Archive for the ‘Windows XP’ category

PXE-Boot: Reset Forgotten Windows Password without CD or USB Drive

December 23rd, 2014 by Admin

Many Windows password tools require creating a bootable CD or USB drive, and then booting it to recover / reset lost admin password. However, what if you encounter an old computer that doesn’t support USB booting, neither have a CD drive? Thankfully, you can reset forgotten Windows password via PXE network boot.

PCUnlocker is a bootable utility that can reset lost Windows password from a bootable CD, USB device or network over PXE. Just set up a PXE server on your LAN to store the PCUnlocker CD image, and you can then boot any other PC on the same LAN to reset a lost password. Here’s how.

Part 1: Set Up A PXE Server

A PXE server can be any accessible Windows PC on your LAN network. Before get started, you need to disable DHCP in your router and use a static IP address for your PXE server. Follow the steps below to set up a PXE server which is required for PXE booting.

After you’ve purchased PCUnlocker Enterprise, download the pxe-boot version (pxeboot_x64.zip) via this link included in your order confirmation email. Extract all files from pxeboot_x86.zip to a folder of your choice. Here, I extracted the ZIP file to the folder C:\pxeboot_x64.
Download and install the freeware Serva from this link (Use the Serva_Non-Supporter_64 version if you are running 64-bit Windows). Run the program and click on the Settings button at the bottom.
If the Windows firewall displays a prompt named Windows Security Alert, asking you to allow Serva to access the network, click Allow Access.
In the Serva Settings window, click on TFTP tab. Tick TFTP Server and set the root directory to the folder where you extracted the pxeboot_x64.zip file (in my case D:\pxeboot_x64). Check the Allow ‘\’ As virtual root option.
Click on DHCP tab. Setup the IP pool starting address and Size of pool for your network. Type Boot\pxeboot.n12 in the Boot File box.
Click OK to save your settings and restart Serva.

Part 2: PXE-Booting Your Locked PC on LAN

Power on your locked PC and press a proper key to access the Boot Menu. Select Realtek PXE or your network device and press Enter.

If your PXE NIC device is not listed in the boot order, you need to enable an option labeled “PXE”, “PXE ROM”, “Network ROM” or “Realtek PXE OPROM” in the BIOS.
Once you’ve chosen to boot from PXE Network, your computer will broadcast a DHCP request over the network. After receiving a IP address from the PXE server, it begins to download the PCUnlocker CD image that is stored on the PXE server.

Part 3: Reset Forgotten Windows Password

After loading the PCUnlocker CD image into RAM, Windows 8 PE will start and boot directly to the PCUnlocker program itself. The program automatically searches Windows SAM file on the local hard drive and lists all your user accounts.
Select a user account whose password you forgot, and click on Reset Password button. It will unlock / reset your Windows login password in no time.
Reboot your computer and boot it from local hard drive. You can then login without a password!

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

Tags: pxe boot pcunlocker pxe boot winpe reset windows password from network reset windows password pxe reset windows password without cd reset windows password without disk reset windows password without usb

How to Log on to Local Account Instead of Domain Account

November 2nd, 2014 by Admin

After joining your PC to a domain, you can select to log on Windows with either a domain account or a local account. In Windows XP and Windows 2003, there is a drop-down menu labeled “Log on to” in the login dialog box. From there you can select a domain name from domain logon, or select “this computer” for local logon.

xp-log-on-domain

However, since Windows Vista and Windows 2008, the drop-down menu no longer exists and things get a bit tricky if you want to log on to a local account on a domain joined computer. So here I’ll explain how to log into local account instead of domain account in Windows 8, 7, Vista, Windows Server 2012 and 2008 (R2).

How to Log on to Local Account Instead of Domain Account?

