How can I reset my Windows 10 password without a password reset disk?

[yungman]

TL;DR Summary

All of a sudden require password to login

Hi
This is really stupid, I have a HP laptop, for the last 4 years, I never have to type any password, just click the icon and go directly to the Windows. This morning, all of a sudden, it require a password. I must have setup the password 4 years ago, I have no idea what it is ( I am not even sure I ever did). Now I am out of the computer, everything. I have to get my wife's laptop to even do this. Anyone can help?

 

[jedishrfu]

Best I can offer are some things found on the internet:

https://www.lifewire.com/free-windows-password-recovery-tools-2626179

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/29694/how-to-crack-your-forgotten-windows-password/

Lastly, it's common for folks to write it down somewhere likely forgotten. Perhaps under the keyboard or sent via email somewhere or using some mnemonic way to remember it.

 

[DaveE]

This happened to me a week or so ago with a Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft wanted me to login to my Microsoft account at boot up, which looked just like a password request. After being pretty annoyed I saw that you could just close the screen and ignore it.

Probably not your problem though.

 

[yungman]

This happened to me a week or so ago with a Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft wanted me to login to my Microsoft account at boot up, which looked just like a password request. After being pretty annoyed I saw that you could just close the screen and ignore it.

Probably not your problem though.

Sadly it refuses to ignore.

 

[gmax137]

I agree with @jedishrfu . I had to use one of these password crackers off the internet a few years ago. It actually worked and I was able to get the forgotten password. I felt like a real hacker for a few days :). I don't remember the mechanics of it (how to load the software onto a laptop you can't start??). But it worked for me.

 

[jedishrfu]

One other avenue that I forgot to mention was Knoppix. Its a Linux distro and sometimes you can use it to recover files from Windows drives. It can boot from a USB stick.

http://knoppix.net/

I used it once to recover some files after a disk crash. There's also a potential learning curve if you are totally new to Linux based tools.

 

[jedishrfu]

Here's a video explaining the technique although I haven't reviewed it for accuracy and it's circa 2015.



and a more recent one for WIndows 10 circa 2017:

 

[sysprog]

Direct download of a rather comprehensive utility set:
https://www.hirensbootcd.org/files/HBCD_PE_x64.iso

ISO SHA1​

6CBC2FFFB4D0563852A43F7E16A67581BD6BD809​

Rufus USB Boot Utility:
https://rufus.ie/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/rufus.mirror/

When you have used Rufus and the Hirens .iso file to write a bootable Hirens USB device (you could also burn the .iso file to a DVD), you can boot from it (you may need to go into setup or a boot options menu to do this), and go into the password menu and select the NT password utility. Please note that this utility will not try to retrieve any existing plaintext password from an encrypted hash, but instead will simply write a new password or render the ID usable without a password.

 

[yungman]

Best I can offer are some things found on the internet:

https://www.lifewire.com/free-windows-password-recovery-tools-2626179

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/29694/how-to-crack-your-forgotten-windows-password/

Lastly, it's common for folks to write it down somewhere likely forgotten. Perhaps under the keyboard or sent via email somewhere or using some mnemonic way to remember it.

Hi Jedishrfu

I follow the second link and downloaded Ophcrack-3.8.0-bin.zip. It is a zip file so I opened the folder and took out the unzipped folders and put it in a new folder.

What is the next step? I have USB flash drive. What file do I copy into the USB. How do I make the laptop that I need to crack to go to that specific file in the USB drive. This is unclear to me. Can you help?

Inside the folder, there are two folders, one is x64, one is x86. Which one is for my laptop. It's a 4 years old laptop it's Intel I7...I think it's 5th generation. I assume it's 64bits.

Thanks.

 

[jedishrfu]

I've used Knoppix about 15 years ago and have been practicing safe computing via regular backups and keeping track of passwords.

I've not used any of these other tools.

In the Knoppix case, you're basically booting Knoppix via USB so as to avoid overwriting any files on the target disk. Then you locate and mount the target drive and use Knoppix's file explorer to view and copy files.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Does it bother anyone else that you are having two login problems on the same day?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Oh, and you didn't change the settings to "make your device passwordless" did you?

 

[jack action]

I solved that problem years ago: I chose the word 'incorrect' as my password.

So every time I enter the wrong password, the computer reminds me that: «Your password is incorrect.»

