Archive for the ‘Windows 7’ category

How to Reset Lost Windows Password on Compaq Presario Laptop

June 18th, 2013 by Admin

My sister forgot the password to her Windows Vista Compaq computer, and it is the only account on the computer. Is there anyway to unlock or reset it? She doesn’t have a password hint or a password reset disc. Thanks in advance.

Forgot Windows 7, Vista or XP password on your Compaq Presario laptop? Can’t access an old laptop which you haven’t used for a long time? The only method that most people will think of is re-installation of Windows but it will mean loss of important data and settings. Fortunately, now there are programs which make it easy for us to reset Windows admin/user password easily. Here I’ll walk you through how to use a password removal CD/USB drive to reset lost Windows password on Compaq Presario laptop.

Requirements

  • An alternate computer you can use to make a password removal CD/USB drive
  • A blank CD or USB flash drive

How to Reset Lost Windows Password on Compaq Presario Laptop?

First, download the Reset Windows Password utility and save it on your alternate computer. Unzip the download file and you’ll find a bootable CD image file: ResetWindowsPwd.iso. Burn the ISO image to a blank CD or USB flash drive using ISO2Disc program.

Now you need to use the password removal CD/USB drive to boot your locked Compaq Presario Laptop. Connect the CD/USB drive into the computer and turn it on. You may see a screen that says, “Press XXX for Boot Menu”. This indicates the key you need to press to enter the Boot Menu.

Choose the CD/DVD-ROM Drive or Removable Device from the Boot Menu, the computer will try to load the operating system inside the password removal CD/USB drive. After a while, you’ll see the Reset Windows Password program, which displays a list of local accounts existing in your Windows SAM database.

Select your Windows account and then click on “Reset Password” button. The program will prompt you to confirm the operation. After confirmation, it will remove your Windows user password in no time.

Now you’ve already reset lost Windows password on your Compaq Presario Laptop. Restart the computer and remove the CD/USB drive, you can then log into your Windows user account without a password. Enjoy it!

Forgot Windows 7 Password to Your Acer Aspire Laptop

June 17th, 2013 by Admin

I had not used my Acer Aspire computer in a couple of years and had this computer as a backup computer. I set a password for the administrator account and can not remember it. Can I somehow get into the computer to reset it?

Forgot Windows 7 password on your Acer Aspire laptop? Or your friend changed the Acer login password without telling you what it is? If so, then this is the stuff you are looking for. Windows passwords are set and used to keep the laptop or PC secure, but can sometimes prove disastrous. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to reset forgotten Windows 7 password on an Acer Aspire laptop using a boot CD or USB drive.

Forgot Windows 7 Password to Your Acer Aspire Laptop? How to Reset it?

Firstly, you need to create a password cracking boot CD/USB drive on an alternate PC. Download the ZIP archive of Reset Windows Password utility. Unzip the download file and you’ll find the ResetWindowsPwd.iso file which needs to be burned onto a CD or USB drive using ISO2Disc program.

Once you’ve created a password cracking boot CD/USB drive. Power on your locked Acer Aspire laptop. Press the F12 key while the system is performing the power-on self-test (POST). When you see the Boot Menu, choose the CD/DVD-ROM Drive or Removable Drive to let your PC to boot from your password cracking CD/USB drive.

After the booting procedure is complete, you’ll see the Reset Windows Password program appears. The program automatically searches your Windows 7 SAM registry file and displays user accounts available on your Acer laptop.

Choose a user account and then click on “Reset Password” button. The program quickly removes the existing password and unlock your user account. Restart your Acer laptop and remove the boot CD/USB drive. You can then log into your Windows 7 user account without a password.

Conclusion

There are lots of ways to unlock or reset Windows 7 password, but this method should be the easiest way for you to reset lost or forgotten Windows 7 password for your Acer Aspire laptop.

How to Reset Lost Administrator Password with Windows Password Resetter

June 17th, 2013 by Admin

Need to use your computer urgently but what if you have forgotten your Windows administrator password and can’t log in? Or bought a laptop but didn’t remember to ask the seller Windows password? No worries if you’re going through this situations as I am going to share with you a powerful Windows password resetter that will reset your lost administrator password with ease.

Reset Windows Password is a easy-to-use tool that lets you to reset and unlock lost Windows 8/7/Vista/XP administrator passwords on your computer whatever the brand is. It’s a bootable utility that can run from either CD or USB drive.

