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I removed the password from the only account on my Windows 7 computer and now I get the following message when I try to log in. "Possible reasons are blank passwords not allowed".

enter image description here

I did some research and found out what I should have done (disable the policy to allow blank passwords) but now I'm already logged out and cannot get back in.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Update Thanks for all the answers. I actually think the reason I couldn't login with blank password was because I was logging in with Remote Desktop. I had no idea that made a difference, so didn't think it would be relevant to mention. When I went directly on the physical computer, it did not stop me from logging in without a password.

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  • 1
    did you try safe mode?
    – Logman
    Jun 10, 2012 at 16:15
  • That would be kind of awkward, because I got 4 answers which could all just as easily have been right... Jun 10, 2012 at 17:32
  • 3
    No it will not.
    – avirk
    Jun 10, 2012 at 18:51

6 Answers 6

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Basically what Logman said, but in essence, boot into safe mode. You should be able to log into the administrative account (even if there is no password) and from there, just set a password for your user either through the control panel or in an elevated command prompt type:

net user YourUserName YourNewPassword

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Try using a utility like ntpasswd to set a new password. You should then be able to log in and change the policy.

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  • This. Worked like a charm for me.
    – Apache
    Jun 10, 2012 at 16:51
  • @Shiki, if it answered your question, it is polite to mark it as the answer.
    – soandos
    Jun 10, 2012 at 17:04
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    @soandos, only the asker can do that ... Jun 10, 2012 at 17:06
  • @NielsBrinch - You are the author...
    – Ramhound
    Jun 11, 2012 at 11:04
  • I know, but soandos is telling Shiki to mark it as an answer. Jun 12, 2012 at 9:40
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I assume that you have the Windows-7 bootable disk. So then its very easy to get back you system working again. Before this enter to bios setup and check that your default boot device is CD/DVD drive, if it is not then set it to your default boot device. Follow the steps given below:

1: Insert the Windows 7 installation disc and restart the PC and press any key when prompted.

2: Select your language preferences and click on Next. Click on Repair your computer.

enter image description here

3: Select which operating system you want to restore and the click on Next.

NOTE: If Windows 7 is not listed here, or it is blank, then it is ok. Click on Next anyway.

4: Select the system recovery option you want to do.

enter image description here

Here you have to select the System Restore and then restore it on an earlier point. You will get back your system with your previous password.

Also you can hit F8 or Del key to enter into the boot menu then you can select safe mode and then you can login through administrator account. Now run the command prompt by right click on it and select Run as Admin then type the command

net user UserName NewPassword

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  • Nice. Thanks. However, I do not have my Windows disk currently. Jun 10, 2012 at 17:05
  • Updated the answer and you can use these tool which are also free.
    – avirk
    Jun 10, 2012 at 17:12
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Thankyou for all your great answers, that might have also worked fine for my problem and for others finding this page.

In my case, the problem was related to the fact that I was trying to log in from Remote Desktop. I had no idea this made any difference. When I logged in on the physical machine, there was no problem with logging in on the account that did not have a password.

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  • Why the down vote? Jun 12, 2012 at 9:39
  • Good idea. It would have been more constructive to just put that in a comment, though. Oct 7, 2012 at 8:32
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You have few options to recover:

Quick way: Use some 3rd party utility to create new password, this is already mentioned in another answer.

Microsoft way: Use another computer (or some WinPE boot cd/dvd) to edit security policy offline. To do this you must be able to read files from your broken Windows installation and you must be able to use some registry editor that supports loading external registry files (load hive... in regedit that comes with windows).

Registry files (system wide) is found from \Windows\System32\Config\ and if I remember correctly SYSTEM file is one you are looking for (?). You can check this by googling for Windows Security Policy regedit or something similar.

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  • Whoa, out of those options it would seem easiest to use the 3rd party utility... thanks for the overview. Jun 10, 2012 at 17:05
  • @Niels yes, it is easiest to use some 'cracking' utility but if you want to learn how to recover properly from many situations that may prevent logging in/starting up and how to configure system offline then go with last and you will probably learn lot of windows internals and security related stuff. Jun 10, 2012 at 17:15
  • You could also "inject" .reg containing new policy to modify policy at boot time or maybe replace utilman.exe with cmd.exe to spawn command line with System account without logging in... then you have more privileges than regular admin account... Jun 10, 2012 at 17:24
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did you try safe mode? [moved the comment to an answer post]

EDITED: Booting the computer to "Safe Mode" by pressing the F8 key on reboot will give you full access via the local administrator account. Where you can create or set passwords for other user accounts thru the control panel or cmd prompt.

**This would have fixed the OP question, but the OP left out one important thing in his question, and that was the logon error was via remote connection.

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  • That's barely an answer … I know that's what the OP said would work, but can you expand it a little?
    – slhck
    Jun 10, 2012 at 19:09

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