Reset a local user account password with a password reset disk

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To reset a local user account password with a password reset disk

Start your computer, or log off from it.
At the Welcome to Windows dialog box, press CTRL+ALT+DEL. In User name, type your user name, and then click OK. The Logon Failed dialog box appears.
Click Reset, and then insert your password reset disk into drive A.
Follow the instructions in the Password Reset Wizard to create a new password.
Log on to your computer with the new password, and then store your password reset disk in a safe place, in case you need it to reset your password in the future. It is not necessary to make a new password reset disk when you change your password.

Notes

Follow the steps in this procedure if you are logging on to a local or workgroup environment. For information about how to reset a forgotten password if you are in a domain environment, see "Reset a password" in Related Topics.
A password reset disk must have been created for the local account for the Logon Failed dialog box to appear. If a password reset disk has not been created, the Logon Message dialog box appears, informing you that your logon information is incorrect. If a password reset disk has not been created, and the user account password has been forgotten, you must reset the password to access the user account. For more information about resetting passwords, see "Reset a password" in Related Topics.

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