Posts Tagged ‘password reset disk’

PCUnlocker – Best Alternative to Password Reset Disk

June 16th, 2017 by Admin

Password reset disk is a special disk that could be used to reset your Windows password if you forget it. Just go to Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts, you can click the “Create a password reset disk” link on the left pane to create such a disk.

create-password-reset-disk

A password reset disk contains a single file named userkey.psw, which is an encrypted backup version of your password. You can only make a password reset disk while you still know your password. The process of creating a password reset disk is just like writing down your password on a piece of paper. So, if you’ve already forgotten your password, it’s too late to create a password reset disk. Still have questions about password reset disk? Please check out this article: FAQs for Password Reset Disk in Windows.

What to do if you forget Windows password but you don’t have a password reset disk? This happens so many times because we only aware that a password reset disk must be created before we forget the password. Fortunately, there are several good alternatives to password reset disk. PCUnlocker is the best alternative that could hep you reset forgotten Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP password instantly.

When you’re locked out of your own computer, just use an alternative PC to download PCUnlocker and create a bootable CD/USB drive. Next, boot your locked PC from CD/USB and it allows you to bypass & reset lost admin password easily.

Fix “Create Password Reset Disk Link Not Working” in Windows 10

September 30th, 2015 by Admin

Just like previous versions of Windows, Windows 10 allows you to create a password reset disk from within the Control Panel. But when you try to click on the “Create a password reset disk” link, you might find out nothing happens. No wizard. No response at all. Doesn’t matter if I have a USB drive plugged in or not.

After searching online we find out this is really a bug in Windows 10. Here’s how do I troubleshoot this problem.

Actually, after clicking the “Create a password reset disk” link, the Forgotten Password Wizard will appear in the task switcher window (Press Alt+Tab keys together lets you open the task switcher window for switching between your running apps). But when I tab over to that task and let go of the keys nothing displays.

Now you need to close the Forgotten Password Wizard process. Here’re two ways to close it:

Method 1: Move your mouse cursor to the top-right corner of the Forgotten Password Wizard in the task switcher window, it will display the X button. Just click on X to close the process.

switch-between-apps

Method 2: Press the key combination CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open the Task Manager directly. Find out the process named “Forgotten Password Wizard”. Select it and click on End task.

task-manager

After close the Forgotten Password Wizard process. Re-click on the “Create a password reset disk” from within the Control Panel, it will open the Forgotten Password Wizard successfully.

FAQs for Password Reset Disk in Windows

June 22nd, 2015 by Admin

A password reset disk allows you to change lost Windows user password from Windows login screen, without needing to know your old password. In one of my previous posts we’ve covered how to create and use a password reset disk in Windows 7. Here we’ll try to answer the frequently asked questions about password reset disk in Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP.

The use of password reset disk has actually protected many users against forgetting their logon passwords. And Microsoft recommends you to always create a password reset disk immediately after setting up a new user account. If you have a lot of users and do not wish to create a reset disk for each one, then you should at least create one for the administrator account on that computer. You can then use that administrator account to change any other user’s password.

FAQ: I’ve created a password reset disk for account A, can I use it to reset the password for account B?

No. Password reset disk is unique to an account (good from security point of view). That’s to say, even if you create a password reset disk for account A of Windows machine A, you cannot use it to reset the password for account B of Windows machine A, and you’ll got the following error message:

password-reset-error

FAQ: Can I create a password reset disk after forgetting my Windows password?

It’s too late to create a password reset disk. You have to create a password reset disk before you forgot the password. If you’ve already forgotten your Windows password and don’t have a password reset disk, you need to take use of the third-party live CDs such as PCUnlocker.

FAQ: Do I have to re-create a password reset disk after changing the password?

Your previously-created password reset disk will continue to work. No need to re-create the disk every time you change your user password.

FAQ: Can I create multiple password reset disks for one account?

Only one password reset disk can be created for per account. When you try to create another password reset disk, you’ll get the warn message “There is already a password reset disk for this user account. Creating a new one will make the old one unusable. Do you want to continue?

replace-reset-disk

If you click Yes, the previous password reset disk automatically expires, and Windows no longer recognizes it when the user tries to use it to reset the password. This is integrated in the operating system for security purposes.

FAQ: Why Windows say “this disk is not a password reset disk”?

