Resetting MS Windows Admin password

Of course, after all this time, I forgot the master password on the Windows Server image. Luckily, I have this bootable CDRom with password reset software. But this VMWare boots so damn quick, I can never complete the sequence Point Click to boot, CTRL-G, F2 fast enough to get into the BIOS and change the default boot options.

Luckily, you can edit the configuration file, the .vmx file. Open it, and add the following line:

bios.forceSetupOnce = "TRUE"

Now, I end up in the BIOS and can change the default boot sequence in order attempt to boot from CD first. And it works like a charm:


Resetting to an empty password works (did this once before), so I'll go for that:


And sure enough: after rebooting into the server, Administrator no longer has a password, and I'm in!


Ready to do some SSO/WNA exercises...