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How to Remove BIOS Password Using The Jumper Settings

March 7th, 2014 by Admin

Have you ever been locked out of your computer by a forgotten BIOS password? Without the password, you can’t access BIOS to change boot order. This also means you can’t change the boot order to boot into a CD or USB drive. Luckily you can reset all BIOS settings (including the BIOS admin/user password) by just removing the CMOS battery from the motherboard for a few moments and then putting it back in. However, this is not the case for some computers and you may also need to change the jumper settings. This trick works on Acer, Dell, HP/Compaq, Toshiba, Asus, Gateway, Samsung, Lenovo, Sony and Apple computers.

remove-bios-password

Warning: There is a risk of hardware damage and of personal injury. Follow this procedure exactly to avoid personal injury. Not all motherboards have removable CMOS batteries. If the battery won’t come loose, don’t force it.

How to Remove BIOS Password Using The Jumper Settings?

  1. Shut down the computer and then unplug the power cable.
  2. Disconnect all external devices and wait about 15 seconds.
  3. Press and hold the Power button while your computer is unplugged to dissipate static electricity from the motherboard.
  4. Before touching anything inside your computer, ground yourself with a wrist-grounding strap or by touching an unpainted metal surface, such as the metal at the back of your computer. While you work, periodically touch an unpainted metal surface to dissipate static electricity.
  5. Open up your computer case and remove the CMOS battery.
  6. Locate the password jumper on the motherboard, look for the letters PWD, PSWD, PSWDCLR, CLEAR CMOS, CLEAR, CLR, JCMOS1 or PASSWORD. The jumper is typically located on the edge of the motherboard or physically near the CMOS battery.
  7. To remove the BIOS password, you will need to change the jumper settings.

    • If there are 3 pins under the jumper, moving the jumper over one pin will change it. For example if the jumper is covering pins 1 and 2, move it so that it is covering pins 2 & 3. If the jumper is covering pins 2 and 3, reinstall the jumper over pins 1 and 2.
    • If there are only 2 pins under the jumper, simply remove the jumper from the pins.

    bios-jumper

  8. Put the CMOS battery back in and close the case.
  9. Reconnect the power cable and turn on your laptop. The BIOS password should be cleared. After the Windows logon screen appears, turn off your laptop again.
  10. Disconnect the power cable. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds to release static electricity from the system. Replace the jumper to its original position. Close the case and the computer is ready to be used again.

This method works well for desktop computers, however this is not practical for laptop users unless the warranty expired long time ago. BIOS password can add an extra layer of security for desktop and laptop computers but it is different from a Windows admin password. If you forgot Windows admin password, you need to take use of PCUnlocker Live CD to remove it.

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How to Reset HDD Password on Acer Laptop

March 7th, 2014 by Admin

There are many ways that could be used to password protected a computer or a laptop. You can set a BIOS password or a Windows administrator password to lock your system but these types of protection can be broken easily. BIOS password can be erased by removing the computer’s battery and Windows admin password can be reset with PCUnlocker Live CD.

The most securable method is to set a hard drive password (also known as HDD password). HDD password is stored inside of the hard drive’s firmware area (which is located on the platters). Since the firmware area cannot be read with any widely available software, the password cannot be read or removed. Most modern computers support HDD password. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps of resetting HDD password on Acer laptop.

How to Reset HDD Password on Acer Laptop?

  1. To reset HDD password, you need to boot your laptop in BIOS. Start your Acer laptop and hold on pressing F2 key to access BIOS.
  2. Once you come to the BIOS Setup utility, use the arrow key on the keyword to select Security tab.

    set-hdd-password

  3. On the screen, there are three password protection options: Set Supervisor Password, Set User Password, Set HDD Password and Password on Boot. Move the cursor to Set HDD Password and press Enter.
  4. Enter your current password and set a new HDD password. If you want to remove the HDD password, just left the new password field blank. Confirm your password and save your changes.

    remove-hdd-password

Forgot Your HDD Password and How Can You Remove It?

Forgot your HDD password and can’t remember it? There is no other option but contact your computer manufacturer, send your hard drive to them for accessing the firmware area and remove the password.

