Archive for the ‘Tips & Tricks’ category

Reset Windows 8 or 7 Password with the Freeware NTPasswd

July 3rd, 2015 by Admin

“My laptop was installed with Windows 7 with only one account, but no reset disk was created. Now I had forgotten my administrator password and don’t know how to reset it.

Had tried Ophcrack to burn its ISO into a flash drive, but failed to recover my password. Is there any way to reset my password without formatting my whole system disk?”

Fortunately, if you have lost your Windows password, there are several approaches you can take for either recovering or resetting the forgotten password. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to reset Windows 8 or 7 password with the freeware NTPasswd (Offline NT Password & Registry Eidtor). NTPasswd is a small Linux tool that allows you to reset Windows admin/user password on a computer where you forgot your password.

How to Reset Windows 8 or 7 Password with NTPasswd?

First go to the official website of NTPasswd and grab a copy of the bootable CD image. To install NTPasswd onto a blank CD, Right-click on the ISO file and then click “Burn disc image” option. If your system doesn’t have built-in support for burning, you can take use of the free burning tool ISO2Disc.
When the bootable NTPasswd CD is ready, it’s time to reset your lost Windows password. Insert the CD into the optical drive and restart the target computer. You might have to adjust the BIOS to allow booting from the CD.
After booting to the NTPasswd tool, you have to select which partition that has Windows installed. In most cases, there will be only one partition so you can just hit Enter to use the default value.
Next, select which part of registry to load, press Enter to leave it as default option which is “Password reset [sam]”.
When you see the chntpw Main Interactive Menu, press Enter to select “Edit user data and passwords” option.
Choose the user account where you want to reset the password. You can find the RID, which you have to enter now, to the left of the username.
On User Edit Menu, type 1 and press Enter to select “Clear (blank) user password”.
If there is nothing wrong, you should see a message Password cleared!. Then, type q and press Enter to quit editing the user.
Next type q to quit the NTPasswd tool and type y to save your password reset changes. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart your computer. You should be able to login to Windows without any problems — remember to change the password to something complex that you can still recall easily.

Note that NTPasswd could be used to reset password for local account only. If you need to bypass Windows 8 Microsoft account, or reset domain user password, you might need to take use of the commercial software PCUnlocker.

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Posted in Free Software, Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8

Tags: free windows password reset NT password reset NTPasswd NTPassword Offline NT Password & Registry Eidtor reset windows password with ntpasswd Windows NT password reset

Troubleshoot SQL Server Error 18456: Login Failed for User

July 2nd, 2015 by Admin

One of the most common error messages I come across when logging into SQL Server is error 18456: Login failed for user you provided. Can anybody tell me what the error code means?

sql-server-login-failure

This generic message means that SQL Server is not able to grant you access, but this message is useless for you to determine the true reason for the failure. To troubleshoot the SQL Server login failure, we have to dig into the SQL Server error log and find the root cause of the issue.

SQL Server maintains its own error logs that contain messages describing informational and error events. The SQL Server error log is the best place for a Database Administrators to look for informational messages, warnings, critical events, etc. By default, the error log is located at the folder:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.{instance_name}\MSSQL\LOG\

Typically, SQL Server retains backups of the previous six logs and gives the most recent log backup the extension .1, the second most recent the extension .2, and so on. The current error log has no extension.

errorlog

To check out what is happening on your database, you should check out the current error log file named ERRORLOG. It’s just a text file and you can open it with any text editor, such as Notepad. When you receive the login failure message (error 18456), just open the ERRORLOG file, browse to the end and you can find the corresponding entry related to your login issue.

sql-server-error-log

The key to the message is the ‘State’ which the server will accurately set to reflect the source of the problem. In the example above, State 58 indicates that you’re trying to login with a SQL Server account that’s not a supported authentication mode for your server.

The common error states and their descriptions are provided in the following table:

ERROR STATE	ERROR DESCRIPTION
State 2 and State 5	Could not find a login matching the name provided.
State 6	Attempt to use a Windows login name with SQL Authentication
State 7	Login disabled and password mismatch
State 8	Password mismatch
State 9	Invalid password
State 11 and State 12	Valid login but server access failure
State 13	SQL Server service is paused. No new connections can be accepted at this time.
State 16	A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the pre-login handshake.
State 18	Change password required
State 23	Access to server validation failed while revalidating the login on the connection.
State 38, 40, 46	Failed to open the database specified in the login properties.
State 50	Current collation did not match the database’s collation during connection reset.
State 51	Failed to send an environment change notification to a log shipping partner node while revalidating the login.
State 56	Failed attempted retry of a process tokenvalidation.
State 58	An attempt to login using SQL authentication failed. Server is configured for Windows authentication only.
State 65	Password did not match that for the user provided.

