I have forgotten my password for Windows Vista and cannot log on. How do I reset my password?

jjones | Windows Vista | 06/06/2008 12:13pm
4 Comments

Use an administrator account to reset the password

If you have forgotten your password to a user account, but you or another person can still log on to the administrator account, then you can change it there. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the administrator account.

2. Click on the Start button and type in lusrmgr.msc into Start Search.

3. Double-click Local Users and Groups, and then click Users.

4. Right-click the account that you want to reset the password for, and then click Set Password.

5. Type in and confirm the new password.

Please note that these steps do not work in Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows Vista Home Premium.

Create a password reset disk

You can prevent this from happening again by creating a password reset disk. Although this will be of little use for the account your already locked out of, it can save you a lot of time and frustration in the future. To create a password reset disk:

1. Whilst in the account you want to create the disk for, click Start > Control panel.

2. Double click on User Accounts to open it.

3. Insert a USB thumb drive into your computer.

4. Click Create a password reset disk on the left-hand side of the screen.

5. When the Forgotten Password wizard opens, click Next and then select the removable media where you want to save the password reset key to.

6. Type in the current password and then press Next.

7. Once the password reset key has been created, click Next and then remove the USB thumb drive. Make sure you keep the password reset disk somewhere safe, in case you need it in the future.

8. If you do forget your password, on the log in screen select Reset my password and insert the password reset disk.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Windows Vista. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.