Removing Windows Password with chntpw

Introduction

Sometimes it happen that you forget the Windows logging password. There are many tools out there to the remove the password or shall I say overwrite one. Here will be using a Linux live disk/usb like Ubuntu for example. The steps should be similar with other Linux distros as well. If you able to access your Linux installation then there is no need for additional live disk/usb, provided the Windows partition reside in the same computer.

Using chntpw

Will be installing and making use of the chntpw program for our mission. Following these simple steps will work on Windows XP/NT/2000 and even Windows 7.
Steps to follow once logged in.

1. sudo su
2. fdisk -l
//To look for the Windows Partition
3. mkdir /media/Win
4. mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/Win
//The partition number might be different.
5. cd /media/Win/Windows/System32/config
6. apt-get install chntpw
7. chntpw -l SAM
//This will give you list of users and type of account.
8. chntpw -u SAM
//Finally change the password for the specific user.

Important information, in case of the encrypted files you will still need the old password. Without the old password you will not be able to access your files.

Additional Resources

Off course one can do more with chntpw. So it will be a good idea to check the manual page chntpw(8). Another application worth the look is ntpasswd