Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Log on Automatically to Windows 8 Microsoft Account without Password

For security purpose, we usually set a long and strong password for a Microsoft account, which is fine when I'm logging in to Microsoft website because my password manager software helps - but that's no good for logging into Windows 8. If you don't want to type in your password every time Windows starts up, you can setup Windows 8 so that it will bypass the login screen and log on to your Windows 8 Microsoft account automatically.

Tips: If you've forgotten your Microsoft account password and unable to reset the password online, you can bypass Windows 8 Microsoft account password with PCUnlocker, so you can still log back into your system and regain access to all your files.

How to Log on to Windows 8 Microsoft Account without Password?
  1. Press the Windows + R keyboard combination to bring up a Run box, when it appears type netplwiz and hit Enter. netplwiz
  2. This will open the User Accounts dialog box, which will display a list of all the users on your computer, including both local accounts and Microsoft accounts.
  3. Next click on the username in the bottom window, which should be your email address if you are using the Microsoft account to log into your Windows 8 PC. Uncheck the Users must enter a username and password to use this computer checkbox. windows-8-user-accounts
  4. Click Apply and you'll get a pop up dialog that asks you to enter your login credentials. Just type in your Microsoft account password twice and click OK. automatically-login
  5. Now go ahead and restart your computer and Windows 8 should automatically boot up to the Start Screen, without prompting you to enter a Microsoft account password.
This can speed up the logon process if you are the only user on the system. However, we don't recommend to enable automatic login if your PC is accessible by multiple users or while you're traveling.

Friday, July 25, 2014

How to Unlock Acer Aspire Laptop After Forgot Windows 8 Password

Locked out of your Acer Aspire laptop because you've forgotten Windows 8 login password? PCUnlocker is an amazing bootdisk that can reset Windows 8 Microsoft / local account password offline. Here's a detailed walkthrough on how to reset lost Windows 8 password on Acer Aspire laptop, which will guide you directly through all the steps involved.

Part 1: Create A PCUnlocker Boot Disk
  1. Before resetting Acer laptop password, you need to use another computer to make a PCUnlocker boot disk. Simply download the trial version of PCUnlocker Enterprise, unzip the downloaded file and you'll get an ISO image file called pcunlocker.iso.
  2. Next download and install the freeware ISO2Disc. Run the ISO2Disc program, click on Browse button to select the PCUnlocker ISO image.
    Create a PCUnlocker boot disk
  3. Select your target media (CD or USB drive) and Click on Start Burn to make a PCUnlocker bootdisk.
Part 2: Change Boot Order in BIOS
  1. Once you've completed the above step, put in the CD into the optical drive or plug in the USB drive into the Acer Aspire laptop you want to reset the password for.
  2. Power on your Acer Aspire laptop. As soon as the Acer logo screen appears, immediately press the F2 key, or the DEL key if you have a desktop, to enter the BIOS.
  3. Once you're in the BIOS Setup, go to the Boot menu. Disable the Secure Boot option and change Boot Mode from UEFI to Legacy BIOS. Move the CD-ROM or USB HDD to the top of the boot priority order list.
    Acer UEFI BIOS
  4. Press F10 to save your changes and exit the BIOS.
Part 3: Reset Acer Aspire Windows 8 Password
  1. The computer will then restart from PCUnlocker boot disk. After a while, you'll see the PCUnlocker program and it shows you a list of local accounts existing on your Acer Aspire laptop.
    Reset Windows Password
  2. Choose a local account and then click Reset Password button, it will reset your forgotten password immediately. If you use a Microsoft account as your laptop's login, you can see your Windows Live ID in the Description column. Choose that associated local account to proceed, this program will assign a new password to your Microsoft account which can later be used to login to Windows 8 locally.
Restart your Acer Aspire laptop and revert the changes that you've made in BIOS. You can then log on Windows 8 system without the need of a password. No need to reinstall or format your hard drive just for a simple forgotten Windows 8 password.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Lenovo Yoga Windows 8.1 Laptop Password Reset

Forgot Windows 8.1 password to your Lenovo Yoga laptop? Ever wondered how to recover or reset a forgotten Windows password? PCUnlocker is a reliable, self-booting recovery CD that can reset the password of Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP. Just boot up your Lenovo Yoga laptop with PCUnlocker Live CD and you can bypass Windows 8.1 password easily!

