Retrieve Windows XP Administrator Password With USB Drive

I used to meet some questions on Yahoo Answers as:
1. If I have forgotten my Windows XP password, then how do I get back into my system?
2. How to solve the problem of "I Forgot My Windows XP Password?"?
3. Forgot windows password! Is there another way to log in to reset the password on Windows XP?
4. How can i reset my Windows XP administrator password?
This is said that many people have lost their Windows XP administrator password for a variety of reason. Maybe they have a long holiday, someone change their password unauthorized, install several Windows system in one computer and confuse the passwords and so on.

However, what can we do when we meet this common problem? The first thing we often do When we Lost Windows XP password is asking a computer expert for help. In fact, it is only a moment for you to forget Windows XP password and it may take you several days to regain access to your system. From now on, don't worry about anything when you forget windows XP password. Hereinafter will show you some methods to recover/reset Windows XP password with USB drive or prevent you from forgetting Windows XP admin password. Why I want to introduce recovering Windows password with USB? As we know, compare to CD/DVD which need a CD-ROM, USB drive is more convenient to use. Get to the point, now let me show you the step-by-step guide.

Method-1: Reset Windows XP password with password reset disk.
Actually, Windows XP and further versions system allow people to create a password reset disk with CD/USB drive so that you can utilize it to reset the password when you lost it. But most people usually only know how to create a new user with a strong password or change it and don't develop a habit to create a password reset disk for preventing lost password. It is a great and free gift from Microsoft.

If you ready have a reset disk, please follow the steps below:

Step1: Start your locked computer, insert your USB reset disk. In the welcome interface, press combination keys ctrl+alt+delete twice, get into the classic log on box. Then type the target user name and a wrong password or leave it blank, and then press ENTER or click OK. System will show you logon failed and pop up an error massage.



Step2: Click Reset password and it will show you the Password Reset Wizard which enables you to create a new password for your user account. In the Password Reset Wizard dialog box, click Next.



Step 3: Select the disk which you insert, click Next. Type a new password in the new password box, and then type the password again to confirm it. In the Type a new password hint box, type a hint for the password or not, and then click Next→Finish, and then try to log on to Windows XP again use the new password you just set.

This USB Password reset disk can only reset a certain account which you have created for it before, otherwise it won’t help when you change the password. So it’s better to create a password reset disk when you add a password to account.

Method-2: Reset Windows XP password with software run from USB.

Presently, there are lots of password recovery tools can recover Windows admin password, and most of them can run from CD/USB. I have tested some popular tools such as Ophcrack (run from CD), Windows Password Resetter, Windows Password Rescuer and so on.
If you haven't created a password reset disk for your account and unfortunately you lost or forgot windows password, see below. This is a step-by-step guide to do this task in several minutes with USB, without reinstalling system or losing anything. Here I just introduce how to DIY a USB password reset disk with Windows Password Rescuer Professional, and use it to recover Windows XP password. Whichever password recovery tool that can run from CD/USB can be used like this.
So you can draw inferences about other cases from one instance.

Step 1: Prepare a blank USB flash drive and a computer which you can access to.

Step 2: Download Windows Password Rescuer Professional and install it to the computer.

Step 3: Insert the blank USB drive. Run the software and burn the boot program to the USB Flash Drive. In this step, you have two options as burn to CD/DVD or burn to USB. Select burn to USB and choose the drive you inserted from the down list.
NOTE: This action will make your USB drive be formatted and all your data in it will be lost. You'd better provide one with nothing in it.



Step 4: Use the USB to reset windows XP password.
Before this step, you must insert the USB drive to your locked computer and set the computer boot from USB drive. Just do like this: Press F2 or DELETE immediately when you start/restart the locked computer to get into the BIOS SETUP list. Use arrow keys to select Boot menu item, and use +/- key to move the USB option to the first site. Press F10 to save and exit, the computer will restart automatically, and you will enjoy the process of resetting the password by a few clicks, it is easy and quick. Don’t worry if you have difficulty to bios setting, you can learn the detailed instructions of how to set computer boot from USB.



This method is easy for a computer newbie and it’s the fastest if you don't have the reset disk. So don’t forget to create a reset disk when you set a strong password or change it.