How to Transfer Outlook Account Settings to A New PC

One thing that has been missing from MS Outlook is the ability to import/export the email account settings. In this article I'll explain how to export Outlook account settings and then import/transfer them to a new PC.

How to Export Outlook Account Settings

1. Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
2. In left-side pane, navigate to your Outlook profile path in the registry. The location of the registry key depends on your Outlook version:
   
   • Outlook 2013: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles
   • Outlook 2010 or earlier versions: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles
3. Right-click on the Profiles folder and then select Export from the drop-down menu.
   
   
   
   
4. When the Export Registry File dialog box opens, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg). In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.
   
   
   
   
5. Exit the Registry Editor. You are now finished exporting Outlook account settings into a .reg file.

Afterwards you can use this .reg file to import your Outlook account settings on the same computer after you reinstall Microsoft Office, or you can use the exported file on another computer. To import the file all you have to do is double-click the .reg file.

However, the exported .reg file doesn't include the passwords in your account settings. To export Outlook passwords you need to take use of the Outlook Password Recovery utility.

How to Recursively Take Ownership of Folders in Windows

If you try to replace or delete a folders in Windows 8 or 7, you might receive the error message: "You don't currently have permission to access this folder. Click Continue to permanently get access to this folder."

You have the choice to click "Continue". In most case, this will fix the issue of not being able to get access to the folder. But sometimes, you might still run into issues where all the child folders have the same problem, unable to access this folder because of the lack of permission.

Luckily there is a freeware TakeOwnershipPro which enables you to recursively take ownership of multiple folders or files in just a few mouse clicks! Here's how it works:

1. Download and install the TakeOwnershipPro program on your computer.
2. After installing, start the TakeOwnershipPro program from the desktop shortcut or Start Menu.
3. Click the Add button to choose the folders or files which you want to take ownership of, or simply drag the folders/files from Windows Explorer and then drop them to this program.
4. In order to recursively take ownership of all subfolders and files inside your selected folders, tick the checkbox Include subfolders and files. Click Take Ownership button.

How to Restore Firefox Passwords from Old Profile

My computer crashed last week and I restored everything from the old hard drive to a new hard drive without any issues so far.I know most of my passwords, but there were some on there that I really need restored. How can I restore the saved passwords from the old Firefox profile?

In this tutorial we'll show you how to restore all types of saved passwords from Firefox old profile.

How to Restore Firefox Passwords from Old Profile?

1. Download the setup package of Firefox Password Recovery and save it on your computer.
2. After you've downloaded it, double-click on the setup file to install it.
3. Start the Firefox Password Recovery program. Click on the "Recover From File" button. This will bring up the Mozilla Password Recovery dialog.
   
4. Click on the Browse button to select your Firefox profile. For example, the typical path of a Firefox profile is usually C:\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles. While in Windows XP, it's C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles. If you are still unable to locate the profile folder, just search the signons.sqlite or logins.json file which resides in the profile folder of your application.
   
5. Click OK. The program will decrypt and recover all Firefox saved passwords from your old profile.

How to Reset Lost Active Directory Administrator Password

PCUnlocker is a rescue bootdisk that can help you reset forgotten Active Directory administrator password instantly. Unlike John the Ripper and other password cracking tools, PCUnlocker changes the password in no time instead of taking a very long time to recover it. After the password has been changed, we can login to domain administrator account with a new password.

Part 1: Create a PCUnlocker Live CD/USB Drive

PCUnlocker needs to be booted from a CD or USB stick to work. Before resetting Active Directory password, you need to use a spare PC to make a PCUnlocker Live CD/USB drive.

1. Download and save the PCUnlocker self-extracting ZIP file to your desktop. Once downloaded, extract the ISO file (pcunlocker.iso) from the ZIP file.
2. Download and install ISO2Disc, a free ISO burning software.
3. Launch the ISO2Disc program. Click the Browse button to locate the pcunlocker.iso file, then click the Start Burn button to create a bootable CD or USB drive.
   
   If you're going to use a USB drive to reset password for a UEFI-based computer, make sure you choose the GPT partition style which is required for UEFI boot.
   

Part 2: Reset Active Directory Administrator Password

1. Boot your domain controller from your newly created CD or USB drive.
2. Upon boot, Windows PE will load, the PCUnlocker program will start and locate the Windows SAM registry file and Active Directory database (ntds.dit).
   
