Gain Administrator Access Without a Password

Alexleonardme acquired a used PC but doesn't have an administrator password. He asked the Windows forum for help. 

There are a number of ways to gain access to a password-protected administrator account. I'll offer two.

The first one is quick and easy, but only works in XP. If the used PC runs Vista or Windows 7, skip the next three paragraphs.

XP contains a backdoor entrance to administrator control. The following will only work if the previous owner didn't know enough to close the backdoor.

First, boot into Safe Mode: Start your PC, and press F5 before the Windows logo appears. (It may take a few tries to get the timing right.) From the resulting Boot menu, select Safe Mode. When the logon screen appears, it will probably contain a user you've never seen before, Administrator, that does not have a password. Thus, you can enter Windows as an administrator-level user.

Once inside Windows, you can use Control Panel's User Accounts applet to change the password on the other administrator account or create a new one for yourself. And while you're there, you might also want to add a password to the Administrator account in order to close the backdoor. But that's probably the case.


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