Bypassing Windows XP Passwords
Windows XP, How To Guides, OS March 12th, 2006
Everyone has locked themselves out of their own system at least once and thought that formatting their hard drive was the only answer. Not true! Now you will never have to lose your data over your forgetfulness again! There are two methods to bypass Windows XP security, both of which are basic at best, but they work beautifully.
1.0 Using Safe-Mode to Crack Windows XP Security
This is definitely the easiest of the two methods to Bypass Windows XP security. This hack relies on the computer not being assigned an Administrator password. In most cases, the TRUE Administrator account for Windows XP is not displayed on the Login Screen, and usually it is NOT assigned a password. Here’s how you access it:
1) Reboot the Computer
2) At the Windows XP Boot Screen Press F8 (you might have to press F8 a few times).

Windows XP Boot Screen
3) Now you should be at the XP Advanced Options menu. Use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode. Press Enter.

Advanced Options Menu
4) Select your OS from the list and Press Enter.

5) Once you’re into Safe Mode, Click on Administrator and leave the Password blank. (Remember, it’s blank by default)

6) Press Yes at the Safe Mode Warning Message that appears.
7) Now you can go to Start> Control Panel> User Accounts and change all the passwords on the machine (including Administrator).
If the above method fails, that usually means someone has assigned an Admin password for Windows. Try this next method.
2.0 Using a Boot Disc to Crack Windows XP Security
This method is so simple it only requires the user to know how to burn a CD. By now, I think Microsoft has trained chimps to do such work, so this shouldn’t be beyond you. A guy by the name of Petter Nordahl-Hagen, wrote an amazing program that resets the Administrator password on any Windows NT/2000/XP machine. It’s called Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, and that’s what we’ll be using soon.
Items Needed
- CD Burner
- Blank CD-R
- Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
- WinZip (or other program that extracts Zips)
- CD Burning Software that Burns ISOs (almost every burning program has the ability to burn ISOs)
Steps to Follow
(NOTE: The screenshots below list the file name as cd041205.zip and cd041205.iso. Just substitute cd050303 for cd041205 file names)
1) Download cd050303.zip to your Desktop.
2) Find the file cd050303.zip, open it, and extract the cd050303.iso file to your Desktop.

cd050303.zip open in WinZip
3) Now open your CD Burning Software. (I’m using Nero Express for this tutorial)
4) Click on Disc Image or Saved Project

5) In the Open window, go to your Desktop, Files of Type: Image Files (*.nrg;*.iso;*.cue). Now you can select cd050303.iso, and Press Open.

Nero Express: Open Window
6) Now just burn it like you would any other CD. Just burn it at a slow speed to avoid corrupting the data (no faster than 8x).
7) Once the burn is complete you now have a fully functional boot CD to bypass passwords.
To Use the CD
1) Put the Boot CD in the Computer that you (hopefully) forgot your password on.
2) Now Reboot the Machine
3) The computer should then boot from the CD instead of the Hard Drive.
4) Just follow the prompts that are now provided to reset the Admin. Password.
5) Here’s a full FAQ from the creator of this Boot Disc.
AltHack does not condone or support malicious hacking. This information is provided for those who are mature enough to use it responsibly. As for the others, you can judge your own ethics, and hopefully judge them wisely. We believe in free information, not destruction!
Be Smart, Be Safe, and Have Fun!







February 6th, 2007 at 8:16 am
is there any way to find out the password, with out removing it, or deleting any files?
(this pc has no floppy) so is a USB boot possible?
and is there any way of getting in an admin acc. using a normal user acc.
and help would be really appreciated!
February 26th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Burn it to CD (compact disc), who said anything about using a floppy?
There is a way to get into the system account; take note I said SYSTEM and not Administrator, but I will save that for another day. If there was a way of getting the system password that they wanted you to know about, then you would know about it already. There will be a way, there is always away, just do some digging
Thanks for the explanation heaven tutorial
March 31st, 2007 at 3:54 pm
On XP Pro you don’t need to boot into safe mode to log into the Admin account. At the user select screen just hit CTRL-ALT-DEL twice and a login window (just like the one used in Win2k) will appear. Change the username to Administrator, leave the password blank and login.
August 5th, 2007 at 2:06 am
To Crack ANY NT password you’ll need the following
Copy of Knoppix (Linux live disk)
copy of SAMInside
Boot knoppix
run saminside
navigate to required files
run cracker
August 5th, 2007 at 2:06 am
oh and Ed, if your administrator account has no pw your a fuckin moron.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
ok, my dad gave me his old computer to take with me for my may term to England and stupid me forgot to check to make sure it works. So I call home to my dad and find out that he has forgotten and I don’t know of any near by tech shops to send it to. I heard from my old room mate about all of this html stuff and changing the computers html on the reboot but personally i am scared that if I do any of that crap that my machine will crash or ill be screwed for the next 2 months with out a pc.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
so ya any help offered would be kind of nice
December 16th, 2007 at 4:28 am
thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 20th, 2007 at 7:31 am
I would like to see a continuation of the topic
December 20th, 2007 at 10:44 am
What kind of continuation? More resources and methods? Vista password bypassing? Enlighten me and I will do my best!
January 10th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Hi
I am in nead of the xp password bypass, zip file cd050303
and it wont download from your web site,
Any answers.
Ray
January 10th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Try downloading again. It works fine for me.