3. You will be presented with the following two options:
    
   Reset Local Admin/User Password
   
   This option allows you to reset Windows local account password that is stored in the SAM registry file. After the local administrator password is reset, you can then log into Safe Mode or Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) without entering a password!
    
   Reset Active Directory Password
   
   Simply select the Active Directory database file (ntds.dit), the program will list the Active Directory user accounts available on your domain controller. Select the administrator account and click Reset Password button, the password will be changed to Password123.
   Note: While resetting the local or domain password, the program will also unlock/enable your selected account in the background if it is locked out or disabled.
   
4. Click the Restart button to reboot the computer and remove the CD or USB drive, you can then log into domain controller successfully.

Additionally, PCUnlocker allows you to load any IDE/SCSI/SATA/RAID driver on the fly and mount a VHD/VHDX virtual hard disk, by clicking the Options button.

How to Reset Forgotten Windows Azure VM Password

Did you forgot your Windows password of your Virtual Machine in Windows Azure? How can I bypass or reset the password? The virtual hard disks are .vhd files stored as page blobs in a storage account in Azure. PCUnlocker allows you to mount the .vhd or .vhdx files and then reset your forgotten Windows Azure VM password offline. Here are detailed instructions:

Part 1: Create A PCUnlocker Live CD/USB

1. Click here to download and save the PCUnlocker self-extracting Zip file to any computer that you have access to, then extract the ISO image file (pcunlocker.iso) from it.
2. Download and install the ISO2Disc utility, launch the program.
3. Click the Browse button to locate the PCUnlocker ISO image file, then click the Start Burn button to make a PCUnlocker Live CD or USB drive.
   

Part 2: Boot from PCUnlocker Live CD/USB

1. Insert your burned CD (or USB drive) into the physical computer that your VHD file is stored on.
2. Turn on the computer and check the boot-screen for setup key (i.e. DELETE key, F8 key, F2 key) to enter BIOS Setup Utility.
3. Use the arrow keys to select the BOOT tab, then change the Boot Device Priority: Set 1st Boot Device to CDROM if you've created a Live CD, or set 1st Boot Device to Removable Device if a USB drive was created.
   
4. Press F10 to save your changes. Now your computer should boot from PCUnlocker Live CD/USB.

Part 3: Reset Windows Azure VM Password

1. If everything goes as expected, the computer will load the WinPE OS from the Live CD/USB drive, and eventually take you to the PCUnlocker program.
2. Click on the Options button, and then select Mount Virtual Drive from the drop-down menu. When the file open dialog appears, locate your VHD file and click Open.
   
3. After mounting the VHD file, click on the Browse button to choose the SAM registry file for the Windows system installed on your virtual drive. The program will list all your Windows accounts.
   
   
4. Choose the administrator account and click on Reset Password button. It will unlock / remove your forgotten password immediately.
5. Click Restart and remove the CD or USB drive, your computer will dismount the virtual hard disk and restart. Now you've successfully reset lost Windows Azure VM password!

Microsoft Surface Pro 3: Lost Windows 8.1 Administrator Password

 Can't log in with your administrator account because you can't remember the password? How to recover or reset Surface Pro password if you don't have a reset disk? Surface Pro 3 uses the latest UEFI firmware instead of legacy BIOS. To reset the lost password, we need to use an UEFI bootable utility - PCUnlocker, which supports both UEFI booting and password resetting for local/Microsoft account. Here's how to reset lost Windows 8.1 admin password on Surface Pro 3.

How to Reset Windows 8.1 Admin Password on Surface Pro 3?

To get PCUnlocker to work, you need to use a spare PC to download the Enterprise edition of PCUnlocker which comes as a self-extracting ZIP file. Unzip the downloaded file and you'll get a CD image called pcunlocker.iso.

Burn the ISO image to your USB flash drive using the freeware ISO2Disc. Remember to choose the GPT partition style, because MBR-based bootdisk is unable to boot with UEFI mode.



Once you've create a PCUnlocker Live USB drive, insert it into the USB port of your Surface Pro 3 tablet. Make sure your tablet is powered off at this point. Press and hold the volume-down button (on the left side of your tablet), then press and release the Power button (on the top). When the Surface logo appears, release the volume-down button. Surface will boot from your USB drive.

After loading the Windows 8 PE from the USB drive, you'll be taken to the PCUnlocker program. It shows you a list of local accounts that is extracted from your Windows 8.1 SAM registry hive. If you use an email account for signing into your tablet, you can see your email address in the "Description" column of the associated local account.