How to Reset Lost Administrator Password with Windows Password Resetter?

Firstly, you need to create a Windows password resetter boot CD/USB drive on an alternate PC. Download the ZIP archive of Reset Windows Password utility. Unzip the download file and you’ll find the ResetWindowsPwd.iso file which needs to be burned onto a CD or USB drive. Here I will use a USB flash drive and burn the ISO image to it using ISO2Disc program.

Boot your locked PC from the Windows password resetter USB drive that you’ve created above. To have your computer to boot from USB drive, you may need to change the boot order in BIOS and set Removable Drive as the first boot device.

Once successfully booting from the USB drive, the computer will load the Windows PE operating system from your Windows password resetter disk and eventually start the Reset Windows Password program. From the main screen of Reset Windows Password program, you’ll see the Windows SAM registry file and local user accounts which are detected on your computer.

Choose your administrator account and click on “Reset Password” button. The program will not only reset the lost administrator password instantly, but also unlock the administrator account if it is locked out, disabled or expired.

Restart the computer and remove the Windows password resetter USB drive. Now you can log back into your Windows administrator account without a password. Done!

Conclusion

Ever had trouble logging into a computer with an unknown password? Or you just want full access to that public PC that is in your library? If so, then this is the stuff you are looking for. With Windows password resetter CD/USB drive you can reset lost administrator password quickly and easily! It works on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems.

How to Change or Reset Windows Password with BartPE Live CD

June 15th, 2013 by Admin

If you’ve ever forgotten Windows password and can not access anything on your computer, you’ll know how frustrating it can be. Well, not it’s easy and simple to get back in. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to change or reset forgotten Windows password with BartPE Live CD.

To get started, you need to download Bart’s PE Builder utility, which helps you build a BartPE (Bart Pre-installed Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP installation/setup CD. To add the Windows password resetting feature into BartPE Live CD, you need to install the Sala Password Renew plugin into it.

After your BartPE Live CD is created successfully, you can then follow the steps below to change or reset your lost or forgotten Windows 7/Vista/XP password easily!

How to Change or Reset Windows Password with BartPE Live CD?

Place the BartPE Live CD into the CD drive of your locked computer. Turn on the computer and get it to boot from the BartPE Live CD. You may need to get into BIOS and set CD/DVD-ROM as the first boot device.

After booting from the BartPE Live CD, you’ll see a Windows XP like interface. Once getting into Windows PE system, click on the Go icon and then navigate to Programs > Password Renew.

BARTPE

Once Password Renew dialog box is open, click on “Select a Target” button to specify your Windows installation before performing password reset. In most case, the Windows installation is c:\windows.

password-renew

There are 3 options available on the program: Renew existing user password, Create new Administrator user, and Turn existing user to Administrator. For this example, we’re just going to change the administrator password so choose the “Renew existing user password” option and type a new password.

renew-administrator-password

Now click on “Install” link from the left hand side. Restart the computer, eject the boot CD and you should be able to log back into that user account with your new password.

Conclusion

So this is how can you reset or change forgotten Windows password with BartPE Live CD. If you still can’t get it to work or the Live CD is incompatible with your computer, I recommend you use the most powerful Windows password recovery software – Reset Windows Password, which could be used to reset lost Windows admin/user passwords on any Windows computers.

How to Reset Lost Windows Password with Hiren’s BootCD

June 14th, 2013 by Admin

If you forgot your Windows password you will not be able to log in to Windows. So what to do in this case? Is there a free password cracking software to reset lost Windows password? Answer is yes. In this tutorial we’ll guide you through step-by-step procedure of resetting lost Windows password using a free Linux-based boot utility – Hiren’s BootCD.

Hiren’s BootCD is an ultimate solution to almost all your computer problems. It comes loaded with hell lot of tools. Each of them is powerful and can be really very helpful if used with caution. You can solve nearly all your PC problems like virus infection, hdd failure, data recovery, Hard disk partitioning, password recovery using this CD.

Note: Hiren’s BootCD a customized Linux distribution that you need to go through so many steps on Command Prompt to reset your forgotten Windows password. If you aren’t tech savvy, I recommend you use the Reset Windows Password utility which comes with GUI graphical interface.

How to Reset Lost Windows Password with Hiren’s BootCD?

To get started, download Hiren’s BootCD from here. Once the download is complete, unzip the download file and you’ll find two useful files: Hiren’s.BootCD.15.2.iso and BurnCDCC.exe. Simply burn the ISO image of Hiren’s BootCD to an empty CD using BurnCDCC program.

