How to get into old laptop? Wife forgets her password.

April 14, 2020, 05:33 PM

The wife drug out an old Dell laptop with Windows 7 for the grandkids to use. However, she can't remember her log in password. Any help on how to bypass and then reset would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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April 14, 2020, 05:57 PM

Phelen_Kell

I've used this in the past and it has worked

https://ophcrack.sourceforge.io/download.php

April 14, 2020, 05:59 PM

airbubba

format & do a clean install, if you have the install disk.

April 14, 2020, 06:02 PM

mark123

I believe Hiren’s BootCD has a password recovery.

April 14, 2020, 06:03 PM

MG34_Dan

quote:
Originally posted by Phelen_Kell:
I've used this in the past and it has worked
https://ophcrack.sourceforge.io/download.php

Yep, OPHCrack works like a champ. I've used it for years and it works great. I highly recommend it.

April 14, 2020, 06:07 PM

0-0

You will need a flash drive.

Download a copy of Hiren's boot CD and Rufus. First has what you need to boot the machine and a tool to reset the Administrator password of the computer.

Rufus lets you turn the CD image into a bootable flash drive.

Boot from the USB drive, load Hiren's disk and search the password tools.

Should be a quick fix.

0-0

April 14, 2020, 06:11 PM

0-0

Feel free to contact me if you need further assistance. Email in profile.

0-0

April 14, 2020, 10:56 PM

jprebb

quote:
Originally posted by mark123:
I believe Hiren’s BootCD has a password recovery.

This works very well.

JP

April 15, 2020, 06:59 AM

myrottiety

quote:
Originally posted by jprebb:
quote:
Originally posted by mark123:
I believe Hiren’s BootCD has a password recovery.

This works very well.

JP

Another +1. I had a coworker call me a hacker firing up a old laptop with this.

April 15, 2020, 11:09 AM

sigcrazy7

If it’s so easy to bypass, what is the purpose of setting a password in the first place?

April 15, 2020, 11:12 AM

BigSwede

She's lying, women don't forget anything

April 15, 2020, 12:40 PM

MRMATT

Thank you. Found a youtube video that did the trick.

April 15, 2020, 12:59 PM

Jack830

quote:
Originally posted by MRMATT:
Thank you. Found a youtube video that did the trick.

Please share the link.
Regards, Jack

April 15, 2020, 01:53 PM

MRMATT

Sorry, Jack830, unable to do so with my crumby tablet. I have Xfinity voice and just asked my TV to find a you tube video that showed how to bypass windows7 log in. It was the first video on the list.

April 15, 2020, 01:56 PM

Aeteocles

quote:
Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
If it’s so easy to bypass, what is the purpose of setting a password in the first place?

Passwords on computers are not a security feature. It's a user administration feature. It's to verify that the person using the computer has permission to do so. It's like a lock on a filing cabinet. It will literally stop no one other than the people in the office who all agree that having a key is a proxy for permission to access.

Generally, nothing on your computer is protected from access unless you take additional steps to secure it. For most computers, the default is that files are stored unencrypted in plain view for anyone to see.

If you want to protect your computer from a security standpoint, you start with whole drive encryption that needs unlocking at bootup.