# Manually resetting Windows account password

To *reset* account passwords in Windows without an existing administrator account privileges, there are two choices:

1\) Do a repair install of Windows from your installation media, and after the initial reboot and “Installing Windows” screen, wait for *Installing Devices* and then hit *Shift-F10* , then type in *nusrmgr.cpl* and hit enter to access the User Accounts in the Control Panel.

e.g.:  
[http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/lpmarticle.asp?id=305](http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/lpmarticle.asp?id=305)

Or

2\) Use a third party password reset utility to create a password reset bootable disk, such as: [http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/](http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/)

The advantage to route #2 is that it is usually faster, however you generally are left best resetting passwords rather than creating a new one. You can then change from a blank password to an actual password once you have restored access to Windows.