How to reset Windows password in VirtualBox

Posted on May 19, 2024  •  2 minutes  • 266 words

If you forgot your password for Windows running inside VirtualBOx, the solution is very simple. Here we desribe the steps to reset the password.

We use VirtualBox Version 7.0.8 r156879 (Qt5.12.8) on Linux Mint 20.3 (Una) (Ubunti Codename=focal). The Windows running in VirtualBox is Windows 11 with standard user User for which Passw0rd! password was expired, then changed to something and this something was forgotten:

Windows requires password

Note: It seems MS removed passwords for the Vms at the time of writing this post (19 May 2024).

Hiren’s BootCD

Hirens BootCD contains NtPwdEdit utility which allows seemless password reset:

We want to download it, mount under Windows VM and run it. It will see the Windows disk partitions in VirtualBox. Then we can run NtPwdEdit to reset the password. Also, we can access any data on windows partitions, edit windows registry, repair the system, etc. All the utilities which enable this are included on the disk.

Mounting Hiren’s BootCD on Windows VM

In machine Settings add optical disk and mount on it hirens cd:

Mounting Hirens CD

Booting VM from the CD

Run Windows VM and press F12 several times to get into the windows boot menu and choose UEFI CD to boot from:

Booting from CD

It should boot into Hirens Windows system:

Resetting password

Ok, we are almost done. Go to Utilites=>Security=>NtPasswordEdit:

And now we can reset password for any user:

❗Don’t forget to click on OPEN button to get the list of users.

If for any reson, the password cannot be reset by NtPasswordEdit, you can try to use Lazesoft utility:

Good Luck!

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