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WIN 7 administrator password
Posted on Comment on the AskWoody LoungeThis topic contains 117 replies, has 23 voices, and was last updated by
cmptrgy 1 month ago.
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I sent this question to Woody. He said he didn’t know the answer but someone else might.
I’m stuck and am hoping you can point me in a direction to get my little WIN 7 notebook going again.
I have been trying stuff since April when I downloaded the big update from Microsoft.
I have read everything I can find on Ask Woody. I have also downloaded and tried to use other things posted on the Internet.
I’m only trying to get one thing repaired…administrator password.
When I bought the little machine, it offered an option to create an administrator password. I chose not to do it. So, anytime I was installing or removing software and was asked for an administrator password, I hit “continue” and whatever was supposed to happen did.
The Microsoft update must have installed a password, but since I didn’t install it, I have no idea what it is.I have tried to take out the password they installed, but I have to have the password to get into command prompt. When I go to bios, the option to change the administrator password is locked.
I looked at chrome books. Most don’t seem to have USB ports and won’t run PowerPoint if I had one to plug in a jump drive with slide shows on it. I have about 25 years of PPT programs. Most of them are seldom used but are like an archive from which I can borrow slides and insert into current programs. Many are pretty large files.
If you can point me to help, I surely would appreciate it.
Edit to remove HTML. Please use the “Text” tab in the entry box when you copy/paste.
William Sharp
1 user thanked author for this post.
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My problem began shortly after I downloaded the monthly roll up in April (2018). The machine is a Toshiba NB505 with WIN 7 Pro. I am the only one that uses it. It is not part of a network. I use it to run PowerPoint presentations. I would like to sync it to my Google Drive account, but it wants an administrator password to permit the sync download.
I’m 74. I have limited computer skills. I can follow instructions pretty well.
William Sharp
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Most of the question pertains to the Windows Administrator-credentialed user logon, and I think that this is that for which you are requesting help.
But just to clarify: “When I go to bios, the option to change the administrator password is locked.” This is a different Administrator.
When I go to my BIOS Security tab there are two password fields that can be set.
An Administrator password permits one to lock out the possibility of changing these BIOS passwords. This is not related to an OS password.
A Power-On password permits one to require a password before the computer can be booted into an OS.The use of the unqualified word ‘Administrator’ is ambiguous. In a max-passwords scenario one would have at least three distinct passwords: BIOS Administrator, BIOS Power-On, OS (e.g., Windows) ‘Administrator’. In addition, each defined ‘standard’ user could have his own distinct password. (And, applications also may have password capabilities.)
“When I go to bios, the option to change the administrator password is locked.”
If this statement is as it appears to be, then the BIOS Administrator password has been set, and is a different challenge than the one you have concerning software installation.Are you the only one who uses the computer, or who does updating?
You may be able to log on to the built-in Administrator by booting into Safe mode.
A couple of Google search [ windows 7 safe mode administrator ] hits are:
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/102552-built-administrator-enable-winre.html
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/682-command-prompt-startup.html
Note that some information applies only for 32-bit systems.
Warning: Registry editing can be disastrous; get more-expert help if you are not comfortable.Concerning the BIOS Administrator password – what is the make/model of the computer?
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Bill, if you want to change the “Administrator” account’s password, you will need to be logged in on an account with administrator rights. Once you have done that, open File Explorer and right click on Computer, then choose Manage. Now click on Users and Groups, then Users. You will see the Administrator account listed there. Right-click on it, and then change the password. You can ignore the warnings that you will see.
Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM1 user thanked author for this post.
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That’s because you are logging in with less than administrator rights. Is there an account on your computer that you can log on with that has administrator rights? For example, that account that it keeps prompting you for the password of.
Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM1 user thanked author for this post.
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It sounds like your account is a Standard user account, not an Administrator.
(You may have a separate Administrator account on the machine.)Try this:
- Press Window key + R to bring up the Run window
Type lusrmgr.msc and hit enter (This should bring up Local Users and Groups) - On the left, click on the Users folder. In the middle, double click on your account which is probably your first name.