Select the administrator account and click on Reset Password button. It will bypass / reset your forgotten login password in no time. If you've chosen the local account associated with your email address, the program will assign a new password for your Microsoft account login (Note: this new password can be used to log on your tablet locally).

Now you've successfully bypassed Surface Pro 3 password. Restart the computer and disconnect the USB drive, you can then log on your Surface without a password!

HP Envy Windows 8 Laptop Password Recovery

Forgot Windows 8 user password for your HP Envy laptop? Is there a way to recover or reset the password without losing any file? This article explains how you can easily reset forgotten Windows 8 password on HP Envy laptop.

How to Reset Windows 8 Password on HP Envy Laptop?

PCUnlocker comes as an ISO image that needs to be burned on to a CD, or you can put the ISO on to USB stick using a utility. Then simply boot to the CD or USB to run the utility for recovering Windows 8 password. Here are step-by-step instructions:

1. Use a spare computer to download the PCUnlocker program. Unzip the downloaded file and you'll get a pcunlocker.iso image. Burn the ISO image to a blank CD using the freeware ISO2Disc. If you don't have an optical drive, you can burn the ISO image to a USB flash drive.
2. Next, you have to boot your locked HP Envy laptop from the CD/USB drive. Because this Windows 8 laptop comes with UEFI BIOS, you need to firstly enable the Legacy support in the BIOS. Turn on the computer and immediately press the Esc key repeatedly until the Startup Menu opens.
   
3. Use the arrow keys to select BIOS Setup and press Enter. Navigate to the System Configuration menu, use the down arrow key to select Boot Options, then press Enter.
4. Set "Secure Boot" to "Disabled" and set "Legacy Support" to "Enabled". Press F10 to save your changes and exit BIOS.
   
5. When the computer has restarted, quickly press the Esc key to access the Startup Menu again. This time select Boot Device Options and press Enter.
6. When the Boot Option Menu screen appears, use the up or down arrow key to select your boot media (Internal CD/DVD ROM or USB Hard Drive). Then press Enter to boot into that device.
7. The computer will load the Windows PE operating system from your boot media and take you directly to the PCUnlocker program. Choose the user account where you want to bypass the password, and click on Reset Password button. If you use a Microsoft account as your login method, make sure you choose the local account with the "Description" column shown as your Live account ID.
   
8. The program will remove your local account password immediately. As Windows 8 can't accept blank password for Microsoft account, the program will assign a temporary password Password123 to your Microsoft account.
9. The last step is to reboot your computer and take out the CD or USB drive. When you come to the Windows 8 login screen, you can log on as your desired account and regain access to all files on your HP Envy dv6 notebook. That's it!

How to Reset Forgotten Windows 2000 Admin Password

Lost admin password on Windows 2000? How to bypass Windows 2000 password on an older server if you've forgotten what is is and want the files off the computer? You can use a PCUnlocker Live CD (or USB drive) to reset the lost password. This tutorial will show you how to do that, step by step.

Create A PCUnlocker Live CD/USB Drive

We'll be using PCUnlocker. PCUnlocker is a bootable rescue CD that can reset local / domain administrator password on any Windows computer. It exists of a bootable CD ISO image. To get the software to work, you need to burn the PCUnlocker ISO image to a CD or USB flash drive using a burning software such as ISO2Disc.

Boot from PCUnlocker

Once you've completed the above step, put the CD in the optical drive or plug the USB drive into the Windows 2000 computer you want to reset admin password for. Now you need to restart the PC and boot into the CD/USB.

You can do so by changing the boot order. See how you can change the boot order here.

Reset Lost Admin Password

Once you've set the boot order correctly, the computer will load the WinPE OS from the CD/USB drive and take you directly to the PCUnlocker program. This program automatically finds your Windows SAM registry file and extracts all your user accounts from it.



Select the administrator account and click on Reset Password. It will unlock / reset your lost Windows 2000 admin password immediately. Remove the CD/USB and restart your computer, and now you can enjoy log on to your Windows 2000 without entering any password.

How to Recover Forgotten Password from IMVU Messenger

IMVU is an original instant messaging tool that lets you chat with people from all over the globe in a 3D environment, instead of the plain, text-only chat room we're all used to.



