Recovering lost passwords is not a problem new to Windows Vista. Sure, in a manner similar to Windows XP, Vista will enable users to create an adjacent password hint that the user can turn to in case of need. But what about a severe case of amnesia. No password hint will point you in the right direction. Fortunately, Windows Vista has a built in mechanism designed to help with password recovery.

First off though, you should know that if the account with the misplaced password is not the administrator, then recovery is not even a problem. The administrator can simply change the password and allow the user access back to the account. This action however is not without its downside. If the administrator performs the said task, then you will not be able to access encrypted files, email messages and personal credentials. This is a trade-off that might be, or might not be worth it, depending on the context and on the information you risk losing.

The Windows Vista password recovery mechanism applies mainly to computers that are not part of a domain. If you have made your way to the User Accounts in Windows Vista via Control Panel then you might have noticed the "Create a password reset disk" option in the top left corner.

From within a Windows Vista account, a user can create a password reset disk. A user only needs to create a single password reset disk and store it in a secure location. The disk is a preemptive measure that is actually independent of the account's password. Users of the disk will be able to reset the account's password.