UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a standard firmware interface for PCs, designed to replace legacy BIOS (basic input/output system). Many new computers are shipping with UEFI firmware instead of standard BIOS. Most of UEFI-based computers come with 64-bit UEFI but there are also some Windows 8 tablets that use 32-bit UEFI, such as Dell […]
Bypass Windows 8 Password on Lenovo IdeaPad with UEFI BIOS
May 23, 2014 by No comments »Forgot Windows 8 password to the only account on your Lenovo IdeaPad laptop? You might find that a lot of bootable recovery utilities won’t work because of UEFI BIOS, including BartPE. In this tutorial I’ll walk you through the steps of using PCUnlocker Live CD to bypass Windows 8 password on Lenovo IdeaPad. How to […]
SQL Server: Lost SA Password or SA Account Is Locked out
May 19, 2014 by No comments »Lost SA password? SA user is locked out and login fails with Windows Authentication. Now what? Here are some of the options I think you may do: You will try logging in as SA with all possible passwords you have in your mind. You will look for the SA password on your computer hard-drive or […]
VMware: Change SCSI Controller Type from BusLogic to LSI Logic
November 22, 2014 by No comments »After upgrading to a 64-bit operating system or an operating system that does not support BusLogic, you may receive the following error on startup: The BusLogic SCSI adapter is not supported for 64-bit guests in this release If you boot the virtual machine from a WinPE bootdisk, you’ll be unable to see your hard drive. […]
How to Disable Windows Authentication in SQL Server
May 4, 2014 by No comments »MS SQL Server supports two types of authentication models: Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication, which are configured during the installation of SQL Server. Windows Authentication is the default option for new SQL Server installation and it allows you to access the database without providing a username or password. If you don’t want the users […]
SQL Server Management Studio Saved Password
May 2, 2014 by No comments »Is there a way to recover or retrieve the stored passwords in SQL Server Management Studio? How to clear the saved login for SQL Server Management Studio? SQL Server Management Studio always forgets the password to all the servers you connect even if you do have the “Remember password” checked? In this article we’ll explain […]
How to Login to SQL Server If SA Account Is Disabled
April 29, 2014 by No comments »The SA account is disabled and cannot login to SQL Server? When trying to connect, you may receive the error message “Login failed for user ‘sa’. Reason: The account is disabled. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18470)”. If the SA account is the only login with sysadmin role on your SQL Server, you’ll lose control over […]
How to Change SQL Server 2014 Password After Forgotten
April 27, 2014 by No comments »Forgot the SA password on MS SQL Server 2014 instance? How can I reset or change SQL Server 2014 password? Microsoft SQL Server stores passwords as a hash in a system table named sql_logins. The old versions of SQL Server 2008/2005/2000 use only the SHA1 hashing algorithm to encrypt the password whereas SQL Server 2014/2012 […]
How to Change Screen Resolution in Windows PE 4 and 5
April 26, 2014 by No comments »Windows PE (Windows Preinstallation Environment) is a lightweight version of Windows used for troubleshooting an operating system while it is offline. Previously I’ve written an article on how to create a bootable Windows PE CD or USB flash drive. But the default resolution of Windows PE is 800 x 600, Is there a way to […]
How to Bypass Windows 8.1 Start Screen & Boot Directly to Desktop
April 20, 2014 by No comments »In the previous post I explained how to skip the Start screen in Windows 8, by creating a scheduled task. Things get easier since Windows 8.1 and you can now bypass the Start screen with just a few clicks. The Start screen is a good starting point for Windows 8 devices with touch screens. But […]