My son locked his computer....

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Etherton

Etherton

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So my 10 year old son put a password on his computer and can't remember it. Short of reformatting the entire computer how do I unlock it? The OS is Windows 7 32bit (possibly 64bit can't remember built it for Christmas). Any help would be great!

Thanks!!
 
Log in as Local Admin and remove the password for his account
 
Just a note, please don't make any suggestions that fall into the "grey area" of password recovery.
 
Unless you unlocked the Admin account, it's locked. You can use UBCD that has the parted desktop (whatever it's called). That includes a utility to unlock accounts as well as reset NTFS passwords.

I also just realized there are two "Ultimate Boot CD's" on the web ... one is based on BartPE and one is Linux live disc.
 
if you did not make a admin acct on said PC you are pretty much screwed when it comes to trying to get the password back without some tools to give you a hand.
 
ameoba said:
You did make a separate admin account for your 10yr old's computer, didn't you?
Click to expand...

Whats that ole' saying.... Hindsight's 20/20.

I didn't think a 10 year old would feel the need for password protection. All he does is play Halo & strategy games like the Command and Conquer series/ AOEs III. Seriously WTH?
 
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You can also put one of those password resetting apps on a USB drive with loads linux which then proceeds to break into the profile and lets you reset or erase the password.
 
If his files aren't encrypted, yank the drive, stick it in another machine, pull the data and reinstall Windows.
 
If his files aren't encrypted, yank the drive, stick it in another machine, pull the data and reinstall Windows.
Click to expand...
Resetting the administrator password let alone the user account password would be a far more quicker, efficient, and better way to do it. o_O I have already done this on a Windows 7 machine before.
 
He was the administrator (only account) on the computer. Appears to have been a huge mistake.
 
eth3ton said:
He was the administrator (only account) on the computer. Appears to have been a huge mistake.
Click to expand...

Was he Administrator or was he an administrator on the computer


there is always an account called Administrator, while there can be a few admin accounts on the computer.


Boot into safe-mode. Im betting it wasn't set with a password. Nobody (except maybe us IT guys) really set an Administrator password.
 
eth3ton said:
He was the administrator (only account) on the computer. Appears to have been a huge mistake.
Click to expand...

for windows vista and 7, its been an extremely good idea to use normal user acount instead of always being logged in as admin. then you kick back and let windows uac work its annoying magic. especially good idea for a 10yo :p

anyway I always hate the windows setup handling of accounts. it does not make it clear that the account you make and default to becomes the only admin account on the pc.
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eth3ton said:
He was the administrator (only account) on the computer. Appears to have been a huge mistake.
Click to expand...
For a ten year old? Absolutely. Anyone that runs the risk of doing anything negative to the computer (regardless of age) should serve as a warning sign to give the admin account a strong password. I could argue against keeping his account unprotected, but that's for another thread. Either way, you should have an admin account set up, strong-password protected, so dig him out of any holes he digs himself into.
 
Sorry guys, many of the best solutions for this problem are unfortunately tools that could be used for more nefarious purposes. Discussion of encryption breaking or similar software is not allowed.
 
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