However, if you don’t care about the data on your hard drive, pull out the hard drive and put it on as a secondary disk onto another working PC, format your hard drive and connect it back to the original computer and install a fresh copy of Windows again.

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Remove Forgotten Windows 8 Password on Samsung ATIV PC

March 5th, 2014 by Admin

samsung-ativ-passwordForgot Windows 8 password for your Samsung ATIV tablet? Just set up the administrator account on a newly purchased laptop but you couldn’t remember the password now? Well, there is an easy way to remove Windows 8 password without knowing the original one. Just boot PCUnlocker Live CD on the Windows 8 PC that needed the password reset on. After you have booted into PCUnlocker, you can reset Windows 8 passwords for your local or Microsoft account easily.

How to Remove Forgotten Windows 8 Password on Samsung ATIV PC?

1) First of all, you need to make a PCUnlocker Live CD using an alternate PC with Internet connection. Download the ISO image of PCUnlocker and burn it to a CD using your preferred CD/DVD burning tool. If you don’t have one, ISO2Disc is a good option which allows you to make a bootable CD or USB drive from an ISO image.

2) Now you can use the CD to remove Windows 8 password on your Samsung ATIV computer. To get the machine to boot from the CD, you need to change the boot order and disable UEFI mode in BIOS. Insert the CD into the disc drive and turn on the computer. As soon as you see the BIOS splash screen, keep pressing the F2 key about once per second until you enter into BIOS Setup.

3) Navigate to the Boot tab, disable the Secure Boot option. If OS Mode Selection is set to UEFI OS, you need to change it to UEFI and CSM OS or CSM OS. Next enter into the Boot Device Priority option and change the boot order, So that the machine will attempt to boot from CD/DVD first, before the hard drive. Save your changes and exit BIOS Setup.

4) This time your computer will automatically boot from the CD you’ve just burned. Just after one or two minutes, the PCUnlocker program will start and it shows you a list of local accounts for your Windows 8 installation. Choose a user account and click on Reset Password button. It will remove / unlock your forgotten Windows 8 password. If you try to reset password for the local account associated with your Microsoft account, the program will assign a new password which could be later used to sign in your Windows 8 Microsoft account.

5) The next step is remove the CD and restart the computer. When you come to the Windows 8 login screen, you can log on with your local or Microsoft account.

Conclusion

Follow the steps above you should be able to remove Samsung Windows 8 password on your own. If your computer doesn’t support Legacy BIOS and it runs only under native UEFI mode, please use the Enterprise edition of PCUnlocker, which can boot both UEFI mode and Legacy mode.

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Step-By-Step Guide to Recover Windows 8 Password on HP 2000 Laptop

March 2nd, 2014 by Admin

I have tried everything to get into my laptop. The password I had set up will not work for some reason. Is there anyway I can bypass or recover the password? This is a newly-purchased HP 2000 laptop with Windows 8 pre-installed on it.

Forgot Windows 8 login password for your HP 2000 laptop? You can reinstall Windows and start over, but installing Windows is a time-consuming task and it may also cause data loss. So the easiest and intelligent solution is by recovering Windows 8 password. All you need is a boot media.

forgot-windows-8-password

Step-By-Step Guide to Recover Windows 8 Password on HP 2000 Laptop

In this tutorial I am discussing about how to recover Windows 8 password with PCUnlocker Live CD. The best and easiest way of hacking into a Windows machine without data loss. Here are step-by-step instructions:

  1. First of all, you need to make a PCUnlocker Live CD using an alternate PC with Internet connection. Download the ISO image of PCUnlocker and burn it to a CD using your preferred CD/DVD burning tool. If you don’t have one, ISO2Disc is a good option which allows you to make a bootable CD or USB drive from an ISO image.
  2. Now you can use the CD to recover Windows 8 password on your HP 2000 laptop. To get your laptop to boot from the CD, you need to change the boot order and disable UEFI Boot option in BIOS. Insert the CD into the disc drive and turn on the computer. As soon as you see the BIOS splash screen, repeatedly press F10 to enter into BIOS Setup.
  3. Navigate to the System Configuration tab, and move to the Boot Options and press Enter. You need to disable Secure Boot and enable both Legacy Support and CD-Rom Boot options from there. At the bottom of your screen, you can find the Legacy Boot Order section. Move the Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive to the top of the bootable devices. Save your changes and exit BIOS Setup.
  4. This time your computer will automatically boot from the CD you’ve just burned. Just after one or two minutes, the PCUnlocker program will start and it shows you a list of local accounts for your Windows 8 installation. Choose a user account and click on Reset Password button. It will remove / unlock your forgotten password instantly. If you try to reset password for the local account associated with your Microsoft account, the program will assign a new password which could be later used to sign in your Windows 8 Microsoft account.
  5. The next step is remove the CD and restart the computer. The computer will continue to boot in Legacy BIOS mode and you can revert the changes that you have made in BIOS Setup. When you come to the Windows 8 login screen, you can log on the system with a blank password for your local account, or a new password for your Microsoft account.

Conclusion

You can also follow this step-by-step guide to recover Windows 8 password on Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony, Acer, or any other UEFI-based laptops or desktops. But each motherboard and/or computer manufacturer utilizes a different BIOS, you need to find the indicated key to enter into BIOS and disable UEFI boot on your own computer.

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How to Recover Windows Password with Cain & Abel

February 13th, 2014 by Admin

There are chances that you might get locked out of your computer because of forgotten the administrator password. So you then need to find some programs to crack / recover your password. As far as password recovery utilities go, Cain & Abel is by far one of the best freeware out there. This tutorial will walk through recovering Windows 7/Vista/XP password with Cain & Abel.

How to Recover Windows Password with Cain & Abel?

Forgot your administrator password and can’t log in? Cain & Abel needs to be installed, so you must have another working computer to recover your password. First of all, remove the hard drive from your locked machine and then attach it to a working computer as a secondary drive. Then follow these steps to recover Windows password:

  1. Visit the Cain & Abel website and download the Windows NT/2000/XP version of the program. Install the program on your computer. During installation, you’ll also be prompted to install WinPcap, which is fine.
  2. Click on the “Tools” menu and select “Syskey Decoder”. On the Syskey Decoder dialog, click on the “…” button to locate the SYSTEM file of your locked Windows installation. By default, the SYSTEM file is located in C:\Windows\System32\Config. The program will immediately display the decoded boot key which is required for cracking your Windows password.

    decode-syskey

  3. Click on the “Cracker” tab. On the left, click on the “LM & NTLM Hashes” and then click the big blue plus sign on the Cain toolbar. Make sure the “Import Hashes from a SAM database” button is checked. Choose the SAM file of your locked Windows installation and enter the boot key that you’ve got in the step above.

    import-hashes-from-sam

  4. Click Next. All the user accounts will be loaded to the right. Right-click on the user account you need the password for, choose Brute-Force Attack -> NTLM Hashes.
    Cain-Abel-NTLM

  5. Now check predefined under charset and select the suitable dictionary to use and click start.

    brute-force-attack

    That’s it! Just wait for Cain & Abel to recover the password!

If you have no way of getting the SAM and SYSTEM files from your Windows PC, you will not be able to use Cain & Abel to recover your password. If you have no luck with Cain & Abel, I recommend you to use PCUnlocker Live CD which can remove your forgotten Windows password instantly.

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Locked out of Windows 8.1 Computer

February 10th, 2014 by Admin

I am locked out of my Windows 8.1 laptop and cannot unlock my Microsoft account. How can I get back into my laptop?

Locked out of your Windows 8.1 computer and can’t remember the password of your local or Microsoft account? Windows 8.1 encourages users to log in with Microsoft Account for enjoying the benefits that cloud brings. However, if you forgot the Microsoft account password, things can get more tricky than using a local account. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to unlock Windows 8.1 computers with a boot CD, no matter you’re using a Microsoft account or local account.

How to Unlock Windows 8.1 Computers?