- Under the Member Of tab, are you a member of Administrators or Users?
If you are an Administrator, you can change the Administrator account password by going back to the Users > middle panel, right-clicking on Administrator, and choosing Set Password.
If your account is a User account, you cannot reset passwords. You also are then getting the UAC prompt because you are a User account but you’re trying to change things that require Admin privileges. You can either 1) change your user account to be an Administrator account (which has to be done with another Administrator account), or 2) you can try to use a rescue disc such as Hiren’s Boot CD to reset the password.
Download link: https://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/ (scroll down, the ISO link is next to Filename)
How-to: https://www.hirensbootcd.org/faq-items/resetting-windows-password/ - Press Window key + R to bring up the Run window
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@zero2dash @the-surfing-pensioner
Please be sure the solutions you are offering are legitimate. Woody doesn’t like to reference non-legit software on the blog
1 user thanked author for this post.
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The video does show a widely known legitimate solution (many web pages present this solution), yet it applies only to resetting a User’s login password (regardless of whether or not the User has only User rights or Admin rights. This is not Bill’s issue. Bill’s issue is that he needs to reset the Win7 Admin password, whereas Bill already can log in on his Win7 computer using his account which which only has User rights. This is the twist which Bill is presently encountering with his Toshiba laptop. Bill only has User rights after logging into Windows. Bill does not have Admin rights, and Bill has no idea what the Admin password is for Admin access on his Win7 Toshiba laptop computer.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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The password you see in the BIOS has NOTHING to do with the passwords required to log on to Windows. They are two different things. BIOS passwords belong ONLY t othe BIOS, Windows passwords belong only to Windows.
If one of the other Users is an Administer account, you can change passwirds with it. Log in with any account, go to Control Panel\User Accounts.\Manage Another Account. That will list the accounts on the computer. If any one is an Administer, use that one to change your password.
Log in with the account that is Admin. In the “run” box type “lusrmgr.msc” (without quotes). In the box that pops up, click on Users, then click on your ID. When it opens, on the “Member of” tab add Administrators. On the General tab (check boxes) be sure the account is not disabled or locked out, be sure to uncheck the box “User can’t change password, checl password never expires. Close the box. Right click on your ID and choose “Set password” (to something you know).
Reboot the computer and log in.
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anonymous
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Take your computer and go to your local down-home computer shop. (You don’t want a big-box or boiler-plate shop; you want a computer technician.) Explain your problem. Have the computer shop set things to rights and explain to you what was done. Sometimes computer procedures just don’t fit through flat-print online computer explanations very well.
Group G{ot backup} TestBeta
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Win10Pro 1909 18363.592 · x64· i5-9400 · RAM 8GB · Firefox: uBlock Origin / NoScript · HDD · Canon Printer · Windows: Defender / Backup / System Image / Rescue Disk / Firewall1 user thanked author for this post.
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anonymousI’m about ready to do that.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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@zero2dash @the-surfing-pensioner
Please be sure the solutions you are offering are legitimate. Woody doesn’t like to reference non-legit software on the blog
Understood – I’ve used Hiren’s BootCD in the past many times; it is legitimate, legal and free.
Also, from their About page:
https://www.hirensbootcd.org/about/
“Hiren’s BootCD PE does not contain any malicious software and it does not contain any pirated software. It includes only free, safe and legal software.”5 users thanked author for this post.
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anonymousI seem to recall when updating from win7 to win10, win10 really really wanted me to have a microsoft account. Since I had an old hotmail account (now outlook.com) I used that info to set up the account on the machine and set it to log in automatically. If you have a microsoft account of some sort you might try the credentials used for it.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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This can be accomplished with sticky keys. It’s a nice trick for those who are familiar with the cmd line. You will need a Win XP/7/10 disc. Lots of documentation on it if you google it. Once you have the sticky keys exploit in place, you can create an administrator account from the cmd line with the following commands:
net user /add [username] [password]
new localgroup administrators [username] /add
Group A | Windows 7 Pro 64-bit | Windows 10 Pro 1809 64-bit1 user thanked author for this post.
