I have a L1 users' machine where he has forgotten his password. Data on his machine is highly confidential and critical, hence it has been sent to me (yes the ******* sent the entire machine).

He wants the data and everything on the machine. But he doesn't want to loose his apps (he doesn't have all the install cd's). I honestly don't have time for this and this isn't my work profile. I was just going to ask someone to repair the installation and that way hoping to give his machine back today. But because of the non-availability of software cd's, I’ve been left with little choice.

I remember reading at places that windows xp password can be reset by attaching second HDD and deleting sam file. I just can’t find it online (I am not sure if it works on NTFS).

Cutting it short – What is the best way to reset his administrator password without doing anything else to the machine (format or repair / reinstall anything).




PS: If reqired i'll delete the thread later (please don't start about a crawler getting a copy of the page )