A password reset disk is actually a USB drive that contains a single file named userkey.psw in its root directory. userkey.psw is an encrypted backup version of your password.

password-reset-disk

If you try to reset password using a USB drive that doesn’t contain the userkey.psw file, Windows will warn you that it’s not a password reset disk.

not-password-reset-disk

FAQ: Where should I store the password reset disk?

A password reset disk in the wrong hands could be used to reset the account password for whichever computer and user account for which it was created. Therefore it’s imperative to keep your password reset disk in a secure location, preferably away from the computer it was created with.

How to Bypass Windows 8, 7 and Vista Password without A Reset Disk

May 12th, 2015 by Admin

A password reset disk is essentially a USB drive that contains a small file: userkey.psw, which can be used to change your password from Windows logon screen. But the catch is that you have to create a password reset disk while you’re logged in. If you’ve already forgotten your password, it’s too late.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to bypass Windows 8, 7 and Vista password with a bootable media – PCUnlocker Live CD, which can be created on a spare computer after you forgot Windows password. PCUnlocker can be used to reset the password of any user on any Windows machine, while a password reset disk can only reset the password of the account for which it was created.

How to Bypass Windows 8, 7 and Vista Password without A Reset Disk?

If you don’t have a PCUnlocker Live CD, you can create it on any Windows computer that you still have full access to. Download the CD image of PCUnlocker and burn it to a blank CD (or USB thumb drive) with the freeware ISO2Disc.

Put the PCUnlocker Live CD in the CD drive of your locked computer. Once booted to the PCUnlocker program, it will detect all the partitions which contain a valid Windows installation.

Select the SAM file for the Windows installation whose password you need to bypass, it will list all the user accounts stored in your selected SAM file. If you’re running PCUnlocker on a dual-bot machine, there should be two SAM files and make sure you choose the desired one.

Choose a user account and click on “Reset Password”. This program will wipe the password, enable/unlock the account, and promote it to an Administrator if it’s a standard or limited account.

Take the CD out of the CD drive and reboot the computer. You can then log back into Windows without typing password. So this is how you can bypass the password for any version of Windows.

Forgot Windows 8 Password? How to Reset Windows 8 Password Easily

April 24th, 2012 by Admin

Forgetting Windows password is one of the most common problems and it can become a critical problem if your system contains important data. Advanced users can easily remove passwords from the computer but average computer users don’t have any idea about password reset disk and other methods to reset the password in Windows 8 or any other Windows versions.

Things will become easier if you have created a password reset disk in Windows 8 beforehand. So in case you have not taken precautionary steps earlier and you forget the password, you can’t create any type of password reset disk without logging into Windows 8. Here, I am going to discuss most of methods to reset Windows 8 password if you have forgotten it.

Option 1: Login with Administrator Account

It is the best way to get Windows 8 password back as by using the Administrator account, you can login on the system and then reset the user password from User management. When you install Windows 8 for the first time, it asks you to create a new user account to use on the computer and once you create it, Windows setup automatically disables the Administrator account and you can’t access it in normal mode. The next time you forget your user password, you can go to Windows Safe Mode and login with Administrator account and reset the user password. By default, Administrator account is automatically enabled in Safe Mode. To open the Safe Mode of any Windows OS, press the F8 (Function key) and after closing the BIOS messages you will see all the available options in Safe Mode and from there select Safe Mode.

Option 2: Login with Hotmail ID and Password

It is well known that Windows 8 offers us multiple ways to log into Windows 8 like using normal username and password, using Hotmail ID and password and finally using PIN password. If you set your Hotmail ID and password for Windows 8 login then you have a chance to get your login details of Windows 8 back. Open your Hotmail email ID on another computer and then change its password with a new one. After changing the Hotmail password, try to login on Windows 8 using the new password and make sure that your Windows 8 is connected to internet during this time.

Option 3: Enter 4 Digit Windows PIN Code

If you have used this way on Windows 8 previously then you can use it again to login on Windows 8. I have mentioned all the possible ways to login on Windows 8 above but if none of them work for you, I have a another solution and that is a bootable password reset disk.

Option 4: Bootable Password Reset Utility

It is the ultimate solution with a 100% success rate. It is the only solution you need if you fail to log into Windows 8 after using all the above methods. Password Recovery Bundle can help us to create a bootable password reset disk on CD/DVD or USB flash drive, which can be used to reset lost Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000 and NT passwords easily. Once you boot and log in with its bootable disk, it will reset the Windows 8 password and make it blank. After that, you can log into Windows 8 without entering any password or you can set a different password after successfully logging into Windows 8 to prevent unauthorized access by someone else.