In windows XP, 7, Vista and 2000 operating system there is a file named SAM that stores the system password. The file SAM stands for System Account Manager. It stores all the account details i.e. username, password and user details. However password can’t be saved in a file as it would become less cumbersome for hacking. Therefore windows encrypt the password using a key which is stored inside the System file. Both of the above i.e. System and SAM file are stored in the same location
C:/windows/system32.config
So in order to recover the password we have to use both the files. But the above mentioned files are locked so it can’t be accessed using windows operating system. In order to access the above files we have to use another operating system (for eg Linux) so that we can go to the above file location and retrieve them and copy them into another location. Even if you don’t have Linux or any other operating system then you can view the files from other locations within the windows for eg.
C:/Windows/repair
These files aren’t use from this location. These files are created during the disk repair of the system hence there is a probability that we might not get the exact password if it has been changed recently.
Use “Cain & Abel” to recover Windows password:
1. Copy the above files from one of the given above location
2. Download Cain & Abel and install it in your system
3. Open Cain & Abel and click on the “cracker” tab
4. Now click on the ”+” sign shown in the toolbar

5. A dialogue box just like the above appears in front of you. Now browse the SAM file in the first field. Copy and paste the hex key by browsing in the system file.
6. Now a list of user of the system will be on diplay like the one given below

7. From the above given user select the one you want to find the password for Then follow the steps
a. Right click on the user
b. brute force attack
c. LM Hashes
The following image comes to the view

8. Set your preferences and click on the start. After the password cracking is over it’ll display the password.
(Note: Antivirus should be disabled for the above procedure to work or else it’ll show Cain & Abel application as a malware)