Reaching the login screen of a remote Windows 7 machine

Question

It's a very funny situation actually. I installed Windows 7 to a friend's machine, and must have added my own password there. Now, my friend can't login, and I don't want to share the password with him, because I use it to manage other accounts. My friend is in another country, so it is impossible that I physically access the machine. On top of everything, there is almost no software installed on the machine that could help (Team Viewer for instance).

If I know the password, but cannot access the machine directly, what would be a possible solution. Reinstall is possible, but highly unwanted, because my friend is not that tech savvy.

I though if possible to boot from some kind of a bootable Linux CD with TeamViewer installed, and try to install an auto-booting version of TeamViewer for Windows, so I can reach the login screen (remember, I know the password already, bc I set it up:) )

Answer 1

Do you know if your friend has a second computer for burning a cd? You can delete the windows 7 user password with this simple image, normally your friend should only burn it as a bootable image to cd and start the computer with this one.

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

Don't try to reset it, you have to delete it. Otherwise it won't work.

Answer 2

If your friend's machine is behind a router on a private network, its going to be fairly difficult for you to do anything remotely, unless that machine initiates the communication. But as you stated, your friend can't login.

Given the fact that your friend is not tech savvy, I'd say that installing Windows again is the easiest solution. And it is pretty simple if you have an installation DVD. You could easily walk your friend through the installation process over the phone.

Otherwise, change all of your passwords and give him your current one.