While this password reset procedure would classify as a “hack” of sorts, there’s no software to download or extraordinary computer skills required. If you can follow directions, you can reset your Windows 7 password this way. If you’re watching closely, you may catch a Windows is loading files screen. If you see that, or an Install Windows screen, or a System Recovery Options screen, you’re in good shape and can continue on to the next step.
Don’t Have a Windows 7 Disc/Drive or Need Help Booting From One?
If you’re not familiar with booting from something other than your hard drive, see our tutorials on How to Boot From a CD, DVD, or BD Disc or How to Boot From a USB Device, depending on what sort of media you’re using. Most issues getting the computer to boot from a disc or flash drive instead of the hard drive are solved by making boot order changes in BIOS. See our How to Change the Boot Order in BIOS tutorial for help with that. If you don’t have a Windows 7 disc or flash drive, it’s perfectly acceptable to borrow a friend’s or use one from another Windows 7 computer since you’re just using it for diagnostic purposes. In other words, don’t worry at all about using someone else’s media—you won’t be entering any product keys or invalidating yours or another computer’s activation as part of this process. (No, just as a reminder, you’re not going to install or reinstall Windows 7 as part of the password reset process.) Select Repair your computer, right above the Microsoft copyright note at the bottom of the screen. All you need to do here is wait, but this what the process looks like. Once this screen disappears, you can move on to the next step. In case it’s not clear, there are only two spaces in this command: between copy and d:\ and between exe and d:. Assuming the command was executed correctly, the text 1 file(s) copied. should have appeared directly under the command string and you should now be at a prompt again. Next, type this command exactly as shown and press Enter. In this command, there are also only two spaces: between copy and d:\ and then between exe and d:. This time, however, you’re presented with a question after executing the command: Type Y or Yes at the flashing prompt and then press Enter. As with the last command, you should see the 1 file(s) copied. confirmation. The first command made a backup copy of the utilman.exe file so you can restore it later. The second command copied the cmd.exe file overtop the utilman.exe file. This action is what makes this whole Windows 7 password reset trick work. You’ll undo this later. Next, close the Command Prompt window and then select Restart at the bottom of the System Recovery Options window. Just so you know, we don’t make do-nothing steps just for fun. This was included in our walkthrough because many people overlook the bit in Step 8 where you need to remove the Windows 7 disc or flash drive. While this might have sounded unnecessary, what usually happens if you forget to remove it is that the Windows 7 setup or repair process begins again, as you saw in Step 2. That’s exactly what you wanted then, but right now you should be booting from your hard drive, as you normally do. So, if you’ve found yourself back where you started, just remove the disc or flash drive and restart. See that little icon on the bottom-left of the screen? Click it! Typically, the Ease of Access menu appears after pressing this button. However, because we replaced the file representing that tool, utilman.exe, with cmd.exe, Command Prompt appears instead! The net user command is a really easy command to use. Just execute it like this: …replacing username with your Windows 7 account name, and password with your desired new password. For example, you might change your password to n3verE@Tsn0W by executing the net user command this way: Assuming everything was executed properly, you should have been greeted with a The command completed successfully. message after pressing Enter.
Not Sure What Your Username Is?
If you were the last person to log in to Windows 7 before forgetting your password, your username should be listed right there on the login screen. You can see Tim in big, bold letters in the screenshot above. However, if you’re resetting the password to another user on the computer and aren’t sure exactly what the username is, you can generate a list by executing the net user command without options, for example: A list of all of the users on the computer will be produced right in the Command Prompt window, which you can then reference for proper spelling when changing the password as described above. Close or click away from the open Command Prompt window and then select the Password field. Enter your new Windows 7 password you set earlier and then press Enter or choose the little arrow button. Welcome back to your computer! YOU’RE NOT DONE YET! While it may be very tempting to call it quits right now, it’s important that you now take the necessary steps to: That’s what we’ll do over the next several steps. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an option in your original situation because you have to have access to Windows 7 under your account to create one of these disks. In other words, it’s a proactive step. Now that you can access Windows 7 normally, you can create one and never be caught in a situation like this again. See How Do I Create a Windows Password Reset Disk? for a complete tutorial. Open that link up in a new window or bookmark it for later but please remember to do it! You only have to make a password reset disk once. It’ll still be good no matter how many times you change your Windows 7 password and it’s much easier to use than the procedure you just followed to reset your password this time. In the next several steps of this walkthrough is where we’ll undo the hack that allowed you to reset the password. Undoing the changes we made will not undo the password change. Here’s a quick summary in case you forgot:
Do I Really HAVE to Undo These Changes?
No, no one says you have to. However, we strongly suggest that you do, for two reasons:
Having access to Command Prompt from the login screen is a major security concern. If anyone finds out that Command Prompt is accessible this way, he or she could very easily change your password to access your account and delete your most important files, among other serious things. Reversing the changes you made removes this easy access.The Ease of Access tools that are supposed to show up when you select that button on the login screen are there for a good reason. You never know when you, or another person using your computer, might need to take advantage of them.
Hopefully, you decide to take a few extra minutes and complete the next steps. As with the previous commands, there are only two spaces here, between copy and d:\ and between exe and d:. Remember to change the d: to whatever drive Windows 7 is installed on if you need to, just like you may have done in Step 7. After pressing Enter, you’re presented with the following question: Type Y or Yes to confirm the overwrite and then press Enter. Assuming things went as planned, you should see the 1 file(s) copied. confirmation. What you just did was copy the utilman.exe backup that you created using the first command in Step 7 back to its original location. In other words, you took things back to the way they were before you started this tutorial. Next, close the Command Prompt window and then select Restart at the bottom of the System Recovery Options window. As we mentioned the last time you restarted after using your Windows 7 bootable media, you want your computer to start normally, so make sure the flash drive or disc has been removed. This time, however, instead of seeing Command Prompt, you should see the Ease of Access screen. This is the normal behavior of this button and seeing it confirms that you successfully reversed the changes you made to make this Windows 7 password reset hack work. Congratulations! You’re done! You can now close the Ease of Access window and log in to Windows 7.
Did This Trick Not Work for You?
While this is one of the more successful password reset strategies for Windows 7, it’s still possible that for some reason it didn’t work out for you. See I Forgot My Windows 7 Password! for a list of your other options.