  1. First of all, you have to download the ISO image of PCUnlocker using an alternate computer you can access. Once the download is complete, unzip the download file and you’ll get the bootable ISO image: pcunlocker.iso. Burn it to a blank CD (or USB drive) using the freeware ISO2Disc or ImgBurn.
  2. Now turn on your Windows 8.1 computer that you’re trying to unlock. Insert the burned CD and set the boot sequence to CD first in the computer BIOS.
  3. Once your computer boots from the CD, it begins to load the Windows PE system. After the booting procedure is complete, you’ll see the PCUnlocker program which displays a list of local accounts found in your Windows SAM database.
  4. Choose a local account and then click on “Reset Password” button. Confirm your operation and the program will reset/unlock your password quickly. If you need to unlock a Microsoft account, choose the local account that’s been linked to your Microsoft account, and click on “Reset Password” button. The program will update the cached logon credentials so you can later sign into your Windows 8.1 Microsoft account with a new password.
  5. The last step is to restart the computer and remove the PCUnlocker Live CD. You can then log back into your computer with a new password!

If you’re using PCUnlocker Std or Pro editions, you may need to disable UEFI to run the Live CD. If you’re unfamiliar with UEFI BIOS, I suggest you to use PCUnlocker Enterprise, which can boot in both UEFI and Legacy BIOS mode. PCUnlocker can also be used to reset lost Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP passwords.

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How to Reset Windows Server 2012 Password for Hyper-V Generation 2 Virtual Machine

January 24th, 2014 by Admin

Forgot Windows Server 2012 password for your Hyper-V Generation 2 VM? How to reset Hyper-V password without reinstalling your virtual machine?

Starting with Windows Server 2012, Hyper-V provides the options to create a Generation 1 or Generation 2 VM. The former is the same VM type that we have today, whereas Generation 2 VM uses UEFI firmware instead of BIOS and it is only supported by Windows 8 / 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 / 2012 R2 as the guest OS.

There are many Windows password recovery tools available on the net but most of them don’t support UEFI booting. When booting Generation 2 VM you may get the error “Boot Failed. EFI SCSI Device.” PCUnlocker is the only software that can support UEFI BIOS and works flawlessly with Hyper-V Generation 2 VM. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the process of using PCUnlocker to reset lost Windows Server 2012 password for Hyper-V Generation 2 virtual machine.

How to Reset Windows Server 2012 Password for Hyper-V Generation 2 Virtual Machine?

PCUnlocker can run from a UEFI bootable CD or USB flash drive. However, Hyper-V Gen2 VM doesn’t provide a way to boot from a USB drive, and the virtual DVD drive only supports ISO image file. So here we’ll use the ISO image of PCUnlocker to boot a Gen2 VM and then perform the password resetting.

  1. After purchasing the full version of PCUnlocker Enterprise, you’ll receive the download link of PCUnlocker_UEFI_x64.zip, which is about 150 Mb. Unzip the download file and you’ll get an ISO image file called pcunlocker.iso.
  2. Launch Hyper-V Manager. Right-click on the Windows Server 2012 virtual machine that you want to reset lost password for, then select Settings… from the drop-down menu.

    hyper-v-manager

  3. When the Settings dialog box appears, click on the DVD Drive from the Hardware tab. Specify the DVD drive to use the ISO image file of PCUnlocker.

    hyper-v-mount-iso

  4. Switch to the Firmware option under the Hardware tab. Move DVD Drive to the top of startup boot devices. Click on Apply to save your changes.

    hyper-v-boot-from-iso

  5. Start the virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager. It will load the WinPE operating system from the bootable ISO image. After a while, you’ll see the PCUnlocker program.

  6. Simply select your Windows SAM registry hive, the program will display a list of Windows user accounts. Select a user account and click the Reset Password button.
  7. Now you’ve successfully reset Windows Server 2012 password on Hyper-V Gen2 VM. Click the Restart button to reboot the virtual machine. Unmount the ISO file from the virtual machine’s DVD drive and you can then log back into your virtual machine without a password!

Besides resetting Hyper-V Generation 1 and Generation 2 virtual machine password, PCUnlocker can also be used to reset Windows 8/7/Vista/XP passwords for virtual machines running in VMware Workstation, Parallels, VirtualBox, Microsoft Virtual PC, etc.

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