When you come to the Windows login screen, click on Switch User.
Instead of showing icons for all the users with accounts on the PC, it now only shows two icons. The first icon is the last user who logged on and the second icon always shows “Other User”. Click Other User.
After you click “Other User”, the system moves on to the normal login screen where it prompts for user name and password.
In order to log on to a local account, you had to find out your computer name. In my example, CORP is the domain I’ve joined to, and my computer name is WIN_S5Q8DVT3E58. If you don’t remember your computer name, please click on the link “How to log on to another domain” on your screen, and it will display your computer name.
Now type the name of your computer, a backslash (\), and the user name for the local account that you want to log on to. For example: computer_name\user_name.

However, most of the time we use some complex computer names that are too difficult to remember, and it’s also a waste of time to type in the computer name.

Luckily there is an easier way to log on to a local account without typing your computer name. If you type in .\ before the username, that will instruct it that you are logging onto the local computer. For example, to log on as local administrator, just type .\Administrator in the User name box. The dot is an alias that Windows recognizes as the local computer.

log-on-local-admin

Note: If you want to log on locally on a domain controller, you need to start your computer in Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM).

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

Tags: log into local account on domain workstation log on locally to windows

How to Hide User Name from Windows Lock Screen

November 1st, 2014 by Admin

It’s a common security practice to lock your Windows desktop screen by pressing Windows + L keys every time you walk away from your computer. This can prevent other people from accessing your computer in your absence. However, did you realize that Windows will display the user name on the screen while your PC is locked? A user name can be just as sensitive as a password in a lot of scenarios. Luckily there is a simple way to hide your user name from Windows lock screen.

How to Hide User Name from Windows Lock Screen?

Open the Registry Editor by pressing Windows + R keys simultaneously.
Browse down to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
On the right-hand side, create a new DWORD 32-bit value named DontDisplayLockedUserId and give it one of these values:
- 1 = User display name, domain and user names
- 2 = User display name only
- 3 = Do not display user information
If you change this value to 3 then it will remove all user information from your Windows lock screen.

Note: To prevent the last logged on user to be displayed in the Windows logon screen, also set the dontdisplaylastusername value to 1.
Exit Registry Editor and reboot your computer. The next time you press Windows + L to lock your computer, your user name will not be displayed on the Windows lock screen any longer. User will be required to enter both their user name and password when logging back in from the locked workstation.

This is how it looks like on a Windows 7 machine.
Before:

press-ctrl-alt-del-2

windows-logon2

After:

press-ctrl-alt-del

windows-logon

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

Tags: display user name on lock screen hide user name for locked computer hide user name on lock screen

Fix: Unable To Execute Files In The Temporary Directory. Setup Aborted

October 27th, 2014 by Admin

When you try to install a program downloaded from the Internet in Windows 8, 7 or XP, you might receive the following error message:

Unable to execute file in the temporary directory. Setup aborted. Error 5: Access is denied.

unable-execute-file

Right-click your downloaded .exe file and select Run as administrator. This is a temporary fix and Microsoft needs to patch it up in their updates. The problem is with the security permissions on your profile temp folder. Here are step-by-step instructions to fix this error permanently:

Before sorting out this issue, we need to find out where the temp folder is located. This folder is different for each Windows user i.e., each logged-in user gets a separate “Temp” folder. Simply press Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type cmd and press Enter.

The Command Prompt will run with permissions of the current logged-on user. Type set TEMP and press Enter. It will display your profile temp folder. By default, the temp folder is stored in C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local directory in Windows 8/7/Vista, and in C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Local Settings directory in Windows XP and previous versions.

command-prompt

Navigate to your profile temp folder. Right-click on the Temp folder and choose Properties. In the Properties window, click the Security tab, and then click Edit to change permissions.

folder-properties

Here select your account from the list and check the Full Control checkbox. When done, hit OK. Note that when you will check the Full Control checkbox, all other permissions will be automatically checked too.

folder-permissions

Now go ahead and you should be able to install your program successfully.

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

Tags: unable to execute file in temporary directory setup aborted error 5 unable to execute file in the temporary directory.

