Have you ever forgotten your logon password and you couldn’t log on to Windows? Did you have to format the hard drive and reinstall Windows? Luckily there are other options you can try before using this last resort.

In Windows Vista, there is a function called Create a password reset disk. It lets you create a small application on a floppy drive or USB flash drive that is able to reset the logon password. You can do this in Windows XP too, with Prevent a forgotten password. I’ll post instructions on how to create the disk in my next blog entry.

However, if you haven’t created the reset disk earlier, you may have to recover the lost password. There are several programs that are able to crack passwords, but I have used only one successfully - Ophcrack (thanks to Vista Revisited). Ophcrack is a Windows password cracker based on rainbow tables. It is one of the best programs for recovering lost passwords up to 14 characters, and it’s free! It works with Windows, MAC OS and Linux systems.

To start using the program, first download the Ophcrack liveCD and burn the .iso file on a CD. Alternatively, you can unpack the .iso file (with IsoBuster or MagicISO) and send the contents to a USB flash drive. Next, restart the PC and boot from the CD you just created (or USB drive). Ophcrack will start and after a few moments you will see the list of all accounts on the computer. Select the account name you want to recover the password from and click on Launch. Depending on the length and difficulty of the password, it could take a few seconds or several minutes for the password to be found. When the program finishes, write down the password, remove the CD/USB and restart the PC.