{"id":4448,"date":"2014-12-23T14:13:59","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T14:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/?p=4448"},"modified":"2019-03-27T03:07:57","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T03:07:57","slug":"pxe-boot-reset-windows-password-without-cd-or-usb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/pxe-boot-reset-windows-password-without-cd-or-usb\/","title":{"rendered":"PXE-Boot: Reset Forgotten Windows Password without CD or USB Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many Windows password tools require creating a bootable CD or USB drive, and then booting it to recover \/ reset lost admin password. However, what if you encounter an old computer that doesn’t support USB booting, neither have a CD drive? Thankfully, you can reset forgotten Windows password via PXE network boot.<\/p>\n

PCUnlocker<\/a> is a bootable utility that can reset lost Windows password from a bootable CD, USB device or network over PXE. Just set up a PXE server on your LAN to store the PCUnlocker CD image, and you can then boot any other PC on the same LAN to reset a lost password. Here’s how.<\/p>\n

Part 1: Set Up A PXE Server<\/strong><\/p>\n

A PXE server can be any accessible Windows PC on your LAN network. Before get started, you need to disable DHCP in your router and use a static IP address for your PXE server. Follow the steps below to set up a PXE server which is required for PXE booting.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. After you’ve purchased PCUnlocker Enterprise, download the pxe-boot version (pxeboot_x64.zip<\/strong>) via this link included in your order confirmation email. Extract all files from pxeboot_x86.zip to a folder of your choice. Here, I extracted the ZIP file to the folder C:\\pxeboot_x64<\/em>.\n

    <\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. Download and install the freeware Serva from this link<\/a> (Use the Serva_Non-Supporter_64<\/em> version if you are running 64-bit Windows). Run the program and click on the Settings<\/strong> button at the bottom.<\/li>\n
  3. If the Windows firewall displays a prompt named Windows Security Alert, asking you to allow Serva to access the network, click Allow Access<\/strong>.\n

    <\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. In the Serva Settings window, click on TFTP tab. Tick TFTP Server<\/strong> and set the root directory to the folder where you extracted the pxeboot_x64.zip file (in my case D:\\pxeboot_x64<\/em>). Check the Allow ‘\\’ As virtual root<\/strong> option.\n

    <\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. Click on DHCP tab. Setup the IP pool starting address and Size of pool for your network. Type Boot\\pxeboot.n12<\/strong> in the Boot File box.\n

    <\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  6. Click OK to save your settings and restart Serva.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Part 2: PXE-Booting Your Locked PC on LAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Power on your locked PC and press a proper key to access the Boot Menu. Select Realtek PXE or your network device and press Enter.\n

      <\/p>\n

      If your PXE NIC device is not listed in the boot order, you need to enable an option labeled “PXE”, “PXE ROM”, “Network ROM” or “Realtek PXE OPROM” in the BIOS.<\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    2. Once you’ve chosen to boot from PXE Network, your computer will broadcast a DHCP request over the network. After receiving a IP address from the PXE server, it begins to download the PCUnlocker CD image that is stored on the PXE server.\n

      <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Part 3: Reset Forgotten Windows Password<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. After loading the PCUnlocker CD image into RAM, Windows 8 PE will start and boot directly to the PCUnlocker program itself. The program automatically searches Windows SAM file on the local hard drive and lists all your user accounts.\n

        <\/p>\n<\/li>\n

      2. Select a user account whose password you forgot, and click on Reset Password<\/strong> button. It will unlock \/ reset your Windows login password in no time.<\/li>\n
      3. Reboot your computer and boot it from local hard drive. You can then login without a password!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Many Windows password tools require creating a bootable CD or USB drive, and then booting it to recover \/ reset lost admin password. However, what if you encounter an old computer that doesn’t support USB booting, neither have a CD drive? Thankfully, you can reset forgotten Windows password via PXE network boot. PCUnlocker is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1894,3,39,5,4],"tags":[2015,2017,2018,2016,2019,2021,2020],"class_list":["post-4448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-tricks","category-windows-10","category-windows-7","category-windows-8","category-windows-vista","category-windows-xp","tag-pxe-boot-pcunlocker","tag-pxe-boot-winpe","tag-reset-windows-password-from-network","tag-reset-windows-password-pxe","tag-reset-windows-password-without-cd","tag-reset-windows-password-without-disk","tag-reset-windows-password-without-usb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4448"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14047,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4448\/revisions\/14047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}