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Posted in SQL Server, Tips & Tricks

Tags: SQL Server Error 18456 sql server login error sql server login failure

2 Methods to Fix “The Group Policy Client service failed the logon. Access denied.”

July 1st, 2015 by Admin

When you try to log on to your Windows account, you might encounter the error “The group Policy Client service failed the logon. Access is denied.”

When you click OK, the system will return you back to the login screen. Searching this on the net gave a lot of answers but none of them seemed to solve it. In the end we discovered that it is a permissions problem and not a corrupt profile problem. Here’s two methods to fix this issue.

Before getting started, you need to log on to your computer with a working administrator account. Then follow the solutions below to fix the problem for your affected account.

Method 1: Regain Registry Permissions

Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter.
When the Registry Editor opens, select HKEY_USERS in the left pane. Now, pull down the File menu and choose the Load Hive option.
When the Load Hive dialog appears, select All Files in the Files of type box. Navigate to your affected profile folder (for example, C:\Users\<user_name>) and select the NTUSER.DAT hive. Click Open.

Note: if the NTUSER.DAT file doesn’t show up, you might need to configure Windows to display the hidden files.
It will ask you for a name. Give it any name, it doesn’t matter what it is.
You will now see the hive you just loaded with the name you gave it under the HKEY_USERS key. In my example, the entire NTUSER.DAT hive has been loaded into the Registry Editor under the registry location: HKEY_USERS\NTUSER.
Right-click on HKEY_USERS\NTUSER and select Permissions.
Here you should see at least three accounts: System, Administrators and the name of your affected user account who’s profile you are fixing. If ANY of these are not shown it will not work. You need to add all three and then give them full control in the Permissions section.
Once you have added all three and given them the correct permissions, click the File menu and select Unload Hive. Close the Registry Editor.
Log off or restart your computer. You should be able to login successfully with your account that you were having trouble with.

Method 2: Deleting the Local Profile

This method works by deleting your affected local profile, so you can then log back on. After successfully logging on, Windows will automatically create a new profile for your account. Here’s how to delete the profile for your affected Windows account in Windows 10, 8, 7 and Vista:

Right-click on My Computer icon on your desktop, and then select Properties.
From there, click the Advanced System Settings link on the left-hand side.
When you see the System Properties dialog, click the Settings button in the User Profiles section.
In the User Profiles dialog box, select the profile of your affected user account and click on Delete.
Click OK to confirm. Now you’ve successfully deleted a user profile. Your problem should be fixed by now.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista

Tags: delete windows user profile the group Policy Client service failed the logon

How to Show Hidden Files in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 and Vista

July 1st, 2015 by Admin

One accidental deletion of a single system file can render your computer unusable. By default, Windows hides certain system files from view in Windows Explorer. This protects important files from being accidentally deleted, modified or altered.

But there are times when it’s necessary to view the hidden files and folders when coming to troubleshoot Windows problems. Here’s how to show hidden files in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 and Vista.

How to Show Hidden Files in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 and Vista?

Open up a Windows Explorer window, choose Organize -> Folder and search options.

In Windows 10 or 8, click on the View tab at the top of Windows Explorer, and then click Options.

In Windows 11, open File Explorer and click on the See more button (three dots) on the right side of the toolbar, and then select Options.
From the opened Folder Options box, go to View tab.
Under the Advanced settings section, click to select “Show hidden files, folders, and drives” radio button. If you are trying to get into the Windows directories, you might want to also remove the checkbox from “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)” as well.
When you are done, just click Apply and OK, and your changes will take effect immediately.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista

Tags: how to view hidden files in windows show hidden files show hidden files in windows

Rate My Computer with Built-in Performance Testing Tool in Windows 8 or 7

June 28th, 2015 by Admin

Running benchmarks on a computer enables users to evaluate performance, to identify potential bottlenecks, and to choose effective system upgrades. Like Windows Vista, Windows 8 and 7 also come with a performance assessment tool, which rates your system and then gives you tips on improving it.

The following tutorial will walk you through the procedure to rate your computer with the built-in Performance Information Tools in Windows 8 or 7.

How to Rate Computer Performance in Windows 8 or 7?

First of all, open up the Control Panel. In Windows 8, you can simply press the Windows key + X to bring up the Power User menu and then select “Control Panel”.
Under System and Security, click Review your computer’s status.
In the left pane, click on View Performance Information.
When the Performance Information and Tools window appears, click on Rate This Computer to run the benchmark.

