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Saturday, 09 March 2019 15:07

Reset Windows passwords when either offline or online

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This is a collection of resources and software I have come across to help me reset Windows 10 profile passwords. These techniques will also work on other versions of Windows but I am aiming and Windows 10 with my examples.

Software

  • Lazesoft Recover My Password Home Edition
    • This by default loads the password resetter, but other than that i think it is the free Lazesoft Recovery Suite - Home Edition
    • Free to use for Non-Commercial
    • Can create a CD or USB boot media
    • Can specify what WinPE version you want. I think this is for compatability of running software within the WinPE that the user needs to run which they supply.
    • Can add WinPE Drivers
    • Can set the USB Boot disk to be either FAT32 or NTFS
    • Easy interface to use.
    • You should select Win10 x64 for the PE version. I think this effect what software you can run in the enviroment. Win8.1 64 bit PE is the default
    • This will also recover the Windows License Key, both from the Windows registry and the BIOS.
    • You can also reset Microsoft accounts. (not on free version)
    • This disk (Lazesoft PE Desktop) also has loads of other utilities on it:
      • Microsoft Tools: Command Prompt, Microsoft Restore Point, Microsoft System Image Recovery, Microsoft Recovery Enviroment
      • Map Network Drive
      • Network Configurator
      • Registry Editor
      • Load RAID/Disk Drivers
      • Lazesoft File Manager
      • Lazesoft Recover My Password
      • Lazesoft Windows Recovery - I think this is a Boot, Registry and File system repair
      • Lazesoft Disk Image Clone
      • Lazesoft Data Recovery
      • Lazesoft Recovery Suite
      • Notepad
    • This Boot DVD seems exactly the same disk as Lazesoft Recovery Suite except the password recovery utility is loaded on startup rather than the recovery suite.
    • CON:
      • You have to select the Windows version of the target PC. This might mean you are limited to only resetting the version of Windows you create the disk for. Limitation of Home version?
  • PCUnlocker
    • This seems to be the preferred commercial application people use.
    • Can create a CD or USB boot media
    • This software unlockers Windows passwords of all types, local and Microsoft accounts (by converting it to a local account first)
    • Reset administrator password of virtual machine runs in VMware, Parallels, VirtualBox, Microsoft Virtual PC, Hyper-V (Gen2 & Gen1 VM).
    • CON:
      • not free
  • chntpw
    • This is a linux command line utility for resetting Windows passwords directly in the hive. This allows you to reset passwords in an offline Windows installation.
    • This can be used to reset Windows 10 passwords
    • This utility is used by many live linux installations.
    • Comes pre-installed with Partition Magic and althought not free, it is very cheap and I think it is a good way of keeping the project alive.
    • CON:
      • The command line can be tricky, but there are some good tutorials (see below).
  • Ophcrac
    • This is a password cracker to recover the used password.
    • It is available as a standalone package for many platforms or via ti's own LiveCD
    • I am sure it is pre-installed in many Linux installations.
    • CON:
      • Ophcrack can only recover passwords less than 8 characters. (Have not verified this)
      • Outdated software and doesn’t work with 64-Bit computers. (Have not verified this)
  • Spotmau PowerSuite
    • This is getting dated and will not run on some modern PCs, the graphics gets corrupt and lockups can occur. This software was not specifically written for Windows 10 and does not support UEFI. I have included it for reference only.
    • Can create a CD or USB boot media

Tutorials

Resources

Read 1219 times Last modified on Saturday, 16 March 2019 13:29