Sunday, March 4, 2012

Reset Windows 2008 R2 administrator password

This is the old trick of overwriting any app accessible at login screen (e.g. screen saver) with a command shell to reset the password


In this case I am going to use the "Utility Manager", that little accessibility button at the lower left corner that says in the tooltip: Ease of access



I first booted from the Windows 2008 R2 setup cd to launch System Repair, you can use Linux or any bootable cd that will give you write access to the NTFS file system. All you need to do is a couple of rename and copy operations.


Lanch System Repair and choose your windows installation

Browse to your System32 directory and run the following

ren Utilman.exe Utilman.exe.bak
copy cmd.exe Utilman.exe

Next restart and boot your windows instead of the cd.
At the login screen click the accessibility button or press Win+U

Now you have a command shell with SYSTEM privileges, reset the password with the net user command.

net user administrator eshta!

That's it.
Login and don't forget to restore the original Utilman.exe back

11 comments:

  1. Thank you mister!!
    your solution is simple and works like a charm!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ops... forgot this tip:
    in recovery, c: drive letter probably is changed in d: or in a different letter.
    To list all drives in cmd, just type:
    "wmic logicaldisk get name"
    and check where Windows\System32\ folder is located.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi, I've tried to do this on my Fujitsu PRIMERGY server/OEM version of Windows 2008 R2 foundations. When I've tried to boot with the CD it does not recognize the HD/raid. any suggestions?
    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. That way to reset Windows 2008 R2 administrator password may be helpful. But don't think it is complex. Here are two tools you can consider. One is reset disk, the other is Anmosoft Windows Password Reset(http://www.resetwindowspassword.com).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice trick! I think it can also be used to reset Windows administrator password on Windows 8 and 7, because Utilman.exe can be accessed also from the login screen of Windows 8/7.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful way for Windows Server 2008 password recovery. But I must say, for newbie, like me, that may be litter complex. So I recommend newbies to choose a simple and effective way to create, like reset software--Windows Password Killer(more from: http://www.windowspasswordkiller.com)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Always forget Windows Server 2008 password? Actually, I have the same question as many people. But now I am not worried about it, because a good method I heard of from my friend.She recommended me to use reset software--Windows Login Recovery .

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for your sharing for how to reset windows server 2008 password.
    And the tool I'd like to recommend to you is Windows Password Unlocker which helped me recover windows xp password with ease.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good post! Thank you so much. Next time I will recommend your way to my friend. Last time when forgot Windows password, I used Windows password recovery tool named Windows Password Killer. Not much time is needed. And no data lost. More information get from http://www.windowspasswordkiller.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello, guys. I agree with the idea that you have post on your blog. However, here you can learn how to use Windows Password Key to reset Windows 2008 R2 administrator password in quickest way.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good post! Thank you so much. Next time I will recommend your way to my friend. Last time when forgot Windows password, I used Windows password recovery tool named Windows Password Killer.
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    ReplyDelete