If you have ever run an assessment for this computer before, click the Re-run the Assessment link to recalculate your performance rating.
The assessment may take a few minutes to complete depending on your system’s hardware and software configuration.
After the test is complete, Windows will give scores for your computer’s processor, memory, graphics, gaming graphics, and hard disk.

Though it’s not known as an especially accurate measure of PC performance, particularly when comparing scores with other systems, it can be a useful tool to identify a hardware deficiency.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8

Tags: rate computer performance rate my computer rate this computer rate this computer in windows 7 rate this computer in windows 8

How to Enable or Disable Windows 10 Upgrade Notification

June 25th, 2015 by Admin

The final version of Windows 10 will release to public on July 29, 2015, and all Windows 7 and Windows 8 users can upgrade to Windows 10 for free in the first year of launch. To make the upgrade process easier, Microsoft has released a new update KB3035583 that will install a Windows 10 upgrade notification tool called “Get Windows 10”.

windows-10-upgrade-notification

If you click on the small Windows icon at the right end of the system tray, it will launch the “Get Windows 10” app and you will be able to reserve your free copy of Windows 10. However, for some reason this icon isn’t appearing on all systems, or you might want to remove the annoying upgrade notification. In this tutorial we’ll explain how to enable or disable the Windows 10 upgrade notification.

Part 1: Enable the Windows 10 Upgrade Notification

If the “Get Windows 10″ upgrade app icon is missing in taskbar, how can you get it to appear in Windows 7 or 8? The “Get Windows 10” app is delivered through an optional update and you need to have patch KB3035583 installed.

The first thing to try is make sure Windows Update is set to automatically install all updates on your PC and that your system is fully up to date. That alone might be enough to get the Windows 10 upgrade notification icon to appear.

Part 2: Remove the Windows 10 Upgrade Notification

But there are also many people who want to stick to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, the “Get Windows 10” app and its icon present in taskbar notification area might become annoying. To remove the upgrade notification completely, you have to uninstall the update KB3035583:

Open the Command Prompt with Administrator privileges. In Windows 7, right-click on the Command Prompt icon and select Run as administrator. In Windows 8, simply press the Windows + X key to bring up the Power User menu and then select “Command Prompt(Admin)”.
Type the following command in the Command Prompt and hit Enter.
WUSA /UNINSTALL /KB:3035583
Follow the on-screen prompts, and when complete type exit to close Command Prompt. Restart your computer and the Windows 10 upgrade notification will go away permanently.

If you want to avoid Windows installing this update again, you will need to block the patch by opening Control Panel –> Windows Updates and checking for updates, then right-click the update KB3035583 and choose to hide it.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8

Tags: disable windows 10 upgrade notification remove get windows 10 app remove windows 10 upgrade notification turn off windows 10 upgrade notification windows 10 upgrade notification windows 10 upgrade notification missing

How to Reset Lost Windows Password on Mac OS X

June 11th, 2015 by Admin

I have a MacBook Air with Windows 7 in Bootcamp and need to recover the password. I normally use Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, but I couldn’t get it to boot from either CD or USB drive. How can I bypass the password?

Mac OS X normally uses EFI firmware that will stop you from using traditional bootable utilities to reset your Windows password. To boot a Mac from a CD or USB drive, you have to use a EFI-compatible password cracking tool such as PCUnlocker Enterprise. Here’s a walkthrough of using the PCUnlocker Live CD to reset lost Windows password on Mac OS X.

Part 1: Create A PCUnlocker Live CD from Mac OS X

Here are steps to create a PCUnlocker Live CD from within the OS X. If you’re also unable to access the OS X, you can create the disc from another Mac or Windows computer.

Download the PCUnlocker Enterprise and save it to your desktop. Extract (by double-clicking) the downloaded .zip file to get a CD image named pcunlocker.iso.
Open Finder and navigate to Applications -> Utilities and double-click Disk Utility.
Once the Disk Utility is launched, click the Burn button at the top of Disk Utility in the toolbar.
Choose the pcunlocker.iso file from the pop up window. Click on Burn and confirm your operation. The disc will be ready soon.

Part 2: Reset Lost Windows Password

Power on your Mac and immediately press and hold the Option key on the keyboard. Keeping holding it, and about 10 seconds later, your Mac will prompt you to select the boot options: Windows, Macintosh HD and CD/DVD drive.
Use the arrow key to select the DVD drive and press Enter. After WinPE loads, you’ll see the PCUnlocker program. It automatically searches the Windows SAM database on your Boot Camp partition, and lists all your Windows accounts.
Select one of your accounts and click on “Reset Password” button. It will unlock / reset your forgotten Windows user password immediately. Eject the CD and restart your Mac. You can then log back in to your Windows without a password!