Like any other messenger, IMVU stores the password locally so that user don't have to enter the password every time. If you've forgotten the saved password, you can recover IMVU password instantly with Password Recovery Bundle.

How to Recover Forgotten Password from IMVU Messenger?

1. Download and install Password Recovery Bundle.
2. Run Password Recovery Bundle, then click the Start Recovery button. It will bring up a drop-down menu that shows all supported password types.
3. Select the IMVU Password option.
4. The program will automatically find and crack the stored IMVU login credentials on the local computer, and display your IMVU username (Email or Avatar name) and password in seconds.

How to Reset Lost Windows Password of Xen HVM

Have you come across a situation when you need to reset the admin password of a Xen virtual machine? If you face the login issue with Xen HVM, you can reset lost Xen Windows password with PCUnlocker. Today I'm going to show how does reset Windows administrator password in XEN HVM.

How to Reset Lost Windows Password of Xen HVM?

1. Download the self-extracting Zip archive of PCUnlocker and save it to your host OS. Extract the CD image (pcunlocker.iso) from the downloaded file. If you've enabled EFI/UEFI in your Xen VM, you need to use PCUnlocker Enterprise which supports UEFI booting.
2. Start virt-manager (also known as Virtual Machine Manager). Select your Windows VM that need a password reset, click on EDIT menu at the top and then select Virtual Machine Details.
3. In the Details window, click on IDE CDROM 1 tab. Click Connect to mount the PCUnlocker ISO image (pcunlocker.iso) to the virtual CD drive.
4. Click on the Boot Options tab. Tick Enable boot menu. Check the CDROM item and put the CDROM item on top of the boot device list. Click Apply to save your changes.
   
5. Power on your Windows virtual machine and Xen will now boot from the PCUnlocker CD image, loading the WinPE OS and taking you directly into the tool. This program automatically finds your Windows SAM file and show you a list of local accounts.
   
6. Select one of your user accounts and click on Reset Password button. It will reset your Windows VM password quickly, as well as unlock the account in the event it is locked out, disabled or expired.
7. Disconnect your CD drive and restart the VM. Now you can enjoy log on to your Windows virtual machine without entering any password.

 

How to Unlock / Remove Windows Vista Administrator Password

Forgot the administrator password to your Windows Vista-based computer? How can you remove / unlock Windows Vista password? Thankfully there is a bootable utility to bypass Windows Vista password so you can get back in, but you'll need access to another computer to make it work.



How to Unlock Windows Vista Administrator Password?

1. PCUnlocker is a paid tool that exists of an ISO image that needs to be burned to a CD or placed on a bootable USB drive. If you've purchased the program, you'll receive a download link to the full version of PCUnlocker. Once you’ve downloaded it, unzip it and burn the ISO file to a blank CD with the ISO2Disc program.
   
   
2. Once you have the boot disc created, pop it into your Vista computer and start it up. Depending on how your BIOS is set, it may automatically boot from the disc, or you may have to bring up a boot device menu. On Dell computers you can do this by pressing F12 at the beginning of the boot process, most boot screens will display information on what key you need to press to get the menu where you will then want to choose your CD/DVD drive.
3. When the computer boots from the boot disc, it will load the Windows PE operating system and run the PCUnlocker program. PCUnlocker will search the available drives on your computer looking for SAM databases, which is where your Windows account login credentials are stored. If you have more than one OS installed, you need to select the one you wish to reset.
   
   
   
4. Once you've choose the SAM file, you'll see a list of local accounts that exist in the selected SAM database. Select the Administrator account and click on "Reset Password" button, you'll be told if you're ready to remove the account password. Click Yes and the changes will be made in no time. You can now eject the boot disc, and restart your computer.
5. Windows Vista will load, and if you're the only user on the computer, it will automatically login. You're back in!

Reset Forgotten HP Pavilion Windows 8 Laptop Password

Forgot Windows 8 admin password for your HP Pavilion laptop? If you have no idea what the password is, here's how can you easily reset forgotten Windows 8 password on HP Pavilion laptop.

How to Reset Forgotten HP Pavilion Windows 8 Laptop Password?

1. Before resetting your password, you need to create a bootable PCUnlocker USB drive from an alternate PC. Download the ISO image of PCUnlocker and then burn it to a USB flash drive with ISO2Disc.

2. Plug the USB drive into your HP Pavilion laptop. Turn on your laptop and repeatedly press the ESC key to access the Startup Menu. As the startup menu indicates, press F10 to enter BIOS Setup.