How to Take Screenshots with Freeware Greenshot

October 22nd, 2014 by Admin

There are many programs available for taking screenshots. If you’re looking for a free option, Greenshot is is an excellent and open source screenshot tool for Microsoft Windows. It is free for both personal and commercial use. It’s much easier for a beginner to use than some paid screenshot tools. Here’s how to install Greenshot and use it to take screenshots in Windows 7.

How to Take Screenshots with Freeware Greenshot?

You can grab a free copy of Greenshot from its official website. Compatible with all Windows versions, the downloaded file is sized at nearly 1.3Mb. Double-click the setup file you have downloaded to install it on your computer.

After installation, right-click on the Greenshot icon in the system tray to access the Greenshot menu. Using this menu, you can take different types of screenshots, open an image in the Greenshot editor, set Preferences, and perform several other useful tasks.

capture-window

As an example, we’re going to take a screenshot of the Skype application. Simple select the Capture window from the Greenshot menu, and you can then pick the Skype window to capture with a single click.

skype

Thankfully, Greenshot also provides a list of keyboard shortcuts that making the jobs easier. If you need to take a screenshot for an active window, simply press the Alt + PrntScr hotkey. While pressing Ctrl + PrntScr you can capture the full screen.

greenshot

Once a screenshot has been captured, a popup menu will display asking what you want to do with the screenshot. We can choose to save it to a folder, or open it in Greenshot’s image editor to add some enhancements to it.

Conclusion

Greenshot may not be the best screenshot-taking program. But it handles most basic screen capture needs easily. If you don’t need to capture video and don’t mind editing captures in another program, it does everything you are likely to need. In fact, Greenshot has become my screen capture program of choice.

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Posted in Free Software, Software Reviews, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: Greenshot screenshot capture freeware screenshot capture software take screenshot in windows

Bypass Logon Time Restriction on Windows Local or Domain Account

October 14th, 2014 by Admin

In my previous post I detailed the method to restrict logon hours for any Windows account, so you can control when a certain user account is allowed to log on to the computer. If the user tries to log in during restricted hours, the system will fail the logon with the error message “Logon failure: account logon time restriction violation.” or “Your account has time restrictions that prevent you from logging on at this time. Please try again later“.

logon-time-restrictions

However, improper logon time restrictions might also cause you locked out of all Windows user accounts. Luckily there is a rescue bootdisk called PCUnlocker which can help you bypass the account logon time restriction easily! This program is mainly used by users to reset lost Windows password, but it can also remove logon time limits for local/domain administrator account on any Windows PC.

Here is step-by-step tutorial to help you bypass the account logon time restriction that is set through the net user /time command, built-in parental control in Windows, or Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.

How to Bypass Logon Time Restriction on Windows Local/Domain Account?

After you download PCUnlocker, you have to burn it on a CD by right-clicking the ISO file. If you don’t have an optical drive and you want to boot from a USB flash drive, you can use the free tool ISO2Disc.

Now you need to boot your locked PC with the CD you just burned. Insert the CD into CD drive and turn on the machine. If your computer still goes straight to Windows login screen, you may need to enter the BIOS Setup utility and change the boot order to CD/DVD drive first, HDD second.

After you’ve booted into the CD, you’ll be presented with the PCUnlocker screen which displays a list of Windows local accounts by default. If you need to bypass the logon time restrictions on Active Directory user accounts, click on Reset Active Directory Password option and the program will list your domain user accounts on your domain controller.

Choose a local account or domain user account, then click on Reset Password button. This program will reset your password and remove the logon time limits that was set on your select account. Because domain user account doesn’t accept blank password, the program will assign a new password (Password123) to your AD account.

Remove the CD and reboot the machine. You can then log on your computer with your local account or domain user account without time restrictions. Well, that is how you bypass the account logon time restrictions on Windows user account. Hope it helps you in some way.

