Trouble signing onto my laptop; forgot password

[doomspider]

I haven't signed on to my laptop that I bought from former co-worker of mine (really savvy with computers) in a few months and I've forgotten the password to log-in. There was no animosity between us after the purchase - he ended up quitting and getting a job elsewhere. I have a Dell Inspiron 1720 with Windows 7 Professional. All though, as evidenced from the bottom of the laptop, he did upgrade the OS at one point from Windows Visa but I am not sure which edition it was. I downloaded the Password Reset Wizard via from my parents home computer on to a new/unused USB flash drive. I clicked on the appropriate drive, typed in a new password, typed it again to confirm and typed in the password hint. After doing all of that, this error message came up "An error occurred while the wizard was attempting to set the password for this user account." Did I do something wrong? And at this point, I am stumped. I haven't been able to get in touch with the former co-worker. Should I call Microsoft and ask for them to send me a Windows 7 disk, buy it online (saw the cheapest price on Newegg for $139.99) or should I try a Windows password recovery tool? If so, which one?

If there any other questions that you might have in order to assist me further, please ask.

Thank you in advance.

[doomspider]

Is it possible to download a software program on to the home computer (which I've been using) in order to download the Password Reset Wizard on to another USB flash drive so that it will possibly read that its for the laptop and not the home computer? If that's possible, what program should I check out? And if this doesn't work, why? Thanks again.

[tomstonsils59]

See if this works>>>>

Start PC up in Safe Mode with Networking/ or just Safe Mode, go to Control Panel, User Accounts, and change account to your name (or whoever's) then either change the password or Remove it completely.

[doomspider]

Originally Posted by tomstonsils59

See if this works>>>>

Start PC up in Safe Mode with Networking/ or just Safe Mode, go to Control Panel, User Accounts, and change account to your name (or whoever's) then either change the password or Remove it completely.

I did end up trying out both Ophcrack and Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. Ophcrack didn't find any passwords and Offline NT Password & Registry Editor came up with this message. Here is the link to the photo that I took of it:

http://windows7forums.com/attachment...d-imag0511.jpg

Any suggestions what I can do next? Thanks.

[AnnMarie]

doomspider, the only assistance we will offer are troubleshooting methods suggested by Microsoft. See here and here.

CTH does not offer any other help that will result in bypassing computer security. While your request may be perfectly genuine, any information could be used by others to gain unauthorised access to data. I am sure that you understand.