How to Recover Windows XP Password if You Forgot it

Forgot your Windows XP password? And have no options but to reintall Windows or bring your PC to a computer repair shop? How to recover or reset Windows XP password so you can then get back into your system? There are lots of options to recover it nowadays but almost all of them require a set of special skills to get it work. In this article I'll show you 2 simple ways to help you recover Windows XP password in the event that you forgot the administrator password or Windows account was locked out.

Method 1: Recover Windows XP Password in Safe Mode

On Windows XP, there is a hidden account named Administrator. Most of the time, this account has no password set. That means that you can start your computer with this account, open the Control Panel to reset your forgotten Windows XP password in Safe Mode.

1. Boot your computer and immediately press on the F8 key repeatedly until your computer displays the boot menu.

   

2. With the arrow keys, choose Safe Mode and press the Enter key.
3. On the home screen, click on Administrator. If you have no home screen, type Administrator and leave the password field as blank. If you can't log in as you have ever changed the password, please refer to Method 2 to recover Windows XP password.
4. Click on the Start menu in the bottom left corner, go in the Control Panel, then in User Accounts you can change any user passwords easily.

Method 2: Recover Windows XP Password with Software

However, if you still can't recover Windows XP password in safe mode because the built-in administrator account is disabled or you've changed the password but forgot it later, it's better to use some professional Windows password recovery software to reset your Windows XP password.

PCUnlocker is a powerful utility which can help you reset the administrator and other user passwords for your Windows XP installation, even if you are completely locked out of the computer.

1. Download the zip archive of PCUnlocker utility which comes as an ISO image. Unzip it and burn the ISO image to a blank CD or USB stick.
2. Insert the CD or USB stick into your locked computer and let your computer boot from it.

3. After a while the bootdisk will launch the PCUnlocker utility, which shows all Windows user accounts available for your Windows installation.

   Here we're going to reset Windows XP password, so we choose the Reset Local Admin/User Password option. The program will display a list of Windows local user accounts.

   

4. Choose the user account whose password you forgot, then click Reset Password button. The program will quickly reset your forgotten password as well as unlock the user account if it is disabled or locked out.

So how about the Windows XP password recovery methods above? It can't be any easier than this! Quickly and easily unlock your computer when you forgot Windows XP password.