Archive for the ‘Windows Vista’ category

Add “Take Ownership” to Right-Click Context Menu in Windows

February 1st, 2013 by Admin

Guess what is the most annoying part of Windows 7 or Vista? Every time you try to access a system file/folder you get “Permission Denied” error. Windows 8/7/Vista doesn’t allow any user even the Administrator to modify (rename, delete, move) those system files. In order to gain full permissions to system files and folders, you need to take ownership & grant full control permissions to files & folder.

Taking ownership generally requires you to dive in and out of GUI menus, or break out the command prompt. It’s far more complicated than it needs to be, and thankfully, there is a free utility, called Ownership Changer, that makes this process easier.

Updated: We just released the first version of TakeOwnershipPro, a freeware to take ownership and grant yourself full permission to access any files or folders in Windows.

How to Add “Take Ownership” to Right-Click Context Menu in Windows?

Download and unzip the files contained in the TakeOwnership.zip file. Double-click the InstallTakeOwnership.reg file to install Take Ownership option in context menu.

Here’s what the new right-click menu will look like after installing Take Ownership option:

If the Take Ownership option doesn’t work for you, or simply doesn’t suit your needs, double-click the RemoveTakeOwnership.reg file to remove it from context menu.

How to Take Ownership & Grant Full Control Permissions to Files & Folder in Windows 8/7/Vista

February 1st, 2013 by Admin

Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft implemented additional security for system files that assigns TrustedInstaller as the only owner with full control permissions. All other administrators or user accounts including SYSTEM have been granted only read, execute or traverse permissions. Such a design is useful in the presence of inexperienced users, who might otherwise accidentally delete or modify important system files. However, for the tech savvy, it can be an aggravating obstacle.

Hence in case if you need to access, modify or delete system files or folder you need to take ownership first then assign rights or permission to respective users. Here is the step-by-step guide to help you take ownership and grant full control permissions to files & folder in Windows 8/7/Vista.

Updated: We just released the first version of TakeOwnershipPro, a freeware to take ownership and grant yourself full permission to access any files or folders in Windows.

How to Take Ownership & Grant Full Control Permissions to Files & Folder in Windows 8/7/Vista?

  1. In Windows Explorer, navigate and locate the file or folder which you want to take ownership and has full read/write/execute control access permission on.
  2. Right-click on the file or folder and select Properties from the context menu.
  3. On the File/Folder Properties dialog, go to Security tab and then click on Advanced button.

  4. In the Advanced Security Settings dialog, click on Owner tab, which will indicate the current owner as TrustedInstaller or some other user account.

  5. Click on the Edit button and select user from given Change Owner to list. If user or group is not in given list then click on Other users or groups. Enter name of user/group and Click OK.

  6. Click OK to exit from all Properties dialog boxes.
  7. Right-click on the file or folder and select Properties from the context menu to bring up the File/Folder Properties dialog again.
  8. Under Security tab, click on Edit button to change permissions.
  9. Highlight the user who wants the permissions on the object be changed in the Group or user names box.

  10. click on Full Control check box under the Permissions box to assign full read-write access control permissions to the user or group.
  11. Click OK to save your changes. The file or folder now belongs to you with full control permissions.

How to Hack Windows 7/Vista/XP Password Using BackTrack

January 24th, 2013 by Admin

Lost your Windows 7/Vista/XP password and cannot log in to your machine? If you have a rescue disk, you should be okay. If not, you might have to turn to BackTrack Linux for help.

Microsoft stores the password hashes of Windows user accounts in the registry hive c:\windows\system32\config\sam. This file is highly protected and not accessible while Windows is running even for the administrator user. To circumvent the protection and access the SAM file, we need to boot from a Live CD such as BackTrack so we can hack Windows password in the SAM registry file.

The method that I describe in this tutorial can works with any computer running Windows 7/Vista/XP system. To get started, you need to download a live edition of BackTrack Linux distribution and burn that ISO image to a CD (you could also burn BackTrack on a USB drive). Either way, you will need to boot in to Linux to hack your forgotten Windows 7/Vista/XP password.

