Lost your password? Here’s help

How do I recover my computer password in Windows Vista?

This happens sometimes. When first installing or upgrading to Windows Vista, you end up choosing a user logon, required each time you sign on. But somehow you lose it or can’t recall the password.

You’re sunk unless you can hypnotize yourself to dredge the password from your unconscious.

The right solution is to have a handy password reset disk. The steps below take about five minutes for the average user.

Go to start and click on control panel. Choose user accounts and then click family safety. (If you’re viewing the “classic” view of control panel, you won’t see this link. Simply double-click on the user accounts icon and proceed to the next step.)

Click on the user accounts link and in the task pane on the left, click create password reset disk.

When the forgotten password wizard window appears, click next. You’ll now be asked to choose some portable medium before being able to create a password disk. You can even do this on a floppy disk.

Choose the portable media drive to create a password reset disk on and then click next to continue.

Place your blank disk in the drive (of if you have a good sized USB thumb drive, insert it in the USB port). Enter your current account password — you do know it, right? — in the text box and click next. Windows Vista creates the reset disk.

When done, click next and then finish. Remove the disk or floppy and label it “Password reset.”