 

[yungman]

Hi

Sorry I did not come back till now. It's been the crazies day today. Not just the laptop problem, I got a new tv delivered today also and had to set it up. It's one of those "smart" tv. I just hate the latest and greatest thing, the remote has only very few buttons, you have to navigate through different menus to get anything done, what's wrong with the old remote that have dedicated button like picture size, picture mode etc.? Now you have to navigate through a few levels to get to adjust the white balance and all. I'd take a "dumb" tv any time of the day than the smart tv. Just like new cars, we've been buying the same brand, the one before the 2018 is a 2014, the 2014 still has the normal buttons, but the 2018 is all mouse and touch pads. All sorts of intermittent problems, the car had to be in the shop for over a month in the first half a year. Till now, still lose control of the center console until I put the car into neutral, then I can regain control.

I just bought a new 10th gen I-5 with 256G SSD drive. I have to have insurance and I am not sure I can crack this laptop. Luckily, I do backup files and I just backed up 3 days ago! I just lost all the rest.

Anyway, I just have to let the frustration out. I am sure I never setup a password on the laptop. I am very good in writing it down. I tried all the combination that I usually use in the password and all failed. I am working on cracking the password suggested, but I still don't know how to put into the USB drive and let the computer reboot from the USB drive. Can anyone tell me?

Thanks

 

[sysprog]

Hi

Sorry I did not come back till now. It's been the crazies day today. Not just the laptop problem, I got a new tv delivered today also and had to set it up. It's one of those "smart" tv. I just hate the latest and greatest thing, the remote has only very few buttons, you have to navigate through different menus to get anything done, what's wrong with the old remote that have dedicated button like picture size, picture mode etc.? Now you have to navigate through a few levels to get to adjust the white balance and all. I'd take a "dumb" tv any time of the day than the smart tv. Just like new cars, we've been buying the same brand, the one before the 2018 is a 2014, the 2014 still has the normal buttons, but the 2018 is all mouse and touch pads. All sorts of intermittent problems, the car had to be in the shop for over a month in the first half a year. Till now, still lose control of the center console until I put the car into neutral, then I can regain control.

I just bought a new 10th gen I-5 with 256G SSD drive. I have to have insurance and I am not sure I can crack this laptop. Luckily, I do backup files and I just backed up 3 days ago! I just lost all the rest.

Anyway, I just have to let the frustration out. I am sure I never setup a password on the laptop. I am very good in writing it down. I tried all the combination that I usually use in the password and all failed. I am working on cracking the password suggested, but I still don't know how to put into the USB drive and let the computer reboot from the USB drive. Can anyone tell me?

Thanks

Please review my Post #8 in this thread. I'm confident that you can get past this. If you are encountering difficulties in implementing what I suggested, please post again with the relevant information, or PM me.

 

[yungman]

Please review my Post #8 in this thread. I'm confident that you can get past this. If you are encountering difficulties in implementing what I suggested, please post again with the relevant information, or PM me.

Hi

You gave me 3 links, I downloaded Hirensboot, Rufus require to burn on USF drive. Do I have to have a completely empty drive or I can use anyone I can find?

I am really not familiar with all these bios stuffs. Any extra hand holding help would be really helpful.

Thanks

Alan

 

[yungman]

Best I can offer are some things found on the internet:

https://www.lifewire.com/free-windows-password-recovery-tools-2626179

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/29694/how-to-crack-your-forgotten-windows-password/

Lastly, it's common for folks to write it down somewhere likely forgotten. Perhaps under the keyboard or sent via email somewhere or using some mnemonic way to remember it.

I downloaded Howtogeek, burnt a CD, powered down the laptop, plug in the CD drive and power on and hit F10. It allowed to set the administrator password and power up password. I did all that and continue to boot. But when asked for password, it still didn't work.

I tried it twice and no luck.

Alan

 

[sysprog]

I downloaded Howtogeek, burnt a CD, powered down the laptop, plug in the CD drive and power on and hit F10. It allowed to set the administrator password and power up password. I did all that and continue to boot. But when asked for password, it still didn't work.

I tried it twice and no luck.

Alan

You probably don't have the built-in administrator account enabled You can use Hirens to enable it or to create a new account with administrator authority. You can use either a USB device or a DVD. The latest versions of Hirens use more recent rescue environments than the Mini Windows XP referenced in this article, but the procedure is similar: https://turbofuture.com/computers/Using-Hirens-Boot-CD-to-Create-Admin-Accounts [

Hi

You gave me 3 links, I downloaded Hirensboot, Rufus require to burn on USF drive. Do I have to have a completely empty drive or I can use anyone I can find?

I am really not familiar with all these bios stuffs. Any extra hand holding help would be really helpful.

Thanks

Alan

Rufus will overwrite data on the USB device, so you should copy anything you care about to another device, such as the HDD on another PC, before letting Rufus write on it. The USB device should be at least 4GB. You can burn Hirens to a DVD instead if you prefer. Please keep us posted.

