Microsoft stores the password hashes of Windows user accounts in the registry hive c:\windows\system32\config\sam. This file is highly protected and not accessible while Windows is running even for the administrator user. To circumvent the protection and access the SAM file, we need to boot from a Live CD such as BackTrack so we can hack Windows password in the SAM registry file.

The method that I describe in this tutorial can works with any computer running Windows 7/Vista/XP system. To get started, you need to download a live edition of BackTrack Linux distribution and burn that ISO image to a CD (you could also burn BackTrack on a USB drive). Either way, you will need to boot in to Linux to hack your forgotten Windows 7/Vista/XP password.

How to Hack Windows 7/Vista/XP Password Using BackTrack?

1. First of all boot your target computer using BackTrack Live CD or USB drive.
2. Once Backtrack is booted, log in to the root user account using the default password: toor. Type in startx to start the GUI.
3. Now go for Application > Privilege Escalation > Password Attacks > Offline Attack > chntpw.
4. Identify and mount your Windows partition in read/write mode using below commands:
   umount /mnt/hda1
modprobe fuse
ntfsmount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1
   If your hard disk is SATA type then you need to use /sda1 instead of /hda1 in the above steps.
5. To list out all the users in the Windows SAM registry hive:
   ./chntpw -l /mnt/hda1/windows/system32/config/SAM
6. To reset the password for any specific user:
   ./chntpw -u username /mnt/hda1/windows/system32/config/SAM

BackTrack is widely used by most tech-savvy Linux users to hack Windows login password. But if you don’t have much experience with Linux, it’s better to use another software to hack Windows 7/Vista/XP password – Reset Windows Password, which is a Live disk based on Windows PE operating system and makes it much easier for average computer users to hack Windows password on their own.

Before we begin, you need to prepare an empty CD and make a password hacking Live CD on another computer you have full access to. Later set your locked computer to boot from the Live CD and hack the forgotten/unknown password. Here are the step-by-step instructions.

How to Hack Windows 7 Password The Easy Way?

1. Click here to download the Reset Windows Password software. Once the download is complete, unzip the download file and you’ll find the CD ISO image: ResetWindowsPwd.iso.
2. Burn the ISO image to an empty CD using any CD/DVD recording software such as BurnCDCC or ISO2Disc.
3. Place the Live CD you’ve created in the CD drive of your computer with a password you want to hack. Head into the computer BIOS and set your computer to boot from CD.
4. The boot procedure may take one or two minutes, and the Reset Windows Password program will start.

   

5. From the main window of Reset Windows Password program, you could see the Windows SAM registry file and user accounts inside the SAM file.
6. Choose the user account whose password you want to hack, and then click on the Reset Password button. It will blank your forgotten/unknown password instantly.

Remove the Live CD and restart the computer. You can then log in to the computer without being asked to enter Windows login password, as you’ve successfully hacked Windows 7 password and replaced the forgotten password with an empty password.

Reset Windows Password is a powerful recovery software that can be used to hack Windows 7 password. It comes with a GUI interface which makes it more simple to use. Here I’m going to teach you how to hack Windows 7 password without knowing the original password.

How to hack Windows 7 password? The password hacking procedure can be divided into 3 steps.

Step 1: Create a Windows Password Hacking CD

1. To prepare for the password-hacking procedure, you need another computer to connect to the Internet, download the Reset Windows Password utility.
2. Unzip the download file which contains an ISO image file: ResetWindowsPwd.iso.
3. Next, burn the ISO image to a CD/DVD with any CD burning software such as BurnCDCC. A Windows password hacking disk will be ready in one or two minutes.

Step 2: Boot Your Locked PC from the Password Hacking CD

1. Now that you’ve prepared the Windows password hacking CD, go to the computer for which you have forgotten the password.
2. Insert the Windows password hacking CD and turn on the computer.
3. When it is powered on, check the boot-screen for setup key (i.e. DELETE key, F8 key, F2 key) to enter BIOS Setup Utility.
4. Change its BIOS settings to make it try to boot from the CD first.

Step 3: Hack Windows 7 Password

1. Once you have configured the BIOS correctly, your computer will boot from the Windows password hacking CD.
2. After a while, the boot CD will launch the Reset Windows Password program.
3. Choose the SAM registry hive from the list, the program will display a list of Windows user accounts on the computer.
4. Select the user account whose password you forgot, then click Reset Password button.
5. It will hack and reset your forgotten Windows 7 password in no time.

After hacking Windows 7 password, you can then log back into Windows 7 with a blank password. The password hacking method requires that you have physical access to your computer. It also works on Windows Vista/XP/2008/2003/2000.