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

Tags: account logon time restriction violation remove windows logon time restriction windows logon time restriction

How to Troubleshoot Windows Login Problems

September 8th, 2014 by Admin

Every time you start Windows you’ll be prompted to enter the username and password for logging into your account. Though this is such a routine part of the day that is is easy to not even think about the logon process, things can go wrong for various reasons. In this article we’ll discuss how to troubleshoot the most common Windows login problems you might run into.

Issue 1: I tried to log on, but I keep getting a message telling me that the user name or password is incorrect, or Windows account is locked out

Here are several possible solutions to fix this problem.

Caps Lock might be on
Passwords in Windows are case-sensitive, which means that every time you type your password, you have to capitalize each letter in exactly the same way that you did when you first created it. If you have accidentally pressed Caps Lock, then you’re inadvertently typing your password in all capital letters. Make sure Caps Lock is off, and then type your password again.
NumLock key might be enabled
After enabling the NumLock feature, you’ll find a strange problem and you can’t type normal anymore. For example, when you type in “mjkluio”, your computer would type “0123456”. To turn off NumLock, please check out this article: 3 Methods to Disable NumLock on a Laptop Keyboard.
You might be typing the wrong password, or forgot your password
If you can’t remember your password, you need to reset your password, either with a password reset disk, an administrator account, or a third-party Windows password recovery tool such as PCUnlocker.
You might be trying to log on to the wrong user account
If you have more than one user account on the computer, make sure you’re logging on to the account that matches the password you’re using.
Windows account is locked out
If you’ve enabled the account lockout policy, the Windows account will become locked out after a number of invalid login attempts. The account lockout duration can range is from 1 through 99,999 minutes. A value of 0 specifies that the account will be locked out until an administrator explicitly unlocks it. If you need to access your locked account urgently, PCUnlocker can be of help!

Issue 2: My computer is part of a domain and I want to log on to a local user account, not my domain account

To log on to a local user account on your computer, you need to know the name of your computer and the user name for the account that you want to log on to. To log on to a local user account, follow these steps:

On the Windows login screen, click Switch User.
Click Other User.
In the user name field, type the name of your computer, a backslash (\), and the user name for the account that you want to log on to. For example: computer name\user name
Type your password, and then press Enter.

Issue 3: The user profile service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded

Corrupt user profiles are a frustratingly common problem with Windows. When you type your password and press Enter, you will typically see the error message “The User Profile Service failed the logon” and “The user profile cannot be loaded”, and you’ll be returned to the logon screen. Here is a quick registry trick to fix your corrupt user profile.

Issue 4: User account not showing up on login screen

User account is not showing up on Windows Welcome screen? If your account is disabled, it will disappear from your Windows login screen. If you’ve enabled your account but it still doesn’t show up at the login screen, please check out if this registry trick is applied on your system: Hide User Account from Welcome Screen in Windows 8/7/Vista/XP.

Issue 5: Keyboard and mouse stopped working at login screen

Sometimes when the computer boots to the Windows login screen, you might find that the keyboard or mouse stopped working and you can’t type anything. If you’ve ran into this issue, this article should be helpful for you: Keyboard Stop Working at Windows Login Screen.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: can't log in to windows windows login error windows login issue windows login problem

3 Options to Disable “Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to Log on” in Windows

August 19th, 2014 by Admin

How to bypass the Ctrl+Alt+Del logon prompt? One way of adding an additional layer of security to your computer is by enabling secure logon. By enabling secure logon, users are required to press Ctrl+Alt+Del before they can enter their credentials and log on. However, if you’re tried of pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del every time you turn on the computer, there are 3 easy options to disable the secure logon.

Option 1: Disable Secure Logon in the User Accounts Applet

Press Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type netplwiz or Control Userpasswords2 and press Enter.
When the User Accounts applet opens, click on Advanced tab.
Uncheck the Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete checkbox. Click OK. The next time you start the computer it will boot directly to the login credential dialog box, without prompting your to press Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Option 2: Disable Secure Logon through Group Policy

Press Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type secpol.msc and press Enter to open the Local Security Policy Editor.
Navigate to Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options.
In the right pane, double click on Interactive logon: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL.
Select and set the radio button of Enabled.
Save the policy change by clicking OK.

