Windows password Reset tools are used to recover, or reset lost user and administrator passwords used to log on to Windows operating systems.
Password recovery tools are often called “password cracker” tools because they are sometimes used to “crack” passwords by hackers. Legally cracking or unlocking your own Windows password is certainly a legitimate practice!
Here are the top 3 free Windows password recovery programs available.
1. Ophcrack
The Ophcrack Windows password cracker is by far the best free Windows password recovery tool available. It’s fast and easy enough for a first time Windows password cracker with a basic knowledge of Windows.
With Ophcrack, you don’t need any access to Windows to be able to recover your lost passwords. Simply visit the site, download the free ISO image, burn it to a CD and boot from the CD. The Ophcrack program starts, locates the Windows user accounts, and proceeds to recover (crack) the passwords – all automatically.
In a test on a Windows 7 PC, Ophcrack recovered the 10-character password to my administrator account in 40 seconds. Ophcrack supports Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
2. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor works differently than most password recovery programs in that it erases your Windows password instead of recovering it. You can think of it as more of a Windows password reset tool.
Like Ophcrack, you boot to a burned CD created with the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor ISO file. After running the program, you can log in to your Windows account without entering a password at all.
If you like this “password deleting” strategy then I highly recommend this program. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor works basically the same way as PC Login Now, listed below.
I tried Offline NT Password & Registry Editor on a Windows 7 PC and it reset the password immediately without problem. It should work equally well with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows 2000, and Windows NT. It should also work with 64-bit versions of these operating systems.
3. PC Login Now
PC Login Now is one of the better free Windows password recovery programs I’ve tested… even though it doesn’t actually recover passwords.
Instead of discovering and displaying your current Windows password, PC Login Now deletes it, allowing you to access Windows without a password, after which you can create a new one.
PC Login Now works just like the free and popular Offline NT Password & Registry Editor (listed above) only it’s much easier to use.
The trade-off with PC Login Now over Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is that PC Login Now causes Windows to detect a possible hard drive problem on the first reboot after deleting the password. I’ve never seen nor heard of a problem actually happening but it’s still a little bothersome.
In a test on a Windows 7 PC, PC Login Now deleted the 15-character password to my user account instantly. PC Login Now supports Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
