help austin log in to a windows vista machine in 2025

hi i have this. i do not remember the password and it wants an actual disk for the reset wizard.

https://i.imgur.com/57egmQc.jpeg

it has not been connected to the internet in over a decade, but it works good for recording music.

is this possible? i'm not very tech savvy.

I'll bet vista is very bypassable, but I've never done it myself.
I don't know if this is the best way, but there's supposedly a free tools CD you can burn and boot off of to change your login password.

https://www.hirensbootcd.org/howtos/

okay, that link is awesome thank you. but it also reveals just how out of everything i am; i have no access to a desktop pc. making bootable usbs is all kinds of fun but i can't do it from my smartphone.

so my question is: if i buy something like this will it successfully just reimage the machine? or do i need product codes and licensed numbers from 20 years ago that i obviously don't have anymore?

The first method here looks worth a try, go into Safe Mode and login as default admin

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/3862676/how-do-i-reset-my-password-in-windows-vista-home-p

agh, nah it just defaults back to the user login prompt in the photo i took above, even in safe mode. there were some other ones that suggested access via command prompt, but i can't get it there for some reason.

looking at that disc on ebay...

https://i.imgur.com/AmclNwD.jpeg

nvm remembered pw lol

i have a funny story about how this happened. i am, as always, the punchline. i will return later to tell said story. right now, i must record a guitar doodle with my recovered wares.

https://austinato.bandcamp.com/track/assorted-lengths-of-wire-new-rough-demo

okay, gather round!

y'know how on windows vista it'll give you a little password hint if you get it wrong? mine simply said "name" in the hint field. my user profile is the exact same as my username here. it is my legal middle name. it is the name by which the majority of people i have interacted with throughout my life have known me.

it is my name.

it is also the password to my old computer. i have severe mental health problems, so i sat here for days, hours at a stretch on wednesday, typing in all sorts of permutations of my full legal name, with special characters, without, caps lock, caps lock off, alternating capitalization... i drove myself even crazier these past few days, i reckon. "it could be ANYTHING" he repeated, over and over, just this afternoon.

alas, i literally fooled myself. the answer was the most obvious one all along. Andy types it in, sees ot log in successfully, then quietly says out loud, "hey guys, can we trade the interface for a trem?"

"you know, since we don't need it anymore?"

(he's right, too! this beautiful old dell carbon copy of a pc accepts a line input direct from my amp's output. into audacity and we're back in business. idk how long this dell is gonna hold up. any tips?)

awesome!