Confirm that you are logged into Windows with a user account that has Administrative privileges. If you are not, click the "Start" button, then click "Log Off" if you are running Windows XP, or click the right-facing arrow next to the padlock icon in Windows Vista and 7 and click "Log Off." Then log into an account with Administrative privileges.
The computer Administrator password is selected when Windows is first installed on a machine. However, the Administrator account is never displayed on the Welcome Screen when the computer starts up unless Windows is specially configured to show it. The first time many people see the Administrator account on their computer is often the first time they boot the computer in Safe Mode because they are troubleshooting a problem--not the best time to realize that you never wrote down the Administrator password that you selected when you installed Windows last year. Change the Administrator password using the Windows command prompt and another Windows account that has Administrative privileges.
Things You'll Need
- Windows XP and later
- User account with Administrative privileges
Click the "Start" button, then click "Run" if you are running Windows XP. If you are running Windows Vista or 7, click the Windows Orb, then type the word "command" in the search box at the bottom of the menu.
Type "cmd" without quotation marks and press "Enter" if you are running Windows XP. If you are running Windows Vista or 7, right-click "Command Prompt" on the list of search results and click "Run as Administrator." The command prompt opens in a new window.
Type "net user Administrator" followed by the word that you would like to use as the password. For example, if you wanted to use the password "secret," you would type "net user Administrator secret" and press "Enter." Windows displays "The Command Completed Successfully" on the next line of the command prompt window.
Close the command prompt window and restart your computer. Log in using the Administrator account and the new password that you have selected.
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