Posts Tagged ‘forgot windows password’

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Offline Change Windows Password with Trinity Rescue Kit

April 10th, 2014 by Admin

How to change Windows password after you’ve forgotten your password? You can easily change the password of any user account from the Control Panel with admin privileges. However, if you’re locked out of your computer, you need to use a boot CD to change the account password offline.

Trinity Rescue Kit (TRK) is a free live Linux CD that aims specifically at recovery and repair operations on Windows machines. It has integrated the chntpw tool which allows you to edit / change a Windows user password offline. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to change Windows password offline with Trinity Rescue Kit.

Note: TRK is a command-line utility which doesn’t come with a GUI interface. If you’re not a Linux geek, I would recommend you to use the PCUnlocker Live CD which is a Windows PE bootdisk with graphical interface.

Offline Change Windows Password with Trinity Rescue Kit

  1. Download the ISO image of Trinity Rescue Kit and burn it to your CD. After you have burned a disc, place it in the CD/DVD drive of your locked computer and get the machine to boot from Trinity Rescue CD.
  2. When TRK loads you get a list of tasks TRK can perform. Navigate down to the 4th option (Windows Password Resetting) using the arrow keys and press Enter once it is highlighted.

    Windows-Password-Resetting

  3. Once you select that option, you get a list of ways you can select to reset your lost password. Here we select the Winpass prompts for username first option (Winpass is actually just an automated script for the chntpw tool). TRK will ask you the username whose password you want to reset.

    Winpass-prompts-for-username

  4. At this point, TRK will search your hard drive for all currently Windows installations and list them. You’ll need to select the relevant installation here. If you have only one OS installed, then merely press 1 and hit Enter.
  5. Now, at the final stage, you will get yet another list of options. Here, choose the “Edit (set new) user password” option. Press 2 to change your Windows password offline.

    chntpw-change-windows-password

  6. Now reject the TRK CD and restart the computer. You can log on to Windows with your new password!

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

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How to Reset Lost Windows Password of Virtual Machine in VMware ESXi / vSphere

August 8th, 2013 by Admin

Once you’ve installed VMware ESXi Server and vSphere client, you can create many virtual machines for your own purposes. It’s a good habit to use different password for every VM but the downside is that you have to remember many passwords. What to do if you forgot Windows password to one of your virtual machine in VMware ESXi / vSphere?

PCUnlocker is a powerful Windows password recovery tool that can successfully reset lost Windows password in a simple and easy way. It can be used to unlock passwords for both physical machine and virtual machine. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial to reset lost Windows password of virtual machine in VMware ESXi / vSphere.

How to Reset Lost Windows Password of Virtual Machine in VMware ESXi / vSphere?

  1. Download the zipped ISO image of PCUnlocker and save it on your physical machine. Unzip the download file and you’ll get a bootable ISO image file: pcunlocker.iso.
  2. Open up your VMWare vSphere Client and log into your ESXi server. Turn off the virtual machine that you want to reset password for if it is running. Right-click the virtual machine and select “Edit Settings”.
  3. In the Hardware tab, select the “CD/DVD drive 1”. Under Device Type, check the “Client Device” to enable remote CD drive.

    vm-cd-drive

  4. Switch to the Options tab, then select the “Boot Options”. Under the “Power-on Boot Delay” you can specify how long the delay will be when you start / restart a VM. I’ve set 2s delay on booting to give myself time to press the Esc key to access the Boot Menu.

    vm-boot-delay

  5. Power on your virtual machine, it should display a BIOS screen with options at the bottom and a counter. press Esc key to access the Boot Menu.

    vm-post-screen

  6. In the top menu of vSphere client, click on the CD-ROM icon and select “CD/DVD Drive 1” -> “Connect to ISO image on local disk”. Browse to the pcunlocker.iso file you’ve downloaded and click Open. The image is now mounted.

    vm-mount-iso

  7. Choose the CD-ROM Drive from the Boot Menu and press Enter. It will boot off of the CD image.

    vm-boot-menu

  8. In less than one minute, PCUnlocker program will start and it displays a list of Windows local accounts existing in your virtual machine. Choose a user account and click on “Reset Password” button. It will unlock / reset your forgotten Windows password instantly.