Note: This method works on all Lenovo Yoga series laptops that come with Windows 8.1 pre-installed, including Yoga 2 Haswell, Yoga 2 Bay Trail, Yoga 2 Pro.

How to Reset Forgotten Windows 8.1 Password on Lenovo Yoga Laptop?

Before getting started, you need to make a PCUnlocker Live CD on an alternate computer. Download the zipped ISO image of PCUnlocker and extract it. Next burn the resulting pcunlocker.iso file to a blank CD (or USB stick) using the ISO2Disc program.



Put the CD in the CD drive of your Lenovo Yoga laptop. To get the laptop to boot from CD, we need to go into the BIOS and switch the Boot Mode from Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) to Compatibility Support Mode (CSM). When the computer is off, press the Novo button and then select BIOS Setup.

In the BIOS Setup Utility, go to Security tab, and disable the Secure Boot option. Next, on the Boot tab, change the Boot Mode from UEFI to Legacy Support. Save the changes and exit BIOS. Shut down the laptop and then press the Novo button again and then choose Boot Menu. Choose to boot from PCUnlocker Live CD.

The laptop will load the WinPE OS from CD and open up the PCUnlocker utility. At this point the program can directly access the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) database and extract all your Windows user accounts.



Select your user account and click on "Reset Password" button. The program will reset your forgotten password by modifying the stored password hashes in the SAM registry file. Restart the computer and take out the CD. You can then log back into your Lenovo Yoga Windows 8.1 laptop with a blank password!

Conclusion

The advantage of this method is that it is very quick if you already have the PCUnlocker Live CD in your tool box. Thus it is useful for admins who have to perform this procedure often.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Dell Latitude 10 Windows 8 Tablet Password Reset

Forgot Windows 8 password to your Dell Latitude 10 tablet? Is there a way to delete/reset or change password? With PCUnlocker you can reset Windows 8 login password by booting off a USB drive. In this tutorial I'll walk you through the steps of resetting lost Windows 8 password on Dell Latitude 10 tablet.

Step 1: Create a UEFI Bootable USB Drive

Dell Latitude 10 table comes with 32-bit UEFI firmware, which requires you to make a USB drive with GPT and FAT32 from a 32-bit OS. To get started, download the 32-bit UEFI version of PCUnlocker from this link. The downloaded file is a self-extracting .zip file which contains a WinPE ISO image. Extract the ISO image and burn it to your USB drive using the ISO2Disc program. Remember to choose the GPT partition style which is required for UEFI booting.

Step 2: Boot Dell Latitude 10 Tablet from USB

Insert the USB drive into your Dell Latitude 10 tablet. After you press the power button, all you need to do is press the volume up button and hold it until the boot select menu appears. Choose the USB drive from the menu and press Enter.

Step 3: Reset Windows 8 Tablet Password

After booting into the USB drive, you'll see the PCUnlocker program in minutes. The program displays a list of Windows 8 local accounts existing in your Dell Latitude 10 tablet. Choose a user account and click on "Reset Password" button, the program will unlock and reset your forgotten Windows 8 password quickly.

Disconnect the USB drive and restart your tablet. You can then log back into Windows 8 user account without a password! Enjoy it!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Remove Forgotten Windows 8 Password on Lenovo IdeaPad with UEFI BIOS

Forgot Windows 8 admin password for your Lenovo IdeaPad laptop? It turns out that removing lost Windows account password is frighteningly easy, as long as you have physical access to the machine. In this tutorial I'll walk you through the steps to remove Windows 8 password on Lenovo IdeaPad with UEFI BIOS.

