i may aswell leave some links anyway, might be useful for others
one prob is that i think an up-to-date XP system with service packs might make recovering the pass impossible due to encryption :/
http://www.loginrecovery.com/
Login Recovery is a service to reveal user names and recover passwords for Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003 and Longhorn. As long as you have physical access to the computer, your passwords can be recovered
By following three simple steps, over 98.5% of passwords can be recovered within less than ten minutes. This service does not overwrite passwords, it does not write anything to the hard drive, it does not alter the computer in any way. It simply reads the encrypted passwords for processing through our servers.
A low priority service which can take upto two days to process is provided FREE. A priority service is available for a fee of GBP 10.00 + VAT (approx USD 18.32 or EUR 14.53) if you wish immediate access to the passwords. (Fee introduced to cover costs of the dedicated server farm)
http://www.openwall.com/john/
pass cracker
http://ebcd.pcministry.com/
emergency boot cd
http://sourceforge.net/projects/austrumi
Austrumi is a Linux bootable ISO image for recovering NT passwords and other cool tools and methods, sized for Business Card size CD media (50Mb). It allows you to change any password, including that of the Administrator, on a partition occupied by Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Simply boot the CD and when you get to the initial boot prompt, type:
boot: nt_pass
This will launch a console utility that will detect Windows partitions on the hard disk and provide you with a menu to modify any user or Administrator passwords on the Windows system. It will even give access to the Windows registry for recovery purposes. Quite a handy utility to keep in your wallet (AUSTRUMI is small enough to fit on a business card-size CD) if you are unfortunate enough to having to deal with Windows machines in your line of work.