  9. Restart the virtual machine. you can then log back in to your VMware vSphere virtual machine without a password! It’s that simple!

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

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Forgot Windows Password of Virtual Machine Running in VMware Player

August 8th, 2013 by Admin

Forgot Windows password of a VMware Player image? How to reset lost admin password of a Windows VM running in VMware Player? Here are the step-by-step instructions to help you recover access to any Windows virtual machine in VMware Player.

How to Reset Forgotten Windows Password of Virtual Machine Running in VMware Player?

  1. Download the zipped ISO image of PCUnlocker and save it on your physical machine. Unzip the download file and you’ll get a bootable ISO image file: pcunlocker.iso.
  2. Start VMware Player, choose the virtual machine with a forgotten Windows password, then click on “Edit virtual machine settings”.

    vmware-player

  3. Select the “CD/DVD (IDE)” option, then in the right panel, select “Use ISO image file” and click the Browse button to locate the pcunlocker.iso file you’ve downloaded. Click OK to save your changes.

    vmware-mount-iso

  4. Now we need to get the virtual machine to boot from the ISO image. But the virtual machine is booting too fast that makes it difficult to access the Boot Menu. The way of this problem is to increase the boot delay. Find the .vmx file that contains the settings for your virtual machine. Open the .vmx file with NotePad and add the following line and save it.

    bios.bootdelay = “20000”

    vmware-boot-delay

  5. Power on your virtual machine. You’ll see a 20 seconds delay when the virtual machine loads up, giving you plenty of time to press the ESC key and access the Boot Menu.

    vmware-boot-up

  6. Choose the CD-ROM Drive from the Boot Menu and press Enter. The virtual machine will then boot from PCUnlocker ISO image.

    vmware-boot-menu

  7. In less than one minute, PCUnlocker program will start and it displays a list of Windows local accounts existing in your virtual machine. Choose a user account and click on “Reset Password” button. It will unlock / reset your forgotten Windows password instantly.

    reset-vmware-player-password

  8. Restart the virtual machine and let it boot from virtual hard drive, you can then log back in to Windows without a password! It’s that simple!

Follow this step-by-step tutorial you can easily reset lost or forgotten Windows password of any virtual machine running in VMware Player, VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion.

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

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How to Reset Lost Windows Password with PCUnlocker Boot CD

June 24th, 2013 by Admin

So you forgot your Windows password and can’t get into your computer? Hey, it happens. We’re supposed to make very complicated passwords so they’re difficult to guess but sometimes we make them so complicated that we forget them ourselves. There are many software that can unlock your password, but nothing beats PCUnlocker Boot CD which is extremely powerful CD. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to reset lost Windows password with PCUnlocker Boot CD.

Since you obviously can’t get into your computer right now because you’ve forgotten your Windows password, we need to make a PCUnlocker Boot CD on another computer that you have access to. Then you can use it to boot off your computer and it enables you to reset lost Windows 8/7/Vista/XP password easily!

How to Reset Lost Windows Password with PCUnlocker Boot CD?

Download the zipped ISO image of PCUnlocker Boot CD. Unzip the download file and burn the ISO image on a CD or DVD using your preferred software such as ImgBurn, BurnCDCC, ISO2Disc or InfraRecorder.

Once you’ve created a PCUnlocker Boot CD, put it into the CD drive of your locked computer. Turn on the computer and change the boot sequence in the BIOS to set CD/DVD-ROM as the first boot device. On a Windows 8 computer with UEFI BIOS, you also need to disable the Secure Boot option and change the boot mode from UEFI to Legacy.

After booting from the PCUnlocker Boot CD, the Computer will run a Windows PE operating system from the CD, it will NOT install anything. Just about one or two minutes, you’ll see the PCUnlocker program. The program should display a list of user accounts existing in your Windows SAM registry hive.

Choose a user account and click on “Reset Password” button. The program will reset your lost Windows password and also unlock/enable your user account when it’s necessary. Now click on “Restart” button to reboot the computer and remove the PCUnlocker Boot CD.

When you come to the Windows login screen, just leave the password box empty and you can log back into your Windows user account immediately. Done!

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

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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.

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

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Can’t Remember Windows Password? How to Get Back into Your Computer?

