Archive for the ‘Tips & Tricks’ category

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How to Recover Windows Password with Cain & Abel

February 13th, 2014 by Admin

There are chances that you might get locked out of your computer because of forgotten the administrator password. So you then need to find some programs to crack / recover your password. As far as password recovery utilities go, Cain & Abel is by far one of the best freeware out there. This tutorial will walk through recovering Windows 7/Vista/XP password with Cain & Abel.

How to Recover Windows Password with Cain & Abel?

Forgot your administrator password and can’t log in? Cain & Abel needs to be installed, so you must have another working computer to recover your password. First of all, remove the hard drive from your locked machine and then attach it to a working computer as a secondary drive. Then follow these steps to recover Windows password:

  1. Visit the Cain & Abel website and download the Windows NT/2000/XP version of the program. Install the program on your computer. During installation, you’ll also be prompted to install WinPcap, which is fine.
  2. Click on the “Tools” menu and select “Syskey Decoder”. On the Syskey Decoder dialog, click on the “…” button to locate the SYSTEM file of your locked Windows installation. By default, the SYSTEM file is located in C:\Windows\System32\Config. The program will immediately display the decoded boot key which is required for cracking your Windows password.

    decode-syskey

  3. Click on the “Cracker” tab. On the left, click on the “LM & NTLM Hashes” and then click the big blue plus sign on the Cain toolbar. Make sure the “Import Hashes from a SAM database” button is checked. Choose the SAM file of your locked Windows installation and enter the boot key that you’ve got in the step above.

    import-hashes-from-sam

  4. Click Next. All the user accounts will be loaded to the right. Right-click on the user account you need the password for, choose Brute-Force Attack -> NTLM Hashes.
    Cain-Abel-NTLM

  5. Now check predefined under charset and select the suitable dictionary to use and click start.

    brute-force-attack

    That’s it! Just wait for Cain & Abel to recover the password!

If you have no way of getting the SAM and SYSTEM files from your Windows PC, you will not be able to use Cain & Abel to recover your password. If you have no luck with Cain & Abel, I recommend you to use PCUnlocker Live CD which can remove your forgotten Windows password instantly.

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

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Locked out of Windows 8.1 Computer

February 10th, 2014 by Admin

I am locked out of my Windows 8.1 laptop and cannot unlock my Microsoft account. How can I get back into my laptop?

Locked out of your Windows 8.1 computer and can’t remember the password of your local or Microsoft account? Windows 8.1 encourages users to log in with Microsoft Account for enjoying the benefits that cloud brings. However, if you forgot the Microsoft account password, things can get more tricky than using a local account. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to unlock Windows 8.1 computers with a boot CD, no matter you’re using a Microsoft account or local account.

How to Unlock Windows 8.1 Computers?

  1. First of all, you have to download the ISO image of PCUnlocker using an alternate computer you can access. Once the download is complete, unzip the download file and you’ll get the bootable ISO image: pcunlocker.iso. Burn it to a blank CD (or USB drive) using the freeware ISO2Disc or ImgBurn.
  2. Now turn on your Windows 8.1 computer that you’re trying to unlock. Insert the burned CD and set the boot sequence to CD first in the computer BIOS.
  3. Once your computer boots from the CD, it begins to load the Windows PE system. After the booting procedure is complete, you’ll see the PCUnlocker program which displays a list of local accounts found in your Windows SAM database.
  4. Choose a local account and then click on “Reset Password” button. Confirm your operation and the program will reset/unlock your password quickly. If you need to unlock a Microsoft account, choose the local account that’s been linked to your Microsoft account, and click on “Reset Password” button. The program will update the cached logon credentials so you can later sign into your Windows 8.1 Microsoft account with a new password.
  5. The last step is to restart the computer and remove the PCUnlocker Live CD. You can then log back into your computer with a new password!