 

[yungman]

You probably don't have the built-in administrator account enabled You can use Hirens to enable it or to create a new account with administrator authority. You can use either a USB device or a DVD. The latest versions of Hirens use more recent rescue environments than the Mini Windows XP referenced in this article, but the procedure is similar: https://turbofuture.com/computers/Using-Hirens-Boot-CD-to-Create-Admin-Accounts [

Rufus will overwrite data on the USB device, so you should copy anything you care about to another device, such as the HDD on another PC, before letting Rufus write on it. The USB device should be at least 4GB. You can burn Hirens to a DVD instead if you prefer. Please keep us posted.

Is it the Rufus 3.10 or the others?

 

[sysprog]

Is it the Rufus 3.10 or the others?

That's the latest stable version. It should work fine. You can download it from https://sourceforge.net/projects/rufus.mirror/ or from https://rufus.ie/

 

[yungman]

That's the latest stable version. It should work fine. You can download it from https://sourceforge.net/projects/rufus.mirror/ or from https://rufus.ie/

I downloaded the file and copy into the USB flash drive. I put it on the laptop and power off, then power on. Now the screen says "issing operating system_" and been there for a few minutes already. Is this normal?

I think it's stuck. I think it want to say "missing operating system"

 

[sysprog]

I downloaded the file and copy into the USB flash drive. I put it on the laptop and power off, then power on. Now the screen says "issing operating system_" and been there for a few minutes already. Is this normal?

You can't just copy the file to the USB device and expect it to boot. Rufus will overwrite the boot sector on the USB device, and will properly write the Hirens utility set to the USB devuice from the .iso file. Then on the HP startup splash screen, hit F10, and select the USB device.

 

[yungman]

You can't just copy the file to the USB device and expect it to boot. Rufus will overwrite the boot sector on the USB device, and will properly write the Hirens utility set to the USB devuice from the .iso file. Then on the HP startup splash screen, hit F10, and select the USB device.

I read the instruction, there is no instruction after I downloaded the file. What do I have to do?

 

[yungman]

Do I run the file on the working computer first?

 

[sysprog]

After copying any data that you care about from the USB device, plug it in and launch Rufus. You should get a screen like this (with your current version number in the title Bar):

Make sure that the Device field shows your intended USB device.

At the Boot selection field, click on the down arrow and navigate to your Hirens .iso file.

Leave the other fields at their defaults.

When the Ready bar shows green and the Start button is not greyed out, that means that Rufus has found the device and the .iso file.

Hit the Start button.

If you get a warning about overwriting or destroying data it should refer only to the device listed in the Device field.

Assuming that you're sure that the correct USB device is selected, go ahead and ok the overwrite.

Rufus will announce it when the process is complete.

 

[sysprog]

Do I run the file on the working computer first?

The working computer is the one into which you plug the USB drive and onto which you have downloaded the Hirens .iso file and the Rufus .exe file. You run Rufus on it to put the .iso image onto the USB device and make it bootable. After Rufus has successfully completed that process, you plug it into the disabled machine and boot from it.

 

[yungman]

After copying any data that you care about from the USB device, plug it in and launch Rufus. You should get a screen like this (with your current version number in the title Bar):

View attachment 263558

Make sure that the Device field shows your intended USB device.

At the Boot selection field, click on the down arrow and navigate to your Hirens .iso file.

Leave the other fields at their defaults.

When the Ready bar shows green and the Start button is not greyed out, that means that Rufus has found the device and the .iso file.

Hit the Start button.

If you get a warning about overwriting or destroying data it should refer only to the device listed in the Device field.

Assuming that you're sure that the correct USB device is selected, go ahead and ok the overwrite.

Rufus will announce it when the process is complete.

Thanks for all your help, this is the first time I ever done this.
"After copying any data that you care about from the USB device, plug it in and launch Rufus. You should get a screen like this (with your current version number in the title Bar):"
You mean plug the USB drive into a working computer and run the Rufus 3.10?"At the Boot selection field, click on the down arrow and navigate to your Hirens .iso file."
What Hirens.iso file? You mean the ones I downloaded? There are two
a)HBCD_PE_x64 Disc Image file
b)HBCD_PE_x64.iso.part Part file.
I assume it's the Part file you want.

Thanks for your patience, I really need you to hold my hand.

Alan

 

[sysprog]

Thanks for all your help, this is the first time I ever done this.
"After copying any data that you care about from the USB device, plug it in and launch Rufus. You should get a screen like this (with your current version number in the title Bar):"
You mean plug the USB drive into a working computer and run the Rufus 3.10?