April 26th, 2013 by Admin

I have an old laptop that’s not been used for quite a while and I can’t remember my Windows password. I’ve tried many different passwords that it could possibly be without any luck. Is there anyway I can recover or reset the password? I have some important documents and pictures on there that I really don’t want to lose with a brand new windows install. It’s currently running windows 7.

Can’t remember Windows password? How to get back into your computer without data loss? It’s one of the most annoying problems a computer user can face. In such a scenario, be sure to check whether you can boot into safe mode and log in to the built-in administrator account. This account was, by default, not password protected so you could just log on and remove your forgotten user account password. If this option doesn’t work, some third-party password cracking software can be of help.

Reset Windows Password utility is one of the most popular and powerful password cracking software which can help you reset lost or forgotten Windows password easily! This program can run from a bootable CD or USB flash drive and perform password recovery on all versions of Windows systems, including Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP. Let’s see how can you reset lost Windows password and get back into your computer, in case you can’t remember Windows password.

Can’t Remember Windows Password? How to Get Back into Your Computer?

Step 1:
First, download the Reset Windows Password utility on another PC in order to make a bootable Windows password recovery CD/USB drive. After the download is complete, extract the ISO image file from the zip and burn the ISO to a CD or DVD using your favorite CD Burning utility such as ISO2Disc or ImgBurn.

Step 2:
Now move to the locked computer with a Windows password you can’t remember, either insert the CD/DVD or the USB flash drive what you opted for and select it as the first boot device in computer BIOS.

Step 3:
Once you have booted into it you will see that the computer is loading the Windows PE operating system inside the CD/USB drive. After one or two minutes, the Reset Windows Password program will open up and automatically detect the SAM registry files for all your Windows installations.

Step 4:
Choose the SAM registry file for your Windows installation, it will show you all the user accounts that are associated with your Windows system. Select the user account you forgot password of, and then click on “Reset Password” button. It will remove/reset your forgotten Windows password instantly!

Step 5:
After you are completed with all the above steps successfully, remove the Windows password recovery CD/USB drive and restart the computer. you can then happily get back into your computer without a password.

Conclusion

Can’t remember Windows 8/7/Vista/XP password? Follow the simple steps above you can reset your forgotten Windows password by yourself and get back into your computer immediately! No need to wipe and reload your computer.

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

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Reset Lost Admin Password of A Windows Virtual Machine in VMware Fusion

March 31st, 2013 by Admin

I have a Windows 7 virtual machine running under VMware Fusion, but I lost the admin password. Is it possible somehow to reset the password?

Forgot the administrator password of a Windows VMware Fusion image? The best way to avoid this problem is to make a password reset disc ahead of time so that if you forget your password in the future, you can reset your forgotten password easily. But most people, including myself, never make such disk. Here I’ll show you another method which can help you reset lost admin password of any Windows virtual machine running in VMware Fusion.

How to Reset Lost Admin Password of A Windows Virtual Machine in VMware Fusion?

This method of resetting a forgotten Windows password is the most effective that I know of and works in almost any situation. To get started, you will need a tool called Reset Windows Password. The program comes as a bootable ISO image which could be used to boot your locked virtual machine and reset lost admin password easily!

Part 1: Set Your Locked Virtual Machine to Boot from an ISO Image

  1. Download the Reset Windows Password package on your host computer. The download file is in .zip format. Double-click the .zip file to unzip and you’ll get the bootable ISO image file: ResetWindowsPwd.iso.
  2. If your locked virtual machine is turned on, turn it off. From the Settings menu in VWMare Fusion, select “CDs & DVDs”.

    Next click “Use disc image” and select the bootable ISO image you’ve downloaded.

  3. Now we need to set the BIOS of the virtual machine to boot with CD drive as first boot device. As it’s known that the VMWare Fusion BIOS goes by way too fast to give you a chance to access it. To work around this problem, use a text editor to add the following lines to the configuration (.vmx) file of the virtual machine:
    bios.forceSetupOnce = "TRUE"
    bios.bootOrder = "CDROM"
    The next time you boot up the virtual machine, it will automatically boot from the bootable ISO image.

