How To Find the Administrator Password in Windows XP

By Tim Fisher

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The administrator password in Windows XP is the password used to access the "Administrator" account.

This account usually doesn't show up on the logon screen and most people don't know it exists. Usually that's okay because you won't need to use your computer under this account very often.
There are a few times when you will need this password! When you're accessing the Windows XP Recovery Console or you're trying to boot into Windows XP Safe Mode, you'll need this password before you can continue.
Follow the steps below to quickly find the administrator password on your computer!

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: Retrieving the Administrator password may take a few minutes up to hours depending on the situation

Here's How:

1. Try leaving the password blank. More often than not, the Administrator password doesn't exist at all! Just press Enter without typing anything when asked for it.
2. Enter the password to your account. Often times, depending on how Windows XP was setup on your computer, the primary user account will also be the administrator user account.
3. Try to remember your administrator password. If you installed Windows XP on your computer yourself, you probably set the administrator password during the Windows XP installation process. If that's true, you might be able to make really good guesses at what the password might be.
4. Have another user enter his or her password. If there are other users that have accounts on your Windows XP computer, one of them may be setup with administrator access.
5. Recover the administrator password using a password recovery tool. Password recovery tools are software programs that work by making super-fast guess after super-fast guess until the password is discovered.
   Note: Some password recovery tools is the list I linked to above also have the ability to transform regular user passwords into administrator passwords. This could be valuable if you know your account's password but it's not an administrator account.
6. Perform a clean installation of Windows XP. This is a last resort option. This type of installation will completely remove Windows XP from your PC and install it again from scratch.
   If you're just curious about your administrator password, I wouldn't suggest this extreme solution. However, if you're needing the administrator password to access diagnostic tools and this is your last effort to save your PC, performing a clean install will work. Keep in mind that it is a time consuming process due to the fact that all of your data must be backed up and then later restored.

Tips:

1. Looking for your administrator password but aren't using Windows XP? See How to Find Windows Administrator Passwords for instructions tailored for other Windows operating systems.