Hey Everyone,
Dug out an older computer that I’m planning on giving away to a friend of mine for her grand kids to use. It has Windows Vista on it, but I can’t remember the PW to log into the computer it self. I have no reset pw disc or anything to boot the computer from outside.
Would anyone have any suggestions on how to get around the password to log into the computer?
Thanks for any suggestions!
If you mean the BIOS pwd, you’re going to have to look up the specific way to do it for your specific model/motherboard (generally it means disconnecting a battery, or toggling switch on the Mobo or similar).
If it’s a Vista admin account pwd, just reinstall if you’re giving it away anyway. (Preferably with something other than Vista 
Yeah, it’s the account password, not BIOS password. I don’t have a copy of vista to reinstall anything. No back up flash drives or disks.
What do you hope to accomplish? You want to keep it on Vista? Cuz it will be harder to give away if you do that. Not even sure if the hardware it has would support anything newer than that, even.
That being said, my IT hubby says that there really no way without contacting Microsoft and hoping they have some method of retrieving it for you. Reinstall is just the faster way.
Depends on what it is. But you should either have a Vista key somewhere with your computer, which means you can just download a Vista install from Microsoft with that key, or if it’s OEM, you should be able to download it from the OEM site. Make a boot USB/CD with that and reinstall.
You’re going to need a Windows Vista Install disk for any of the options to reset/reinstall/etc.
For example this one: https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-reset-a-windows-vista-password-2626339
Was planning on just keeping it with Vista because that is what is on there, and the grand kids just need it for like watching youtube or browsing the internet. Simple things. I have no install disks for that computer.
Like Splutty said, if you can find the key (back then I’m pretty sure they put stickers on everything) you can download the disk to reinstall.
Ok, yeah I found the product key on the back on a small sticker. Where would I go to get the install? Microsoft website?
I think I downloaded windows vista. Now I’m trying to move it over to a usb flash drive. I don’t need to open the .exe file correct? Just move the whole thing over to the flash drive and then I can plug it into the older computer and let it run?
i believe so, depends what you downloaded. I have never tried to install from a thumb drive. You would need to set the boot order to make sure to try the USB and then it should run automatically when you restart. (basing this off of how i’ve done reinstalls with a DVD in the past, using a downloaded copy)
I have tried downloading a copy of windows vista on a usb flash drive and burn it onto a disk. I can’t seem to get this stuff to work. I have already spent half my day on it. I’m just going to tell my friend I can’t do this. Thanks for the help anyways guys.