How to Hack Windows 7/Vista/XP Password Using BackTrack?

  1. First of all boot your target computer using BackTrack Live CD or USB drive.
  2. Once Backtrack is booted, log in to the root user account using the default password: toor. Type in startx to start the GUI.
  3. Now go for Application > Privilege Escalation > Password Attacks > Offline Attack > chntpw.
  4. Identify and mount your Windows partition in read/write mode using below commands:
    umount /mnt/hda1
    modprobe fuse
    ntfsmount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1

    If your hard disk is SATA type then you need to use /sda1 instead of /hda1 in the above steps.
  5. To list out all the users in the Windows SAM registry hive:
    ./chntpw -l /mnt/hda1/windows/system32/config/SAM
  6. To reset the password for any specific user:
    ./chntpw -u username /mnt/hda1/windows/system32/config/SAM

BackTrack is widely used by most tech-savvy Linux users to hack Windows login password. But if you don’t have much experience with Linux, it’s better to use another software to hack Windows 7/Vista/XP password – Reset Windows Password, which is a Live disk based on Windows PE operating system and makes it much easier for average computer users to hack Windows password on their own.

How to Unlock A Laptop If You Forgot Your Password

January 23rd, 2013 by Admin

I just got a new laptop with Windows 7 on it and its really great. But, I went on a 2 month trip and forgot my password and I didn’t write it down either. Now I can’t even get pass the login screen to get into Windows! Please, can someone help me? I’d really appreciate it because I’ve tried everything I can think of.

Forgot the login password on your laptop? Your stupid annoying cousin has changed your password? Or something should have gotten mistyped while you was resetting your password and now you can’t log on your laptop? The most common method of unlocking a laptop is to boot up in Safe Mode by pressing F8 when the BIOS screen appears and log onto the built-in administrator account. Hopefully this account doesn’t have a password and it’s not disabled, but most of the time it does not.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to unlock a laptop if you forgot your Windows 8/7/Vista/XP password. No matter what situation you are in, you can always unlock/reset the forgotten password on your laptop by following the instructions below.

How to Unlock A Laptop If You Forgot Your Password?

  1. First, you will need to download the Reset Windows Password utility on another PC that you can access. This can be your work PC, or a friend or family member’s PC.
  2. Unzip the download file and you’ll get the ResetWindowsPwd.iso file. Just burn this bootable ISO image to a CD or USB flash drive using ISO2Disc software.
  3. Next, insert the CD or USB flash drive into your locked laptop and boot the laptop from it. If you don’t know how to set your laptop to boot from CD or USB drive, please refer to this guide: How to Boot A Computer from CD or USB Drive.
  4. The computer will load the mini operating system inside the CD or USB flash drive and open up the Reset Windows Password window as follow.Reset Windows Password
  5. Choose your desired Windows SAM registry hive from the drop-down list.
  6. Choose a user account and then click on Reset Password button. The program will remove your forgotten password and unlock/enable this user account instantly.
  7. Restart the computer and remove the CD or USB flash drive, you should then be able to log on your laptop without being asked to type a password.

It’s essential to have a copy of Reset Windows Password utility before something inevitably happens to your laptop. Especially when you forgot your password and need to use your laptop urgently, you can use it to unlock your laptop quickly and easily.

Can Log in to Windows with Fingerprint But Forgot Administrator Password

January 9th, 2013 by Admin

I forgot my new password to my only account on my new Windows 7 laptop. Luckily, the laptop has a fingerprint reader, and I am able to log in that way. Is there a way to manually reset it without losing all my data or doing too much work? Thanks.

Most modern laptops are equipped with a biometric fingerprint scanner, which you can use to log in to your Windows machine in the place of a password. But if you login with fingerprint all the time, there is a great possibility that you will probably forget the administrator password. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 options to reset forgotten Windows administrator password when you are in such a situation.

Option 1: Take Advantage of Fingerprint Logon

If you can still log in to Windows with fingerprint and the fingerprint logon is associated with a administrative account, you can open Control Panel -> User Accounts, and pick the administrator user account to change/remove its password. But for some security reasons you may be prompted to enter the current administrator password to proceed. In this case, you can try another alternative trick: create a new user account with admin privileges in Control Panel, and then log out of the computer. After logging in using the new user account, you can head over to the Control Panel and reset your forgotten administrator password easily.