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anonymous-
My latest attempts to change the administrator password brought up a screen that told me that administrator is disabled. I can uncheck the box, but when I click apply, I’m getting a screen that tells me change can’t be made. Before the April 7 roll up, I sometimes saw a screen that told me I need administrator permission, but all I did was click continue and whatever I wanted to do…did. For anyone following this, I still need help
Hmm. Try this…
Go to Control Panel and double-click on Administrative Tools. Then double-click on Computer Management.
In Computer Management and in the left pane, click on Local Users and Groups to expand that group. Then click on Users.
Double-click on Administrator. The is the built-in Administrator account for Windows itself. In the Administrator Properties popup window, uncheck “User cannot change password” and “Account is disabled”. Make sure that “Password never expires remains checked. Hopefully the “Account is locked out” is not checked. If so, uncheck that.
Then click Apply and see what happens. Hopefully you were able to active the Win7’s Administrator account. If so, do the following:
Go back to Control Panel and double-click on User Accounts. The Administrator account should now be displayed along with your user account and the Guest account. Double-click on Administrator and see if you can either set a password, or change the password. As a user with non-admin rights, I am not sure if you will be able to do either. If you can set a password create a password which is at least 11 characters long and which consists of characters and digits, and at least one special character such as an asterisk. Write down the password first, before you set the password!
Assuming that you were able to enable the Administrator account and set a password, do the following…
Close everything, log off of Windows (don’t reboot), and log back in by clicking on the Administrator account icon and typing in the password. You should now be logged on as an Administrator.
Go back to Control Panel and double-click on User Accounts. Double-click on your user account so that you can make changes to your user account. Double-click on “Change the account type” and change your user account type to Administrator. Then change your account’s password, as described above, but don’t use the same password. Again, write down this password!
Assuming that you were able to change your user account to an administrator account and set a new password, do the following…
Close everything, log off of Windows (don’t reboot), and log back in by clicking on your account icon and typing in the new password for your user account. You should now be logged on as an Administrator. Go to Control Panel and then to User Accounts, and verify that your user account is now an administrator account.
IMPORTANT!!!!! Now we must disable the built-in Administrator account for Windows…
Go to Control Panel and double-click on Administrative Tools. Then double-click on Computer Management.
In Computer Management and in the left pane, click on Local Users and Groups to expand that group. Then click on Users.
Double-click on Administrator. Add a check mark for “Account is disabled” in order to disable the Administrator account. Click Apply and then click Okay.
Hopefully all of this will have resolved your issue.
Best regards,
–GTP
1 user thanked author for this post.
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anonymous -
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anonymous
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anonymous
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Hi Bill,
At this point, it is seriously looking like your only solution is to reinstall Windows, and to avoid using Tohiba’s BIOS Windows password stuff for Windows in the future, as it appears that there is no other available solution.
SEPARATELY, A NOTE TO ALL: My company bought four identical laptop computers, in terms of actual hardware. All had identical BIOS versions. One of these four identical computers had Win7 installed, and the other three had Win8.1 installed. Here is the thing. Windows 8.1, forever and irreversibly changed the BIOS settings, such that it is impossible to make any of the three computers which came with Win 8.1 installed to show the same configurable BIOS settings which are shown in the hardware identical computer which came with Win 7 installed. I tried reflashing the BIOS with the same version which was present on the three laptops which had Windows 8.1 installed, yet after doing so, I can’t get these BIOSes to show the same configurable settings which are shown in the same identical hardware laptop which has Win7 installed.
The upshot is that it appears that Microsoft writes to, post Win7 and within the BIOS, areas in the BIOS which do not get reflashed even when reflashing using an OEM BIOS file.
This is just a heads up. Do your own research to verify my above comments.
Best regards.
