Trouble signing onto my laptop; forgot password

[doomspider]

I haven't signed on to my laptop that I bought from former co-worker of mine (really savvy with computers) in a few months and I've forgotten the password to log-in. There was no animosity between us after the purchase - he ended up quitting and getting a job elsewhere. I have a Dell Inspiron 1720 with Windows 7 Professional. All though, as evidenced from the bottom of the laptop, he did upgrade the OS at one point from Windows Visa but I am not sure which edition it was. I downloaded the Password Reset Wizard via from my parents home computer on to a new/unused USB flash drive. I clicked on the appropriate drive, typed in a new password, typed it again to confirm and typed in the password hint. After doing all of that, this error message came up "An error occurred while the wizard was attempting to set the password for this user account." Did I do something wrong? And at this point, I am stumped. I haven't been able to get in touch with the former co-worker. Should I call Microsoft and ask for them to send me a Windows 7 disk, buy it online (saw the cheapest price on Newegg for $139.99) or should I try a Windows password recovery tool? If so, which one?

If there any other questions that you might have in order to assist me further, please ask.

Thank you in advance.

 

[cb600fshornet]

Use a password cracker such as Ophcrack.

 

[1337G33k]

If you get it, here is any easy way to remember it

1)GO TO CMD

2) TYPE IN " NET USER"

3 )you will see your password

 

[jmacavali]

If you get it, here is any easy way to remember it

1)GO TO CMD

2) TYPE IN " NET USER"

3 )you will see your password

He is not able to login so there is no way for him to go to CMD.

 

[doomspider]

Is it possible to download a software program on to the home computer (which I've been using) in order to download the Password Reset Wizard on to another USB flash drive so that it will possibly read that its for the laptop and not the home computer? If that's possible, what program should I check out? And if this doesn't work, why? Thanks again.

 

[chris321]

If its a windows 7 machine you will have to download windows offline registry editor and boot from CD. Then you can either edit the password or remove the 'deny local logon option for the admin account' and log in.

 

[chris321]

@doom spider. You cannot download the password reset wizard from one machine and use it on another. That is designed to use before forgetting the password. It creates an encryption key based on your password that only that one machine will use.

 

[doomspider]

Use a password cracker such as Ophcrack.

I did end up trying out both Ophcrack and Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. Ophcrack didn't find any passwords and Offline NT Password & Registry Editor came up with this message. Here is the link to the photo that I took of it:

http://windows7forums.com/attachmen...g-onto-my-laptop-forgot-password-imag0511.jpg

Any suggestions what I can do next? Thanks.

 

[chris321]

That is the correct screen. You need to choose the number that corresponds with your windows partition to move forward

 

[doomspider]

That is the correct screen. You need to choose the number that corresponds with your windows partition to move forward

I tried it again and watched the tutorial video again, the same error message popped up. Did exactly what you suggested. I attached another photo. It entails a message that I got but didn't show up in the tutorial video that I watched. Maybe it will clear things up:

http://windows7forums.com/attachments/windows-7-support/21307d1349239013-trouble-signing-onto-my-laptop-forgot-password-imag0512.jpg