This article was found here: http://www.windows-help-central.com/lost-xp-password.html

How to recover a lost xp password

These techniques to recover a lost xp password are among the more advanced Windows XP Tips and Tricks. In some cases, recovering from a lost password can be very easy though.

For completeness’ sake we start with the simplest tips that can help you regain access to a locked account. But even if you find yourself in a more complex situation, please read on. You’ll find out what to do.

Warning : Be extra careful if you are using Encrypting File System (EFS) in Windows XP Professional. If you don’t know what EFS is, you probably shouldn’t worry about it. It’s a feature in Windows XP Professional that deals with file security on a local level. If you do use it, please always make sure to export your private and public keys before attempting to reset your password.

If you can login with another user account

If you share your computer with other users it’s fairly simple to regain access to your account. You could ask one of the other users to log on to Windows with their password and perform the following steps :

• Click the Start button
• Click “Run”
• In the “Open” field, type “control userpasswords2” (without the quotes)
• Click ok

Windows opens a user accounts dialog. Select the user with the lost password and click the “Reset Password” button. Enter a new password (and a second time in the confirmation box) and click ok. Click ok once again and you are ready.

Now you can log on to your account using the new password.

More advanced password recovery

If there are no other users on your machine to unlock your account, you need to reset your password “offline”. Offline means that you boot your pc from outside your usual Windows XP environment using a boot disk or a bootable cdrom.

This offline technique to recover a lost xp password isn’t for the faint of heart; the procedure isn’t presented in a nice graphical interface and there even is a small risk involved …

Sometimes the password reset fails and as a consequence you cannot log on with the locked user account afterwards. This doesn’t happen often though, and if you are reading this because you need to recover a lost xp password …

you weren’t able to log on after all …

Of course you will need access to another pc to create a boot disk or bootable cd.