Part 2: Reset Lost Admin Password of Your Windows Virtual Machine

  1. After booting from the ISO image, the virtual machine will load the Windows PE operating system inside the CD image and open up the Reset Windows Password utility.
  2. Select your Windows SAM registry hive from the drop-down list. The program will perform a complete analysis of the SAM file and display a list of Windows local user accounts inside it.

  3. Choose the administrator account and then click on “Reset Password” button. It will reset your VM admin password instantly.
  4. Revert the changes you’ve made in the configuration (.vmx) file of the virtual machine. Turn on the virtual machine and you should now be able to log in to the administrator account with no password.

The steps of resetting Windows password on VMware Fusion’s virtual machine are nearly the same for a physical machine. The only difference is that you need to burn the bootable ISO image to a physical CD or USB drive in order to reset lost admin password on a physical machine.

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

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How Do I Delete Windows Password If I’ve Forgotten It

March 29th, 2013 by Admin

Forgetting Windows password can be a big nag especially if there’s some important data held up in the system which can prevent you from re-installing Windows. In this article, I’ll be providing an easy option that you can try in order to delete your Windows password if you’ve forgotten it.

To get this job done, you will need a tool called Reset Windows Password. Basically, you boot from a CD or USB drive with this tool and delete Windows Password without ever loading your locked-out Windows operating system.

How to Delete Windows Password If I’ve Forgotten It?

These instructions are written assuming a bootable CD is being used, but are essentially the same for a bootable USB flash drive.

  1. Download the bootable disk’s image of Reset Windows Password utility, it comes in a .ZIP file. Unzip the download file and you’ll get the ISO image file: ResetWindowsPwd.iso.
  2. Burn the ISO image on a new CD use your favorite burning software (If you don’t have one, I recommend you use ISO2Disc.) and set the computer BIOS to boot with CD drive as first boot device.
  3. After booting from the CD, the computer will load the Windows PE operating system inside the CD drive and open up the Reset Windows Password utility.
  4. Select your Windows SAM registry hive from the drop-down list. The program will perform a complete analysis of the SAM file and display a list of Windows local user accounts inside it.
  5. Choose the user account whose password needs to be deleted, and click on Reset Password button. It will delete/unlock your lost or forgotten password instantly.
  6. Remove the CD and re-boot the system and you should now be able to logon with no password for that user account.

Conclusion

This method of deleting a forgotten Windows password is the most effective that I know of and works in almost any situation. It works with Windows 8/7/Vista/XP and Windows Server 2012/2008/2003/2000. A word of caution however, if you are running EFS (Encrypted File System), you will need to remember the original administrator password to access any files that were encrypted under that password.

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

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How to Reset Forgotten Windows Password with Pen Drive

March 22nd, 2013 by Admin

Forgetting Windows password can become an issue if you are the only user with full administrative access. This will get you being locked out of the system and all files on your hard drive become inaccessible. Luckily there is a super simple solution that can help you reset forgotten Windows password with a pen drive.

Password Recovery Bundle enables you to make a bootable pen drive which contains a Windows PE operating system and password unlocker utility. Just get your locked computer to boot from the pen drive and it enables you to reset lost or forgotten Windows 8/7/Vista/XP password quickly and easily.

How to Reset Forgotten Windows Password with Pen Drive?

In order to make a bootable pen drive, you’ll need to download and install Password Recovery Bundle on another computer you have access to.

Once downloaded and installed, click the “Windows Password” button to open the bootdisk creating window. Choose your pen drive and click on “Start Burn” button to start creating a bootable password reset pen drive. Once done, click the OK button and remove the pen drive.

Now boot the machine requiring the password reset using the bootable pen drive that you just created. Also, make sure you have enabled the option for booting from removable media in your motherboard’s BIOS settings.

Once you are presented with the Reset Windows Password window, choose your Windows SAM registry file from the drop-down menu. This comes useful in case you’re running a dual boot machine. Once selected, the program will display a list of user accounts for your Windows installation.

Choose the user account that needs a password reset, and click on “Reset Password” button. It will blank your Windows password instantly. It’s simple as that! Now click Restart button and reboot your machine. You can then log back into your computer without a password.

Keep the bootable password reset pen drive at a safe place. So you can use it to reset your forgotten Windows password easily when you forget your password next time!

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

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