So yesterday I had a chance to open up one of my old server stored in my room. It is running on Windows Server 2008, last booted was about 2 years ago. I forgot the administrator’s password, and found a way to reset it without needing to reformat it or buy any third party software to crack it. So here is how I did it.
First, we will need the Windows Server 2008 DVD installer. Boot from it.
Then, from the Install Windows menu, click Next and select Repair your computer.
In the System Recovery Options, select the Operating System and click Next.
Then, select Command Prompt. In it, type the following command :
C:
cd Windows\System32
ren Utilman.exe Utilman.exe.old
copy cmd.exe Utilman.exe
After that, reboot the server to load as normal.
During at the logon scree, press Windows key + U.
At the command prompt, type the following command :
net user administrator yournewpassword
Close the command prompt. This will set the new password for the administrator user. Same goes to any user that you created before, if you remember it. Now you should be able to log in using the new password.