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Posted in Tips & Tricks

Tags: reset windows password from mac reset windows password on mac reset windows password on os x

2 Options to Reset Forgotten SQL Server 2012 Password

June 10th, 2015 by Admin

Forgot the SA password for your SQL Server 2012 instance? If you have tried to access the database too many times with wrong passwords, the SA account may be locked out. In this tutorial we’ll show you two options to take control of your SQL Server 2012 by either adding a sysadmin account or resetting the SA password.

Option 1: Reset SQL Server 2012 Password in Single-user Mode

Launch the SQL Server Configuration Manager utility. Look for your SQL Server 2012 instance and stop the service.
Open a Command Prompt with admin privileges, run the following command to start SQL Server 2012 in single-user mode:
net start MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS /m"SQLCMD"

Be sure to change MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS to the service name of your SQL Server instance. Each instance has its own SQL Server service. The service name could be found within the Windows Services panel (services.msc).
Use the sqlcmd command to connect to your SQL Server 2012 database locally. If your SQL Server is installed on a remote computer, make sure you substitute the . (dot) with the host name of that server.
sqlcmd -E -S .
Type the following SQL statement to create a new account and granting it any server-level permission.
CREATE LOGIN tom WITH PASSWORD = 'P@ssw0rd' GO ALTER SERVER ROLE sysadmin ADD MEMBER tom GO
Type exit to quit sqlcmd. Restart your SQL Server 2012 service to get out of the single-user mode. You can then connect to the database using the new login you just created.

Option 2: Offline Reset SQL Server 2012 Password

SQL Server creates the user’s password hash, which is stored in the master database (sysxlogins). With SQL Server Password Changer you can unlock / reset SQL Server 2012 passwords for the SA and other user accounts. Here’s how:

First of all, you need to stop your SQL Server 2012 instance from within the SQL Server Configuration Manager utility.
Download and install the SQL Server Password Changer program.
Start the SQL Server Password Changer program. Click on Open File button to browse for the master.mdf file. Usually the master.mdf file is located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA.
Once you have clicked on the Open button, the program will display a list of user accounts for your SQL Server instance. Select the SA account and click on Change Password button.
In the pop-up window, type a new password and click OK. The new password can be as short or simple as you want, no need to meet the password complexity requirements.
After resetting the SA password, start your SQL Server instance and you can then login to the SA account successfully.

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Posted in SQL Server, Tips & Tricks

Tags: change sa password in sql server 2012 change sql server 2012 password forgot sql server 2012 password reset sa password in sql server 2012 reset sql server 2012 password sql server 2012 password recovery

Fix the Error “Windows cannot complete the extraction. The destination file could not be created”

June 3rd, 2015 by Admin

Windows has built-in support for zip files. It can create, extract, browse through zip files which is a nice feature but this feature can also give you troubles in some situations.

When you try to open a .zip file you’ve downloaded using Windows Explorer, you might receive the follow error:

“Windows cannot complete the extraction. The destination file could not be created.”

error-open-zip

By default, Windows will extract the files into the temp folder when you double-click on a .zip file to open it for viewing. This error means there is a problem with the permissions of the temp folder.

Here is a workaround:

Move the .zip file into one of your user profile sub-folders, like Downloads, Documents, Pictures, etc.
Right-click on the .zip file and select “Extract All”. This allows you to decompress all of the files into a folder of your choice.

Actually this problem has been faced by lots of Windows users. If you open the zip file with some third-party tools such as 7-zip or WinRAR, every file could be opened without error.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks

Tags: windows cannot complete the extraction

How to Install Windows 10 or 8.1 with Local Account (Skip Microsoft Account)

May 30th, 2015 by Admin

Can I install Windows 10 with a local account as now a Microsoft account is required? When installing Windows 10 or 8.1, you will not see an option to create a local account by default, and instead you have to log in to your Microsoft Account or be asked to create a new one. Here’s a workaround to skip the Microsoft account sign-in so you can install Windows 10/8.1 with a local account.

How to Install Windows 10 or 8.1 with Local Account?

Start the installation of Windows 10/8.1 as you would usually do, and follow on-screen instruction to proceed.
When you’re prompted to sign in to your Microsoft account, click on “Create a new account“.
On the screen where you’re required to enter information to create a Microsoft account, scroll down to the bottom, and click on “Sign in without a Microsoft account“.
Enter your desired user name, password and password hint for the local account to be used to login to Windows. Click on Finish to continue the installation as usual.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 8

Tags: install windows 10 with local account install windows 10 without microsoft account install windows 8 without microsoft account install windows 8.1 with local account