Option 3: Disable Secure Logon through Windows Registry

Press Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
You should see a DWORD (32-bit) entry named DisableCAD in the right pane. Double-click it and change its value from 0 to 1.
Close Registry Editor and you’re done!

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

Tags: ctrl alt del windows disable Ctrl+Alt+Del prompt disable secure logon in windows secure logon secure logon ctrl alt del secure logon windows

Reset Forgotten Windows Password for Xen Virtual Machine

August 5th, 2014 by Admin

Forgot Windows password to a Xen virtual machine? How can I reset a Windows 2008 (Xen HMV) VPS administrator login? To reset a lost VM password, you will need a tool called PCUnlocker. This software exists of a bootable CD image which can be burned to a CD or USB drive. Basically, you boot a Xen VM from the CD image and it allows you to reset forgotten Windows password offline.

How to Reset Forgotten Windows Password for Xen Virtual Machine?

Download the self-extracting Zip archive of PCUnlocker and save it to your host OS. Extract the CD image (pcunlocker.iso) from the downloaded file. If you’ve enabled EFI/UEFI in your Xen VM, you need to use PCUnlocker Enterprise which supports UEFI booting.
Start virt-manager (also known as Virtual Machine Manager). Select your Windows VM that need a password reset, click on EDIT menu at the top and then select Virtual Machine Details.
In the Details window, click on IDE CDROM 1 tab. Click Connect to mount the PCUnlocker ISO image (pcunlocker.iso) to the virtual CD drive.
Click on the Boot Options tab. Tick Enable boot menu. Check the CDROM item and put the CDROM item on top of the boot device list. Click Apply to save your changes.
Power on your Windows virtual machine and Xen will now boot from the PCUnlocker CD image, loading the WinPE OS and taking you directly into the tool. This program automatically finds your Windows SAM file and show you a list of local accounts.
Select one of your user accounts and click on Reset Password button. It will reset your Windows VM password quickly, as well as unlock the account in the event it is locked out, disabled or expired.
Disconnect your CD drive and restart the VM. Now you can enjoy log on to your Windows virtual machine without entering any password.

Using the same method you can reset lost Windows password for any virtual machine running in KVM, Xen, Qemu. This works with all versions of Windows, including Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: reset Xen password reset Xen virtual machine password reset Xen VM password reset Xen Windows password

How to Prevent A Program from Ever Running in Windows

June 13th, 2014 by Admin

If you have kids you may don’t want them to run certain applications like Skype or BitTorrent on your computer. Today we take a look at a setting in Local Group Policy that allows you to prevent specified programs from ever running in Windows. This is also useful if you don’t want other people to open applications on your work computer.

How to Prevent A Program from Ever Running in Windows?

The first thing you must do is open the Local Group Policy Editor. You won’t find a menu entry for this tool. Instead you start the tool by pressing Windows + R to bring up the Run box and then entering the command gpedit.msc.
Navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System in the left panel, and double click on Don’t run specified Windows applications.
In the pop up window, first set it to Enabled, then under the Options section click on the Show button next to List of disallowed applications.
A Show Contents dialog comes up where you can type in the apps you want to block users from running. In the Value column, type the application executable name (don’t use the full path), e.g. firefox.exe, notepad.exe.
The change takes effect immediate right after you click OK or Apply. From this point on, if a user tries to access an application that is not on the specified list they will get the following warning message.

This is a nice feature for preventing unwanted programs from running in Windows. However, Local Group Policy Editor is not available in Home versions of Windows 7/8/10. This trick only prevents users from accessing applications that are started by Windows Explorer process, but you can still run the disallowed programs in the Command Prompt. If you need a reliable and more secure solution, I would recommend you to use the professional privacy protection program – Protect My Folders.

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

Tags: block programs from running prevent application from running prevent programs from running