–GTP
1 user thanked author for this post.
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Thanks to all of you who spent valuable time trying to get me reconnected to my administrator password. I still have not solved the problem but have become frustrated trying.
Perhaps my attitude will improve later and I will try again. Until then, thank you for trying to help me.
Bill
William Sharp
1 user thanked author for this post.
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anonymous -
anonymous -
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You mention new Battery (main, I take it its a laptop) and a new CMOS battery. To reset CMOS the power Source normally (this includes main battery, Mains power supply and the CMOS Battery normally like a large watch Battery i.e. completely dead) has to be away from the CMOS strip to discharge fully. No you wont wipe it or “Brick” it but it should remove all user settings from the ROM CMOS etc you wont break them they are “Hard Wired” in there. There’s mention of “Short Circuit” that I caught skimming through this UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES TRY as larger Voltage spikes and or Electrostatic charges will fry or “Brick” the Machine. 30Secs is the Golden rule anything over is immaterial but hey it doesent hurt to try, if its a really older machine it may well have a Jumper on the Mother Board or on rare occasions a small reset button, that will do the same Job if its an OS time problem definitely go with @microfix ‘s scenario (below).
1 user thanked author for this post.
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anonymous
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1. I gather that you are now at the point that you want to just ‘recover to original factory image’, and abandon all hope of retrieving all user data (except that which is on ‘Bub’).
Correct?2. You said that pressing zero during boot doesn’t work, because ‘administrator is disabled’. This statement is baffling, since Windows hasn’t yet been initiated, and couldn’t possibly be an inhibitor. BUT, if a BIOS Supervisor password has been set, that is a different matter.
(In 206158 you say: “I have tried to take out the [Windows Administrator] password they installed, but I have to have the password to get into command prompt. When I go to bios, the option to change the administrator password is locked.” Posts 206196, 206328, 206448 clarify that Windows passwords and BIOS passwords are distinct. I may be wrong – and despite several replies above that seem to accepts this – I do not believe that Toshiba stores any Operating System (Windows) password into the BIOS. What is confounding this whole matter is that a Toshiba utility, run from within Windows, supports the changing of BIOS passwords.)3. Reference 210819: Technically, the (Toshiba) Restore partition is not within the C: drive. The (only) physical hard drive has multiple partitions: C: drive; the Restore partition; and perhaps one or more partitions. Only the C: drive is visible, the others are normally hidden, but whose allocations can be seen IF one has the (Windows) Administrator password. (Catch-22 anyone?)
4. 210857: “I chose not to use an administrator password. It never had one … and may not now. After installing the download, all user passwords were gone.”
– “and may not now” – What? isn’t that what this whole thread is about?
– “all user passwords were gone” – Umm, no. Bub has no password. ‘Me’ now has a[n unknown] password. It is not clear if ‘my wife’s logon now has a password.5. I don’t see a succinct reply to Microfix‘s questions.
Please post the exact verbiage that is displayed when you do a Boot while holding the 0 (zero) key.1 user thanked author for this post.
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My current situation:
I am asked for a password as the machine powers on.
I have that so it goes to a screen showing names and icons of users.
If I click on my daughter’s icon, the program goes to her desktop screen without asking for a password. The others all require a password…that I don’t know, can’t guess.
I have followed the trail using lusrmgr.msc. The list of users are: administrators, Bub (daughter), Mary (wife), Bill Sharp, guest, homeusers. Under the “member of” tab, administrators, Mary, and Bill are all members of administrators. Bub is not a member of the administrators group. I have tried to add her (as well as me and my wife). I get a requests for a password. Administrators is disabled.
Recently the clock went back to the first day the machine was used. After that, I was denied access to the Internet because the clock was not correct (error message). All attempts to add, delete or changes any programs get an error message “access is denied.” I bought and installed new cmos and main batteries.
I have tried all the things suggested.,.particularly 206249, 206307, 206295, 206328, 206354, 206479, 206851, 207041 and 210968.
