Admin Password finder

[#1]

A friend of mine has been given a couple of laptops from his work place, (redundant items due to upgrade).  Unfortunately, for him, he cannot put on some new programs (for his kids) as he says he needs "admin password" before he can proceed.
Does anyone know how to bypass this ? or if there is a free software that will give him the password.?

[#2]

This allows you to reset your password on your machine. Its free.
http://www.pcloginnow.com/
Regards
Jeff

[#3]

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm
Regards,
Neil

[#4]

I'd get him to get a boot CD/DVD and format the HDD and reinstall windows, best in long run then he'll know of everything thats installed

[#5]

Hi Guys,
Thanks to all three of you... I will pass them on to him. and he can "fiddle around" to fix them !!
Cheers 
Gerry

[#6]

Being from work the first port of call should be work as they may tell him the admin password as its normally standard for each company.
The other thing is how is he logging on? If its been a works laptop there could be 2 logins one for a domain and one for the local  machine. If the machine is set to log in to a domain and allow caching he could be logging in to the domain not the local machine there will be more than one name in the drop down list for the machine name

[#7]

Not sure how he is logging on, but I will pass on your comments..... He has a bout of flu at the mo, so only contact will be by email or text, as my wife will get the flu is she hears me talking to him on the phone !!! 

[#8]

Although neils suggestion of using the password cracker on petris website, and it does work, I have used it on a number of occasions, when trying to access PCs, that have been obtained second hand for our local community centre, I have always found that a HDD wipe and reinstall is the best bet. You know whats on there, and with machines that have been on domains previously, as has been said there are 2 passwords, and you may find the systems are slower, as they may be trying to fins previous network resources. I would just wipe em clean and start again, assuming of course you have the licences etc for windows, or just try linux.

[#9]

There is a simple, built in and free method to change the administrator password for any XP machine, provided you can log in on any other account.
First log in to whatever account you can. Then click start->Run. Type in cmd and press enter
When the command line window opens, check the time displayed on your clock (bottom right corner) and add a minute or so to it for use in the command described below. in the command window type: -

AT hh:mm /interactive cmd.exe

substituting the time from the clock in the position shown as hh:mm. Now press enter. You should get a reply stating that a job has been scheduled and it will give a ID number. Now close the command window.
If you have entered the command correctly, at the time you specified, a command window will open again ready for you to type into. In this window type: -

net user Administrator NEWPASSWORD

where NEWPASSWORD is the password that you want to set for the administrator account. You should get a response stating that the requested action has been completed. Close the command window. Now log in to the administrator account using the the new password.

[#10]

Quote

There is a simple, built in and free method to change the administrator password for any XP machine

Will this only work if logged in on an account with admin privileges? A quick Google seems to indicate that this is the case, though not using exactly your method.
A good idea for anyone who has recovered their password, or indeed has not yet lost it, is to create a password recovery disk:
"How to create and use a password reset disk for a computer that is not a domain member in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305478
I do not have passwords on any of my PCs, but I have recovery disks for all of them in case someone sets an admin password (accidently or otherwise)!
Regards,
Neil

[#11]

Heres how I do it
Download the Trinity Rescue Kit from http://www.trinityhome.org/, and burn the ISO image to a blank CD. (it's free)
Boot the pc off the CD and it will load the Linux OS
At the command prompt type winpass -u Administrator
It will search for volumes and prompt you which volume to mount
When the windows volume is mounted you then have four options one being to reset the password (you don't need to enter the old password)
You can also enable the admin account if it has been disabled.
Boot into safe mode and login as administrator
hope this helps

[#12]

If any of the team here had done that I'd have made sure they were fired at the first opportunity. Business Computers should be completely wiped before releasing anywhere outside the company/organisation. The IT team could then simply have re-installed Windows and given your friend a new admin password and the advantage of a clean build.
For the sake of a few hours on the bench (most of which will simply be waiting for the wipe to finish or setup to complete) this is unforgivable.

[#13]

100% agree with PJ.
Computers should have been wiped before release.

[#14]

It's not a case of  "should have" is it?  I'd have thought it was a legal requirement to comply with data protection etc.

[#15]

well there is another way http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7816446.stm