Option 2: Reset Administrator Password with 3rd Party Software

If you still can’t reset forgotten administrator password using the trick above, or your fingerprint sensor stops working, here is a guaranteed way for you to reset/remove your Windows administrator password. Just follow this simple steps:

  1. First, you will need to download and install Password Recovery Bundle on any PC that you can access. This can be your work PC, or a friend or family member’s PC.
  2. Launch Password Recovery Bundle and click on Windows Password button, the pop-up dialog allows you to create a bootable password reset CD/USB.
  3. Next, insert the password reset CD/USB into your locked computer and boot the computer from it. If you don’t know how to set your computer to boot from CD or USB drive, please check out this guide: How to Boot A Computer from CD or USB Drive.
  4. The computer will load the mini operating system inside the password reset disc and open up the Reset Windows Password window as follow.Reset Windows Password
  5. Choose the administrator account and then click on Reset Password button. The program will remove your forgotten administrator password immediately.

Restart the computer and remove the password reset CD/USB, you should then be able to log in to your Windows administrator account with a blank password. The method works on Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP.

How to Unlock Windows Administrator Password

December 8th, 2012 by Admin

Maybe you use your administrator-level Windows user account so rarely that you forgot the password. Or perhaps you’ve acquired a used PC, don’t know the login password. Either way, if you want to keep using that computer, you have to either find out how to unlock the forgotten administrator password or reformat the hard drive.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to unlock Windows administrator password when you forgot it. Quickly get into your computer without losing your files. You can use this trick on Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP.

How to Unlock Windows Administrator Password?

Reset Windows Password utility is one of the best Windows password recovery software which can help you unlock administrator password easily on Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP.

You have to boot into this program off a CD or USB drive, so it downloads as an .iso image file. Double-click that file and Windows just might start a program that burns the disc. If it doesn’t, download and install ISO2Disc, then try again. Simply copying the .iso file to a CD won’t work.

When you boot the Windows password reset disc, the computer will load the mini operating system inside the disc and finally start the Reset Windows Password program. The program automatically finds the Windows SAM database and retrieves the user accounts existing in your Windows installation.

Simply select the administrator account if you forgot the password, then click on Reset Password button. It will unlock your selected account and remove its password in no time.

Finally remove the CD and reboot the computer. It will boot Windows into the logon screen. Choose your administrator account and left the password field as blank, you can login without any hassle.

How to Reset Lost Windows User Password

December 6th, 2012 by Admin

Just a few days ago, I tried to log into a seldom-used Windows XP system, only to have forgotten the administrator password. Since I don’t use that PC often, I wasn’t concerned about losing applications and data. But after spending ten minutes guessing various combinations, I still couldn’t login. Please help!!!

Forgot Windows user password? If you’ve created a password reset disk beforehand, just insert it into the PC and click Reset Password link at the Windows login screen to restore access. However, most average computer users don’t know the importance of creating a password reset disk in case a Windows user password is lost or forgotten.

In this tutorial we’ll show you an easy option to regain access to your lost Windows user account. Reset Windows Password enables you to create a bootable password reset CD which can be used to reset lost Windows user password on nearly all versions of Windows system. Follow the instructions to know how can you unlock Windows user password immediately.

  1. First you need to prepare a password reset boot CD. Just download the Reset Windows Password software onto an alternative computer. Once the download is complete, unzip the download file and you’ll get the ResetWindowsPwd.iso file. Burn this ISO image to a blank CD using any CD recording program such as BurnCDCC.
  2. Once you’ve created the disc, boot your locked computer from the CD. The computer will load the mini operating system inside the boot CD and finally open up Reset Windows Password program.

  3. Choose your Windows SAM registry hive, and then select a user account and click on Reset Password button. The program will remove the forgotten Windows user password instantly.

Restart the PC and take out the boot CD, you can then log in to Windows user account with a blank password. This trick works on Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP and Windows server operating system.