If you’re using PCUnlocker Std or Pro editions, you may need to disable UEFI to run the Live CD. If you’re unfamiliar with UEFI BIOS, I suggest you to use PCUnlocker Enterprise, which can boot in both UEFI and Legacy BIOS mode. PCUnlocker can also be used to reset lost Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP passwords.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

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How to Reset Windows Server 2012 Password for Hyper-V Generation 2 Virtual Machine

January 24th, 2014 by Admin

Forgot Windows Server 2012 password for your Hyper-V Generation 2 VM? How to reset Hyper-V password without reinstalling your virtual machine?

Starting with Windows Server 2012, Hyper-V provides the options to create a Generation 1 or Generation 2 VM. The former is the same VM type that we have today, whereas Generation 2 VM uses UEFI firmware instead of BIOS and it is only supported by Windows 8 / 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 / 2012 R2 as the guest OS.

There are many Windows password recovery tools available on the net but most of them don’t support UEFI booting. When booting Generation 2 VM you may get the error “Boot Failed. EFI SCSI Device.” PCUnlocker is the only software that can support UEFI BIOS and works flawlessly with Hyper-V Generation 2 VM. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the process of using PCUnlocker to reset lost Windows Server 2012 password for Hyper-V Generation 2 virtual machine.

How to Reset Windows Server 2012 Password for Hyper-V Generation 2 Virtual Machine?

PCUnlocker can run from a UEFI bootable CD or USB flash drive. However, Hyper-V Gen2 VM doesn’t provide a way to boot from a USB drive, and the virtual DVD drive only supports ISO image file. So here we’ll use the ISO image of PCUnlocker to boot a Gen2 VM and then perform the password resetting.

  1. After purchasing the full version of PCUnlocker Enterprise, you’ll receive the download link of PCUnlocker_UEFI_x64.zip, which is about 150 Mb. Unzip the download file and you’ll get an ISO image file called pcunlocker.iso.
  2. Launch Hyper-V Manager. Right-click on the Windows Server 2012 virtual machine that you want to reset lost password for, then select Settings… from the drop-down menu.

    hyper-v-manager

  3. When the Settings dialog box appears, click on the DVD Drive from the Hardware tab. Specify the DVD drive to use the ISO image file of PCUnlocker.

    hyper-v-mount-iso

  4. Switch to the Firmware option under the Hardware tab. Move DVD Drive to the top of startup boot devices. Click on Apply to save your changes.

    hyper-v-boot-from-iso

  5. Start the virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager. It will load the WinPE operating system from the bootable ISO image. After a while, you’ll see the PCUnlocker program.

  6. Simply select your Windows SAM registry hive, the program will display a list of Windows user accounts. Select a user account and click the Reset Password button.
  7. Now you’ve successfully reset Windows Server 2012 password on Hyper-V Gen2 VM. Click the Restart button to reboot the virtual machine. Unmount the ISO file from the virtual machine’s DVD drive and you can then log back into your virtual machine without a password!

Besides resetting Hyper-V Generation 1 and Generation 2 virtual machine password, PCUnlocker can also be used to reset Windows 8/7/Vista/XP passwords for virtual machines running in VMware Workstation, Parallels, VirtualBox, Microsoft Virtual PC, etc.

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How to Fix the Error “Hyper-V cannot be installed: A hypervisor is already running”

January 20th, 2014 by Admin

If you have tried to install the Hyper-V component in a VMware virtual machine running Windows Server 2008 or 2012, you probably encountered the following error: “Hyper-V can not be installed: The hypervisor is already running.” which prevents Hyper-V from being installed.

In this article we’ll show you how to fix this issue so you can run the Hyper-V inside your virtual machine. Here are the step-by-step instructions:

  1. Power down the virtual machine that you want to install Hyper-V on.
  2. In the Virtual Machine Settings dialog box, tick the box of “Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-v/RVI” to enable the Virtualization engine options.

    enable-vmware-vt

  3. Next you need to find the .vmx configuration file associated with your VMware virtual machine.
  4. Open the .vmx file with any text editor, add the following lines to the end of the VMX file:

    hypervisor.cpuid.v0 = “FALSE”
    mce.enable = “TRUE”
    vhv.enable = “TRUE”

    edit-vmx

Now turn on your virtual machine and install Hyper-V again. This will clear up the message saying that you cannot install Hyper-V because a hypervisor is already running.