When I try holding down the 0 key during start up, nothing happens…no messages.
I just want to kill or replace the password.
William Sharp
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Please post the exact verbiage that is displayed when you do a Boot while holding the 0 (zero) key.
Please?
Win 7 Home, 64 bit, Group B
1 user thanked author for this post.
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I use 2 methods in such a situation, one is a relatively expensive Technicians program on a bootable CD that allow deleting passwords and the other is either a Bootable Linux DVD that has GPARTED or a Bootable GPARTED CD, both created from a downloaded .iso file to create the disc. GPARTED is great for deleting partitions on a drive, gives a clean media for installing an OS. The main issue is to have the install media available first, either an earlier version of Windows [Win7, 8 or 8.1] or using the MCT/Media Creation Tool to either create a Bootable USB drive or download an .iso file to create the Bootable install DVD. Be sure to get the same edition as in use, x86 or x64. After having created the install media the computer should complain about not finding an OS so insert one or the other and try again.
Should have mentioned, your problem can’t be resolved from the installed Windows which is the reason for other measures, the OS booted to can’t kill itself.
Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"-
This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by
Berton.
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This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by
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Bill
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I also found a program called iSumsoft Windows Password Refixer. See:
https://www.isumsoft.com/windows-7-password-refixer/
See this YouTube video about how to use the software:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM2ghRmUNac
The software appears to add an administrator account named iSumsoft. Then the user is supposed to set this account’s password to blank, and then reboot the computer. At that point, the user should then be able to set new passwords for the other accounts on the computer.
I do not know whether or not the above software contains any malware.
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This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by
GoneToPlaid. Reason: add video link
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Go to the bottom of reply while logged in and include your picture.
Remove your mail address; it’s unwise.
Group G{ot backup} TestBeta
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Win7Pro · x64 · SP1 · i3-3220 · RAM 8GB · Firefox: uBlock Origin / NoScript · HDD · Canon Printer · Microsoft Security Essentials · Windows: Backup / System Image / Rescue Disk / Firewall
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Win10Pro 1909 18363.592 · x64· i5-9400 · RAM 8GB · Firefox: uBlock Origin / NoScript · HDD · Canon Printer · Windows: Defender / Backup / System Image / Rescue Disk / Firewall
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This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by
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Hi Bill,
In BIOS, try typing in “Toshiba” without quotes for the BIOS administrator password. Note that this is case sensitive with a capital T and the other letters in lower case. If this doesn’t work, then try the methods shown in this YouTube video:
If the above doesn’t work, then Bill is going to have to short the U contact on jumper J1.
Bill emailed me photos of his laptop back in September. Please see the attached photos. Bill’s laptop is a Toshiba NB505-N508BL. The User’s Guide for Bill’s laptop is here:
https://support.dynabook.com/support/modelHome?freeText=3043211&osId=3333616
Chapter 5 in the User’s Guide contains information about the password features in the BIOS.
The BIOS has a feature to store a Windows password such that the user never needs to type in a password when booting Windows. Like other BIOSes, the BIOS also supports setting both user and administrator passwords for the BIOS itself.
Bill does not know the administrator password for the BIOS. If he knew that, then he would have access to the BIOS setting for either setting a new Windows password in the BIOS, or for completely disabling this BIOS feature. If Toshiba is not the administrator password for the administrator level settings in the BIOS, then Bill is going to have to ground the U shaped contact on jumper J1 by following the procedure in the YouTube video which is linked further below.
Toshiba realized that it is possible for a user to become locked out of the administrator sections of the BIOS. So Toshiba provided a jumber pad, labeled as J1, for clearing all passwords in the BIOS. All that is needed is a thin strand of copper wire. Bill can get a thin strand of copper wire by cutting a cheap dollar store electrical extension cord and using needle nose pliers to extract a single strand of copper wire.
The procedure for shorting the U shaped contact on jumper J1 is shown in this YouTube video:
Best regards,
–GTP
1 user thanked author for this post.
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