, you can use the procedure from the following website. Use the Option 2 there.

   

  What do I do: I can no longer log in or elevate to an administrator account:
  http://www.jimmah.com/vista/Administration/locked_out_of_admin.aspx

  
  If you do not have an installation disk, there are free password recovery procedures on the internet, I usually do not recommend these simply because they require advanced computer skills and some of them can turn your computer into an expensive doorstop.

   

  Offline NT Password & Registry Editor:
  http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/main.html

  
  As a last resort, there is software available that you can purchase that will solve the problem, easily.

   

  The program that I recommend is the first one, it is very easy to create a recovery disk that you can use on any Windows PC. These recovery programs usually cost about 30-40 USD.

   

  @PC: Windows Password Recovery Software. Reset Administrator Password. XP VISTA 2003 2000 NT.:
  http://www.password-changer.com/

   

  Windows Password Recovery Key - Resets the Administrator account password:
  http://tinyurl.com/2qr7oc

   

  
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  Ronnie Vernon
  Microsoft MVP
  Windows Desktop Experience

  Thursday, September 4, 2008 1:22 AM

  Moderator