Tips: If forgot the login password of a Windows virtual machine (Gen1 & Gen2) running in Hyper-V, you can reset Hyper-V password easily using PCUnlocker.

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PC Unlocker – Unlock Forgotten Computer Password Easily

January 10th, 2014 by Admin

How to unlock your computer password when you forgot it? The PC is locked and you can not log into Windows. Hence you can not install any software to unlock it. As you already know you can just re-install Windows, but it involves in installing almost any software again from scratch and it may also cause data loss.

Luckily, there is a powerful PC unlocker software that will allow you to reset forgotten Windows 8/7/Vista//XP password. It’s called PCUnlocker, which can be downloaded as an ISO file and burned onto a CD or USB drive. After that boot your locked computer from the PCUnlocker Live CD or USB drive, this tool has a very understandable user interface which allows you to unlock Windows password instantly.

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to unlock computer password with PCUnlocker:

Step #1: First of all, you have to download the ISO image of PCUnlocker using an alternate computer you can still log on. Once the download is complete, unzip the download file and you’ll get the bootable ISO image: pcunlocker.iso. Burn it to a blank CD (or USB drive) using the freeware ISO2Disc or ImgBurn.

Step #2: Now turn on your password protected computer that you’re trying to unlock. Insert the burned PCUnlocker disc and set the boot sequence to CD (or USB drive) first in the computer BIOS.

Step #3: Once your computer boots from the CD (or USB drive), it begins to load the Windows PE system. After the booting procedure is complete, you’ll see the PCUnlocker program which displays a list of Windows user accounts existing in your Windows SAM database.

Step #4: Choose a user account and then click on “Reset Password” button. Confirm your operation and the program will instantly reset the password and also unlock your user account if it was locked out or disabled.

Step #5: The last step is to restart the computer and remove the PCUnlocker Live CD/USB drive. When booting to the Windows logon screen, left the password box empty and you can then log on your computer immediately.

Have you ever tried to log into a Windows computer for a few minutes and you finally realize that you forgot the password? Using the PC unlocker software you can unlock any computer password quickly and easily.

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

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How to Convert YouTube Video to Play on iPhone

December 27th, 2013 by Admin

YouTube has become a favored choice for many iPhone users to enjoy videos online. Have you downloaded lots of YouTube videos and want to watch them on your iPhone while on the move? However, the videos you’ve downloaded from YouTube are not in a supported format for your iPhone. This guide will show you how to convert YouTube video into iPhone supported format using Video Converter Assist, so you take your favorite clips with you wherever your iPhone goes.

How to Convert YouTube Video to Play on iPhone?

Launch the Video Converter Assist program. Click the Add File button to add your YouTube video files into the program. This program supports batch conversion and allows you to convert multiple video files at one time.

Choose the Device mode and then select iPhone option. If you want to play the videos on your iPad, then choose iPad option.

youtube-video-to-iphone

By default the program will use the recommended video settings for the conversion. But if you want to customize the video resolution, frame rate or bitrate, click on Advanced Settings button.

iphone-video-settings

Click the Convert Now! button to begin your conversion. After the video conversion is complete, you can go to the output folder to get the encoded videos which come in the H.264 MP4 format that Apple devices require. Now you can import the converted videos into iTunes to play on your iPhone or just store in iTunes library.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Video Converter

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How to Import MTS Files to Adobe Premiere Pro for Editing

December 10th, 2013 by Admin

Can’t import .mts files from my Sony camera to Premiere Pro CS5 and I keep getting the error “The file has an unsupported compression type”. How can I open .mts files in Premiere CS?

If you try to import these MTS files to Adobe Premier Pro, you may run into incompatibility issue. This is because that your MTS files contain come codecs or the resolution is not recognizable by Adobe Premiere. So what to do? The easiest and quickest solution is using a video converter to turn it into a compatible format for Adobe Premier Pro.

To do this work, I strongly recommend Video Converter Assist, which renders native codecs ensuring the best results when using Adobe Premiere.

How to Convert MTS to Adobe Premiere Pro?

