How to reset the Windows Administrator user password.
- Download Ubuntu https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
- Create a bootable usb drive
- Insert the bootable Ubuntu in to the computer you want to reset Administrator.
- Boot from the usb device.
- Run Ubuntu Live (Trial)
- Open the Ubuntu Software Center
- Check the box: Community-maintained free and open-source software (universe)
- Open a terminal
- Update with this command:
sudo apt-get update
- Install Chntpw with this command:
sudo apt-get install chntpw
- locate the windows disk by running
lsblk
- It should be the device that matches your hard drive size.
- In this example we'll use
/dev/sda2
- Create a directory to mount the disk in /media (or anywhere really)
sudo mkdir /media/win
- Mount the drive to our new mount point
sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media/win
- cd to the directory within our windows drive that contains the SAM file. (this may vary between systems, check yours)
cd /media/win/Windows/System32/config
- Unlock and Reset the Administrator password using the chntpw utility.
sudo chntpw -u Administrator SAM
- Follow the on-screen prompts as they may be updated from the time of writing this guide.
- To unlock the account select: 2
- Then reset (blank) the password select: 1
- Press q to quit
- When prompted press y to save the changes.
- All done! Now you can restart the computer and log into the local Administrator account without a password.