Lost Administrator Account After Using Hiren's Boot CD
Asked by
CuriousBumblebee42
I have an old PC and I can't remember the password. I tried using the Hiren's Boot CD and the ntpwedit tool for the first time. I left the password blank, thinking it would let me access without a password, but that didn't work. I tried again, this time setting a new password for all the users I could see. Now, when I boot into Windows, I get a blue screen asking me to select an account, but it says there are no administrator accounts available—just an option to restart. What can I do to resolve this?
Answers
Restoring the SAM file might lead to your admin accounts showing up again. The SAM (Security Accounts Manager) is where Windows stores user account information. If you're not familiar with it, it’s best to look up a guide on how to backup and restore these files carefully to avoid losing access.
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It sounds like you might be running into a setting that requires a non-blank password. If you want to restore access to the accounts, you can try replacing the SAM file located in WindowsSystem32configSAM and the configsystem files with backups found in configregback. This might help recover the admin accounts you need.
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