  1. Run the Video Converter Assist program and click the “Add File” button to import the MTS videos to be converted. The converter supports converting multiple files at a time.
  2. Select the “Video” mode, and then click “Format” drop-down bar to select a proper video format such as MPEG-1/2 Video Files (*.mpg), AVI or MOV. The best method to avoid any problems and save time is to convert MTS footage into a Premiere Pro most compatible format like MPEG-2.
  3. Click on “Convert Now!” button on bottom of the main windows and the conversion from MTS to Adobe Premiere Pro will begin immediately. When all conversions finished, you can run Premiere Pro and load the converted files to it. Then you would be able to edit MTS files in Adobe Premiere Pro with no obstacle.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Video Converter

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How to Convert MTS / M2TS Video to MP4 Format with HD-Quality

December 6th, 2013 by Admin

M2TS and MTS are video formats for high-definition digital camera recorders or Advanced Video Codec High Definition (AVCHD). When get the AVCHD (.mts or .m2ts) video clips from your Sony, Panasonic AVCHD camcorders, you probably want to watch your MTS/M2TS videos on MP4 players like iPod or iPhone.

However, Most portable players can’t read this format directly. You can’t play it freely on your device unless you convert the video from MTS to a friendly format (such as MP4) first on your computer. In this article we’ll provide you with an easy way to convert MTS / M2TS video to MP4 format while keeping HD Quality.

How to Convert MTS / M2TS Video to MP4 Format with HD-Quality?

  1. Download and install Video Converter Assist on your computer, and double click its icon to launch it. It’s fully compatible with Windows 8/7/Vista/XP.
  2. Click on the “Add File” button to import your .mts or .m2ts videos files into the program. Video Converter Assist supports the conversion of batch files from MTS / M2TS to MP4 format. This means that you are allowed to import and convert numerous multimedia files one time for faster conversion.

  3. Select the “Video” mode and then choose the “MPEG-4 Files (*.mp4)” format. Click on the “Advanced Settings” button, you can simply choose the optimized presets or customize the output settings such as frame size, video codec, bitrate according to your needs. When it is done, click OK.

  4. Click on “Convert Now!” button to get started the MTS / M2TS to MP4 conversion. Once the conversion finished, click on “Open Folder” button to get the converted MP4 video files and transfer them to your iPod, iPhone, iPad, PSP, etc. Enjoy it!

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Video Converter

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How to Reset Forgotten SA Password without Stopping SQL Server Instance

November 18th, 2013 by Admin

Forgot your SA password or get locked out of SQL Server? How to connect to SQL Server database in case the ‘BUILTIN\Administrators’ group is removed from SYSADMIN server role? One of my previous articles covers how to recover sa password through single user mode, but that approach requires of restarting your SQL Server instance and causing some downtime. Sometimes this would be unacceptable. In this article we’ll provide you with another way to reset forgotten SA password in SQL Server 2012/2008/2005 without any downtime.

How to Reset Forgotten SA Password without Stopping SQL Server Instance?

  1. To get started, we need to run the SQL Server Management Studio as the system account. This can be done easily with the PsExec program. Download PsExec from Sysinternals website. Extract the PsExec.exe program and save it to a folder on your computer such as C:\.
  2. Open an elevated Command Prompt and run the following command:
    C:\PsExec.exe -s -i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\Ssms.exe"
    Note: Your actual path of SQL Server Management Studio may be different from the one above.
  3. It will start SQL Server Management Studio as the system account. You’ll see that the username is shown as “NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM”. Simply choose the “Windows Authentication” mode and click on the Connect button.

    connect-to-server

  4. Once you connect, in the Object Explorer view, click the plus sign next to Security, and then the plus sign next to Logins. Once expanded, right-click on the SA user, and choose Properties. You can then change the forgotten SA password with a new one.

    reset-sa-password

It is quite common to get locked out of a SQL Server instance, or simply forgot the SA password. With this approach you can reset forgotten SQL Server password easily! Quickly regain access to your SQL Server database without even any downtime.

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Posted in Others, SQL Server, Tips & Tricks

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