Windows 7 account access issue password not recognised

Hhpp12

New member
Hello everyone,
I really hope someone can help with my query.
Last week I broke the screen of my laptop. I thought of replacing it myself but since I am quite attached to this pc I brought it to a repair shop. They replaced the screen, but when I tried to switch it on, still in the shop, the system wouldn't let me into my account and the typical windows alert stating that the password used is incorrect would come out.
Now, I had accessed my account last time just before bringing the pc to the shop to make sure that the hard drives worked fine (I've got a ssd for the OS and programs and normal hard disk for data) and I accessed it without any problems. The IT technician couldn't provide any explanations and I am pretty sure that the system cannot reset a password itself. What could the cause be? Is the account password normally stored in the C: drive? I was thinking that if this has any issues, the system would simply have not rebooted at all.
Do you think the technician might have done something wrong? What should I do??
Thank you in advance for any advice!
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
Is the place reputable? Its fairly suspect that the machine would fail to boot right after a repair due to a different password when they shouldn't have been messing with anything to do with windows. See if you can load the disk on a separate machine though a sata to usb caddy or something similar just to check it is in fact your drive and/or to recover the data before trying a clean installation.

The pw file can become corrupted, it happened on my sisters machine so I wouldn't rule that out as a possibility.
 

Hhpp12

New member
Thanks Mantadog. Well the place has loads of good reviews online. The windows 7 loads correctly without any error messages, but then it doesn't allow access to the account. I had thought to try the hard disk on a different machine (I need to find the cables first) However, what I'm thinking is, the password is saved into the hard disk, it's not linked to the machine right? So both if it wasn't my hard disk or if it was and for some weird reason has 'forgotten/reset' the pw I set, it wouldn't recognised it.
Sorry,just to explain, I'm talking about the ssd not the data hard disk.
 
Last edited:

Frank100

Rising Star
Hi,

If this is a Windows password then the data relating to it is contained within the SAM and SYSTEM files of the Windows registry. If you aren't using EFS encryption then you will be able to get your data back quite easily. There are boot CDs out there which can wipe out Windows passwords. They are command line but quite simple. They will analyse the SAM and look for the accounts present and ask you which account you want to remove (or replace) the password. It does it instantly and after a reboot you are in.

Don't do this if you had used EFS because you'll have just removed the decryption key for decrypting your data.

If you just want to access your data quickly then you can whip the SSD out and plug it into another Windows 7 or later PC and just view the files by clicking on the folders you want to access. Local security in Windows is just ignored by another Windows PC.

Frank100
 

Hhpp12

New member
Thank you very much Frank100! I'll follow your advice and remove the password. Thanks for the comprehensive explanation.
 
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