There is no real guarantee that you’ll be able to crack your Windows password, but there are already so many articles written on how to recover or reset a password that I’ve found online that I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. Instead, I’ll guide you to the best online resources that I have used to crack my Windows password.
- How to use a Linux Live CD to crack passwords – This article will teach you how to use a Linux Live CD to crack passwords. You will need to have a Linux computer and a CD-ROM drive. First, create a new directory on your computer called “crack”. Then, copy the contents of the Ubuntu 10.04 ISO image file into this directory. Next, open up a command prompt and type “cd crack” followed by the path to the Ubuntu 10.04 ISO image file you copied into your crack directory. Finally, type “sudo ./ cracking -p” to start the cracking process.
If you want to reset a password, you can burn an ISO of the program and use it as a boot disk. However, if your password is complicated or difficult to remember, Ophcrack may not be able to help you reset it. My friend at the How-To Geek site has a great tutorial on using Ophcrack.
Ophcrack is a password cracking tool that uses tables to brute force passwords. You can download their free tables, but that won’t crack long passwords. For those cases, you can purchase larger password tables that range from $100 to $1000.
If you’re having trouble logging in to your Windows account, or if you just want to reset the password to make sure it’s secure, you can use the Offline NT Password and Registry Editor. This small program is only 3MB in size and can be burned to a CD or bootable USB drive. It will automatically detect your Windows installation and account names, so there’s no need to search for them manually. You can also reset or blank out a Windows password using this tool. ..
The password cracking program recently received an update and now supports passwords up to Windows 8. It can be a bit difficult to use, but About.com has a great screenshot guide that will walk you through the entire process. So be sure to check it out! ..
If you have forgotten your login credentials for your online account, Login Recovery can help you retrieve them. The site has a program that you can use to boot up your computer and access the data on a floppy disk or CD. If you don’t have an Internet connection, the site will generate a file for you to upload. ..
I have tried this site and it did not work for my password, which was 11 characters and mostly symbols, numbers, and letters. However, if the password is something simpler, they will probably be able to crack it.
John the Ripper is a password cracker that is used for Windows, Linux and Macs. It is pretty easy to use and comes with good instructions. If you want a step by step guide on using John the Ripper, check out this article from 101Hacker.com.
Another Linux distro you can use to crack your Windows password is Knoppix STD. He provides detailed instructions on how to do this, and if the password is not too long or difficult, it should be able to crack it.
Windows passwords are easy to crack if you use Linux, but it’s a little too techie for some people. If you want to avoid having to re-install Windows and lose all of your data, try using Linux!
