Change Windows XP user password via command line

I found myself needing to change the administrator’s password on my Windows XP machine today. I’ve used that account exactly twice; once to setup the machine and then to create the user account that I use every day. So no, I don’t remember the absurdly complex password I came up with 3 years ago when I built this machine.

Luckily, I’ve ignored my own advice and have granted admin privileges to my user account. Only users with admin privileges can change other users’ passwords. This method will also work to change your own password even if you don’t have admin privileges.

C:\net user administrator *
Type a password for the user: asifiwouldtellyou
Retype the password to confirm: asifiwouldtellyou
The command completed successfully.

You can also change it without being prompted (useful in scripts):

C:\net user administrator thenewpasswordgoeshere
The command completed successfully.

5 thoughts on “Change Windows XP user password via command line”

  1. If you lost windows password. I think the best solution is making a windows password recovery disk with the third part utility. The disk works perfectly to recover windows password to “Blank”. It is also useful for administrator password recovery, you can wrote it to an blank CD or USB flash drive to recover administrator password. Booting up and clearing a password takes a minute or two works like a charm.
    more info: http://www.windowsloginrecovery.com

  2. Agreed; a recovery disk is a better approach but when you have failed to plan ahead and are in a hurry you use what you have at hand.

  3. As far as I know , there are two main methods to solve the windows password problem as follows:
    1st Method:
    Start system and when you see Windows Welcome screen / Login screen, press ctrl+alt+del keys twice and it’ll show Classic Login box. Now type Administrator (without quotes) in Username and leave Password field blank. Now press Enter and you should be able to log in Windows.
    Now you can reset your account password from Control Panel – User Accounts.
    Same thing can be done using Safe Mode. In Safe Mode Windows will show this in-built Administrator account in Login screen.
    2th Method:
    Windows password Recovery software:
    for example:Windows Password Recovery Tool 3.0 . It is easy and convenient to use.
    http://www.windowspasswordsrecovery.com

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