How to Remove Windows 8 Password on Lenovo IdeaPad with UEFI BIOS?
  1. First of all, use another computer to download the PCUnlocker program, which comes as a self-extracting .zip file. After the file has downloaded, extract the pcunlocker.iso file from it. Burn the ISO image to a blank CD using your preferred CD burning program such as ISO2Disc.
  2. Put your newly created CD in the CD drive of your Lenovo IdeaPad laptop. When the laptop is powered off, press the Novo button. This will start up the laptop and provide you with the Novo button menu.
    Novo-button
  3. Choose BIOS Setup from the Novo button menu, and press Enter.
  4. In the BIOS Setup, select the Security tab and change Secure Boot value to Disabled. lenovo-secure-boot
  5. Next, on the Boot tab, change the Boot Mode from UEFI to Legacy Support. lenovo-boot-mode
  6. You can now save and exit the BIOS, but the laptop will go straight to booting again, so you'll need to shutdown or power it off in order to use the Novo button again. This time choose Boot Menu from the Novo button menu, and then select to boot from the CD drive.
  7. After booting the laptop from the CD, it loads the Windows PE operating system and finally opens up the PCUnlocker program. The program automatically detects the operating system installed on your hard drive, and then displays a list of Windows 8 local user accounts.
  8. Choose one of your administrator accounts and click on Reset Password button. The program will unlock your selected account and remove the password immediately. Eject the CD and restart your computer. Enter into BIOS Setup and change the BIOS Mode back to UEFI.
  9. Now you've successfully removed Windows 8 Password on Lenovo IdeaPad with UEFI BIOS, and you can log back into Windows 8 without a password! Enjoy it!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Unlock Windows 8 ASUS Laptop If Forgot the Admin Password?

Forgot the admin password on your Windows 8 Asus laptop and don't have a reset disk? If you've lost your Windows 8 password, you won't be able to log in. Here's how to unlock Windows 8 Asus laptop password with a CD.

  1. Download and install Password Recovery Bundle on another computer with Internet access. Launch the program and click the Windows Password button, and you'll get the interface as follow.
    Create a Windows Password Reset Disk
  2. Place a blank CD in the CD-ROM drive of the computer, then click the Refresh button and select the device you just plug in. Click the Start Burn button to begin the burning process. A bootable password reset disk will be ready in a few minutes.
  3. Now go back to your Asus PC, and insert the Windows password reset disk you just made.
  4. Turn on the computer. When the Asus splash screen is displayed, a boot menu prompt may be displayed for a few seconds near the bottom of the screen, indicating that a key (F2 or Del, for example) can be pressed to enter into BIOS Setup.
  5. After entering into BIOS, select CD/DVD as the first boot device. If your computer comes with UEFI BIOS, you also need to Set Windows 8 PC to Boot with Legacy BIOS Mode Instead of UEFI Mode.
  6. Once booting from the CD, it begins loading the Windows PE OS and you'll reach the main window of PCUnlocker program in minutes.
    Reset Windows Password
  7. Choose the administrator account and click the Reset Password button. This will unlock and reset lost Asus password instantly.
  8. Click the Restart button to reboot your Asus computer, you'll be able to login to Windows 8 administrator account with a blank password.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

How to Crack Windows 8 Picture Password and Pin Code Instantly

In this tutorial we'll show you how to crack Windows 8 picture password and pin code, without brute-forcing them. Both Pin code and Picture Password are authentication methods based on a local user account. During setting up a Pin code or Picture Password, you'll be prompted to enter the traditional text-based password. The problem is that Windows 8 will then store your Pin code / Picture password as well as the original text password in plain text.

Windows 8 Sign-in Options

Mimikatz is a free open-source tool to recover this plain-text password, it saves you time and power needed to brute force a 16 character NT/LM password during pen-testing or tech work. Follow this tutorial and you can recover Windows 8 Pin code and Picture Password in no time.

Note: Mimikatz needs admin privileges to work properly. If you couldn't log on to Windows 8 as administrator, you can reset the forgotten local administrator password or Microsoft account password with PCUnlocker Live CD/USB drive.

How to Recover Windows 8 Picture Password and Pin Code?

 

  1. Download the Mimikatz tool (mimikatz_trunk.zip) from Benjamin Delpy’s blog. Decompress the zip file and you'll then find that the tool has both 32-bit and 64-bit versions – make sure you pick the correct version.
  2. Right-click on the Mimikatz.exe file and select Run as administrator from the context menu.
  3. You'll be provided with an interactive prompt that allows you to perform a number of different commands. Firstly we'll need to enable debug mode with the privilege::debug command:
    privilege::debug
  4. Next run the token::elevate command to elevate your privilege to NT Authority\SYSTEM.
    token::elevate
    Mimikatz
  5. Execute the following command and it will quickly extract all types of plain-text passwords from Windows Vault, including Pin code, Picture Password and traditional text password.
    vault::list
    Recover Windows 8 Pin Code and Picture Password
If you use a Microsoft account to log on to Windows 8 and then switch to a Picture Password or a Pin, the Mimikatz tool will be able to dump your Microsoft account password as well. This is the first critical security flaw in Windows 8/8.1 that has already been discovered.