I have my Windows XP account password protected but now I can’t remember the password. I just set it up today but I forgot the password I chose. Is there a way to unlock or remove this password so I can use my computer?

Forgot the password to the only administrator account on your PC, or lock out of Windows user account after unsuccessful logon attempts? Well, these problems can be solved with a bootable PCUnlocker USB drive. Rather than cracking a Windows user account password, PCUnlocker removes it and unlock your locked-out Windows account instantly!

How to Unlock My Password Protected Windows 8/7/Vista/XP User Account?

1. Download the zipped ISO image of PCUnlocker and save it on another PC you can log on. Double-click on the .zip file and the system will show you the contents inside. Drag the pcunlocker.iso file from that window to your desktop, then burn it to a USB flash drive using ISO2Disc program.

   

2. Insert the bootable USB drive into your password-protected computer. When the computer is booting, you will need to press the correct key to get into the Boot Menu. It is usually F12 or Del key. Once in the Boot Menu, select your USB flash drive and press Enter.
3. The computer will load the WinPE operating system from the bootable USB drive. After a while, you’ll see the PCUnlocker program. It will read the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) files of your Windows system and show you a list of local user accounts.

   

4. Choose your user account and click on Reset Password. The program will reset your lost Windows account password and also unlock your user account if it is already disabled, locked out or expired.
5. Click on Restart button and remove the bootable USB drive. The computer will then boot normally to the Windows login screen. Just leave the password box as blank and you can successfully log back into your Windows user account.

So this is how can you unlock any password protected Windows 8/7/Vista/XP user account. This method also works with both local user accounts and Active Directory user accounts on Windows Server 2012/2008/2003/2000.

I have a Windows 7 Professional machine with the administrator account disabled, and the local user account is locked out. Is there any way to unlock this machine?

You may be totally locked out of Windows after several invalid password attempts. Or accidentally disable your own administrator account? How to regain access to your computer without reinstalling Windows? This article will show you how to unlock administrator account in Windows 7/Vista/XP if the administrator account is disabled or locked out due to reaching its account lockout threshold of invalid login attempts.

How to Unlock Administrator Account in Windows 7/Vista/XP? The procedure can be divided into 3 steps:

Step 1: Create a Windows Password Unlocker Disk

1. First we need to find an accessible computer so we can create a Windows password unlocker disk on it.
2. Download the ISO image of Reset Windows Password boot CD which is zipped.
3. Extract the ISO file from the ZIP archive using WinZip.
4. Burn the ISO file to a CD or USB drive using ISO2Disc. After a few minutes a Windows password unlocker disk will be created and we’ll used it later to unlock administrator account.

Step 2: Set Your Locked Computer to Boot from Password Unlocker Disk

1. Turn on your locked computer and hold down F2 or whatever the setup key is shown as during the initial boot screen. This should bring up the BIOS.
2. In the BIOS look for the Boot Device Priority option, set CD/DVD as the 1st boot device if you want to boot from Windows password unlocker CD. You can either set Removable Device as the 1st boot device if you want to boot off a Windows password unlocker USB drive.
3. Next save your changes and reboot the computer.

Step 3: Unlock Windows Administrator Account

1. Once your computer boots from the Windows password unlocker disk, it will launch the Reset Windows Password utility.
2. This utility automatically scans your hard drive and find Windows SAM databases for all your Windows installations.
3. Choose a Windows SAM database. The program will display all Windows user accounts inside it.
4. Select the administrator account which is locked out or disabled, then click Reset Password button. The program will instantly unlock the administrator account if it it locked out, enable the account if it is disabled and also remove the password you may forgot.

Now you’ve completed the task of unlocking Windows administrator account. Remove the Windows password unlocker disk and reboot your computer. You’ll then log in to your administrator account without being stuck at the login screen. Easily regain access to your Windows 7/Vista/XP computer without losing any important file.

If an account gets locked out whether it’s on the local computer or domain controller, you will be denied to logon even if you know the correct password. So how to troubleshoot a locked-out Windows user account?

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to unlock Windows user account that is locked out on Windows 8/7/Vista/XP and Windows Server 2008/2003/2000. To get started, we need to get Reset Windows Password utility, which comes as an ISO image file.

How to Unlock a Locked-out Windows User Account:

1. Download the zip archive of Reset Windows Password utility. Unzip it and burn the ISO image to a blank CD or USB stick.
2. Insert the CD or USB stick into your locked computer and let your computer boot from it.
3. After a while the bootdisk will launch the Reset Windows Password utility, which shows all Windows user accounts available for your Windows installation.
4. Choose the user account which is locked out, then click Reset Password button. The program will reset the password as well as unlock the user account.

Remove the CD or USB stick and restart the computer,  you can then log in the Windows system using a blank password.  The unlocking procedure is done! With Reset Windows Password utility, you can unlock both local administrator account and domain administrator account easily.