Boot your locked PC using Hiren’s BootCD that you’ve created. Make sure you have your BIOS set to boot from CD/DVD. Once you boot from the Hiren’s BootCD, you’ll see a list of powerful system repair and maintenance tools. Choose the Offline NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 Password Changer and press Enter.

offline-nt-password-changer

The screen will display a list of Linux Kernel Boot options. Simply press Enter to continue.

boot-options

Now the step to choose the correct drive where the Windows is installed. If you have more than one operating system then choose the correct drive and hit Enter. Here I will type “1” and press Enter, because the /dev/sda1 is the system partition on my hard drive. Next press Enter to confirm that your registry directory is WINDOWS/system32/config.

select-partition

When it asks you which part of registry to load, type “1” and press Enter. When the “chntpw Main Interactive Menu” is shown, type “1” and press Enter to choose the “Edit user data and passwords” option.

edit-user-passwords

Now the screen will display a list of local user accounts existing on your registry file. For example, if you want to edit Windows administrator password, type “Administrator” and press Enter.

clear-windows-password

The program will display a list of account properties for your user account. To clear or blank your user account password, type “1” and press Enter. You’ll receive a message that says “Password cleared!”

After successfully resetting your forgotten Windows password, type “!” to close the User Editor Tool.

Now type “q” and hit Enter to close the Offline Password Editor and Registry tool.

Now type “y” and hit Enter to confirm the password change.

Now it will ask you whether you want to use it again or not. Just type “n” and hit Enter.

exit-boot-cd

Remove your Hiren’s BootCD and press ALT + Ctrl + Del to restart your system. You can then log on your computer with a blank/empty Windows password.

How to Override Lost windows 7/Vista/XP Password with USB Drive

June 13th, 2013 by Admin

Locked out of Windows after forgetting the administrator password? Just bought a used laptop but it is password protected and you are unable to get into it? Is there any way to override a lost Windows password and regain control of your computer without wiping any data? Here is a very easy method using a USB drive to override lost Windows 7/Vista/XP password quickly.

How to Override Lost windows 7/Vista/XP Password with USB Drive?

Firstly, you need to prepare a bootable password removal USB drive on another PC which you can log on. Download the .zip archive of Reset Windows Password utility onto your desktop. Open the ZIP file and extract it to a folder on your desktop. Within that folder, you’ll find a file called ResetWindowsPwd.iso. Simply burn the ISO image file to a USB drive using ISO2Disc program.

Plug the USB drive into your locked PC which needs to override a lost Windows password. Turn on the computer and get it to boot from the USB drive. Make sure you have your BIOS set to boot from removable device. Once you boot from the USB drive, the computer will start loading the WinPE operating system and open up the Reset Windows Password program.

On the main interface of Reset Windows Password program, you can see all user accounts for your Windows installation. Choose a user account and click on Reset Password button. The program will unlock your user account and override the lost Windows password.

Unplug the USB drive and restart your computer. Now you should be able to log back into Windows system with a blank/empty password. It’s that easy!

Conclusion

So this is how can you override lost Windows 7/Vista/XP password easily. Instantly regain access to your password protected computer when you lost or forgot Windows password. No need to reinstall Windows.

How to Reset Windows 7 Password Using Sticky Keys Trick

June 8th, 2013 by Admin

I just bought my eleven year old daughter an HP laptop with Windows 7. I set her up as the administrator, with a password (which in hindsight, I shouldn’t have) she changed the admin password, but didn’t write the new password down, and can’t remember what she changed it to. Is there any free and straight forward techniques to reset Windows 7 password?

If you’ve ever forgotten your Windows 7 password or been asked to assist somebody else in resetting their lost password, there’s a lot of different ways to accomplish it. Here’s how to reset Windows 7 password by using the Sticky Keys trick.

Sticky Keys is designed for people who have difficulty holding down two or more keys at a time. By default, if you press the SHIFT key five times, the Sticky Keys dialog box will open up, even if you are at the Windows login screen. So if you replace the Sticky Keys application with the Command Prompt, you can then press the SHIFT key five times to open up a Command Prompt which runs with system privileges, which can used to reset forgotten passwords of any user accounts existing in your Windows 7 system.

How to Reset Windows 7 Password Using Sticky Keys Trick?