Yes. You need a working machine to run Rufus to make a bootable device with the utility set from the Hirens image.

"At the Boot selection field, click on the down arrow and navigate to your Hirens .iso file."
What Hirens.iso file? You mean the ones I downloaded? There are two
a)HBCD_PE_x64 Disc Image file
b)HBCD_PE_x64.iso.part Part file.
I assume it's the Part file you want.

No. the .part extension refers to a download that didn't run to completion.

Your machine apparently has the incensingly obnoxious 'hide extensions for known file types' default checked in the Folder Options -- to remedy this, you can from any folder go to Tools > Folder Options > View and uncheck that box in the 'Advanced settings' sub-window (I would also click the 'Show hidden . . .' radio button and uncheck 'Hide protected system . . .'. but that's just me detesting Windows imperiously hiding things from us mere users). Then click on 'Apply to folders' to propagate the modified option set to all folders.

The correct filename is http://mirrors.gigenet.com/HirensBootCD/HBCD_PE_x64.iso

Thanks for your patience, I really need you to hold my hand.

Alan

Cool, Alan, everyone has more to learn.

 

[yungman]

Yes, that was incomplete, somehow Yahoo just stop, it's a big file, now I use Chrome and it said it's going to take like 1 hour.

 

[sysprog]

Yes, that was incomplete, somehow Yahoo just stop, it's a big file, now I use Chrome and it said it's going to take like 1 hour.

It's over a gigabyte, so if your connection isn't fast, it could take a while -- the estimates that browsers present are often inaccurate. Did you try unchecking the 'Hide extensions for known file types' box? Does the one with no extension displayed show .iso if you display it? More importantly, does it show a file size of 1,323,058 KB in the details view. or 1.2GB 1,354,811,392 as the first size entry in the Properties dialog box (right click on the file name and then select Properties from the context menu to get this)? If so, Rufus can use that copy. Otherwise, your new copy can be verified to have the right size when it completes being downloaded (it should have a (1) or maybe a (2) right before the .iso -- that's not a problem).

 

[yungman]

Hi Sysprog

It's still downloading, I got 1.1G, still have 0.2G to go. I might not get to it tonight, it's getting late.

Thanks

 

[yungman]

I followed exactly what you said, the green bar is completely green and the "START" button is black and ready. I hit the START again, it is copying the ISO. What do I have to do after it's all green? If the START is black again, what do I have to do? Do I click CLOSE?

I attached the picture of the Rufus setting according to your instruction. Also the content in the USB driver after it's completed.

Is the next step plugging the USB drive to the problem laptop?

Then do I just turn on the computer and let it run?( right now it is off).

Thanks

Alan

 

[sysprog]

Yes. Close Rufus, plug the USB into the machine that has the password problem, hit F10 during the HP startup splash screen, select the USB device as the boot device, then follow the instructions in the https://turbofuture.com/computers/Using-Hirens-Boot-CD-to-Create-Admin-Accounts article to insert the new user account that has administrator authority. If you encounter difficulty. please post again.

 

[yungman]

Yes. Close Rufus, plug the USB into the machine that has the password problem, hit F10 during the HP startup splash screen, select the USB device as the boot device, then follow the instructions in the https://turbofuture.com/computers/Using-Hirens-Boot-CD-to-Create-Admin-Accounts article to insert the new user account that has administrator authority. If you encounter difficulty. please post again.

I am in trouble! I went through running the "howtogeek.com" as suggested in post #2 and installed Ophcrack onto the problem laptop. Now when I power up, it will go to Power-On Authentication page and ask me to login and ask for password EVEN if I hit F10 as fast as possible after I push the power switch. I did set up the password when I installed the Ophcrack. I put in the new password and it will boot up normally and back to the problem I cannot log in even with the new password.
https://ophcrack.sourceforge.io/
I try type in the new password on the power on authentication page and hit F10 right away, I got into the page that said:

Edit Windows boot option for: Windows 7

Path: \windows\system32\winload.exe

Partition: 2
Hard Disk: d4fO4c7f

[ /NOEXCUTE=OPTIN

I have no idea what to do. From there, it just keep booting back to the same thing asking for password and I get stuck. Please help. Anything I can type to get it to boot from the USB drive? I never learn Bios.

Thanks

Alan

 

[yungman]

I absolutely have no luck, I read about how to boot from USB drive, I tried hitting the ESC, Del, Ctrl, F12, F10 on power up, still get into the Power-On Authentication and going nowhere. My laptop is HP Probook 440-03. I even read in HP site.