the OP will need the password reset disk; which means they will have had to taken the extra step of creating it.
of course, if you don't mean the windows created "password reset disk" but rather a "password cracker", well; there is a caveat there.
All Password "cracker" tools I've seen took advantage of a subtle weakness of the original LM-type hashes, which are generated for compatibility reasons. If you use a password that is longer then a certain length or has certain characters then no LM (Lan Manager) hash is generated (meaning there is no hash to crack). In that case the only thing left is the newer NTLM hashes which would be difficult to crack in a timely fashion on a modern PC.
here's some more info on that:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299656But for the sake of argument the original question asked if they could log on without a password; and Carbon answered it properly. If they got the password using one of these disks then they would be logging on with the password, which probably solves their situation but would not technically answer their question. (although in all fairness the basic idea here is to solve the larger problem rather then bicker about exactly what the question asked). Additionally I might query the use of the word "dude" and the claim of being in the "trade" for 12 years, most people who are old enough to have been doing this for 12 years have removed the word "dude" from their everyday vernacular, and additionally it's not a "trade"... a "trade" would be something like carpentry, roofing, etc, jobs where you can get an apprenticeship. PC repair is rather a niche business type generated by the easy access to PCs by the general population, who know little about the workings of a PC.