Firstly, you need to boot your locked Windows 7 PC from a Live CD, such as Windows PE, system repair disc, Ubuntu or Linux Live CD. After booting from a Live CD, you can access all files on your system partition through a GUI interface or command prompt.

Simply replace the Sticky Keys application (c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe) with the Command Prompt (c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe). Please note the drive letter of your Windows 7 system as seen in Live CD may be different from what you’ve seen before.

Next take out the Live CD from the CD drive and restart your computer. When you reach the Windows 7 login screen, press the SHIFT key five or more times, this will bring up a Command Prompt instead of the Sticky Keys application.

Tips: If the system already has the Sticky Keys feature disabled, or you don’t have a Live CD around, you can use Password Recovery Bundle to reset your Windows 7 password instead.

Type the following command to reset your forgotten Windows 7 password, replacing username with your account name and password with a new password.

net user username password

After that you can now log in using your new password.

After getting into Windows 7, it is important to rename the sethc.exe file so as to prevent any other user from using this same trick to reset your password. This is especially important if you use a shared computer.

Note: Resetting Windows 7 password using the Sticky Keys trick means you will lose access to EFS-encrypted files, encrypted email messages, and stored passwords for Internet Explorer and network resources. Remember to back up your important data regularly.

Find Your Lost Windows CD Key the Easy Way

June 5th, 2013 by Admin

Lost or misplaced your Windows CD key? How can I find the CD key in Windows registry? Typically, the Windows CD key is located on an orange or yellow sticker on the back of your CD/DVD case. If the operating system that you are using was preinstalled by your computer manufacturer, you may find the Windows product key sticker on the computer. If you’ve lose your CD/DVD case or the sticker is damaged or missing, it seems that you have to purchase another expensive Windows CD key from Microsoft. But this is not the solution you’ll get here.

Using Product Key Finder program you can find lost Windows CD key easily from your genuine copy of Windows 8/7/Vista/XP installations. Product Key Finder searches the registry and decrypts the CD keys for all supported software which are installed on your computer, including Windows CD key and product keys for Office, VMware, SQL Server.

How to Find Your Lost Windows CD Key Easily?

  1. Download Product Key Finder and save it on your computer. Double-click on the setup file and simply follow the setup wizard to complete the installation.
  2. Launch Product Key Finder and then click on “Start Recovery” button.
  3. It will provide you 3 options to recover lost Windows CD keys. The first option enables you to find lost Windows CD key from current system, while the other two options allow you to locate Windows CD key from external hard drive or remote computer.
  4. Choose the first option “From current system”, the program will quickly find out the CD key for your current Windows installation, along with product keys for many other software.

When reinstalling an operating system you have to search around for all the CD keys for your software. A neat way to get it all in once place is with the Product Key Finder. After finding your lost Windows CD key, make sure you store the CD key together with the Windows installation disc in a safe location in case you have to reinstall Windows in future.

What is the Security Accounts Manager (SAM)?

May 31st, 2013 by Admin

The Security Accounts Manager (SAM) is a registry file in Windows NT and later versions until the most recent Windows 8. It stores users’ passwords in a hashed format (in LM hash and NTLM hash). Since a hash function is one-way, this provides some measure of security for the storage of the passwords.

The SAM registry file is located on your system at C:\WINDOWS\system32\config, but it is locked and cannot be moved or copied while Windows is running. The main function of the Security Accounts Manager is holding onto the passwords used to log into Windows accounts. When you try to log in to a user account, Windows will use a series of hash algorithms to calculate a hash for the password you just typed in. If the hash is equal to the password hash inside the SAM registry file, Windows will allow you to log in. Otherwise you’ll get the error message that user name or password is incorrect.

The SAM registry file is not accessible while the operating system is booted up, this is why most of Windows password cracking software comes as an bootable ISO image. You need to boot up with another operating system like DOS, Linux or Ubuntu. When you copied the SAM file to external media, you can crack the passwords stored in the SAM file with a program like LC5 or Ophcrack. But it usually takes a very long time to crack a password, especially if your password is long and complicated.

If you don’t want to go through the trouble of recovering the original password, then you can instantly remove / delete your forgotten Windows password using a boot CD like Reset Windows Password utility, which works with pretty much every edition of Windows out there, including XP, Vista, 7, and Windows 8. To use it, boot your PC using the program on a CD or on a USB thumb drive. Just follow the simple instructions on the screen to reset Windows admin/user password, and then reboot and log in.