3. Go to the System Configuration menu, enter Boot Options. Change Legacy Boot to ENABLE, then move USB Diskette on Key/USB Hard Drive to top of boot order. Save your changes and exit BIOS.

4. During reboot, press the ESC key to access the Startup Menu again. This time press F9 to boot from USB drive.

5. PCUnlocker will load after USB boot. It displays a list of local accounts for your Windows 8 system. Choose a account and click on Reset Password button. This will reset your forgotten Windows 8 password instantly.

6. Restart your laptop and disconnect the USB drive. You can then login to your HP Pavilion Windows 8 laptop without a password! That's it!

How to Change Windows Password without Knowing it

Need to change Windows password but you've forgotten the current password? Today I am going to show you two options to change Windows password without knowing the original password.

Option 1: Change Windows Password from Command Prompt

This is an especially handy trick if you want to change a password on an account but you've forgotten the old password (going through the Control Panel can require confirmation of the old password). You need to have admin access to perform this change from the command line.

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt. Click on Start button, go to All Programs -> Accessories and right click on Command Prompt and select "Run as Administrator" from context menu. In Windows 8, you can do this by simply pressing Windows Key + X + A.
2. You can use the net user command to change Windows password easily, without supplying the old password:

   net user username  new_password

   Replace username with your Windows account name, and new_password with your desired new password.
   

If you're totally locked out of Windows, you're unable to run any program such as command line tool to change your password. In this situation, you need to use a bootable media to change Windows password.

Option 2: Change Windows Password with PCUnlocker

PCUnlocker is a bootable utility that can reset the password of any Windows user account. It works with all versions of Windows, including Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012. Follow these steps and you can change Windows password without knowing the old password:

1. First of all, you need to use another PC to download the PCUnlocker program, which comes as a bootable CD image. Burn the ISO image to a blank CD or USB drive using the ISO2Disc utility.
2. Insert the newly burned CD or USB drive into your target computer, and set it to boot from CD/USB.
3. Once you've booted into the CD/USB drive, you'll be presented with the screen of PCUnlocker. This program automatically locates the SAM database file for your installed Windows operating system, and shows you a list of local user accounts.
   
4. Select a user account and click on Reset Password button. It will remove your old password immediately. Restart the computer and you can then log into your Windows account without typing a password!

Toshiba Satellite Windows 8 Laptop Password Reset

Lost Windows 8 admin password to your Toshiba Satellite laptop? You can use some bootable utilities like BartPE to reset your lost Windows password, but such disks are Windows XP based operating systems which can be used to unlock only Windows 7, Vista and XP (not including Windows 8).

The reason behind this is, most of Windows 8 laptop is configured in UEFI mode (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). The UEFI mode does not allow to boot legacy OS like Windows XP, DOS etc. So to reset Windows 8 password, the conventional method does not work.

Luckily, the latest version of PCUnlocker came out that can boot in UEFI mode. This article will introduce how to make a PCUnlocker Live USB and then use it to bypass Windows 8 password on Toshiba Satellite laptop.

Create A PCUnlocker Live USB

If you can't boot into your Toshiba Satellite Laptop, you'll need to borrow one from a friend to make your own PCUnlocker Live USB drive, but other than that, all you really need is a USB flash drive. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Download the PCUnlocker Enterprise and save it on your spare computer. Please note both the Standard and Pro editions don't support UEFI booting. The downloaded file is a self-extracting .zip file which contains a UEFI bootable ISO image: pcunlocker.iso. Extract the ISO image file from it.
2. Burn the ISO image file to your USB flash drive using the freeware ISO2Disc or Rufus. Make sure you choose the "GPT" or "GPT partition scheme for UEFI computer" option while burning the USB drive. If you don't have a USB drive at hand, you can use a blank CD to make a PCUnlocker Live disc.
   
   
3. Once your USB drive has finished burning, insert it into your Toshiba Satellite laptop.

Reset Toshiba Satellite Windows 8 Laptop Password

Now that you've successfully created a PCUnlocker Live USB drive. It's time to boot into the USB drive and reset Windows 8 password. Here is what you need to do:

1. Turn on your Toshiba Satellite laptop. As soon as the Toshiba logo appears, press F12 to get into Boot Menu. Using the arrow keys to select the DVD option and press Enter. In some Toshiba notebooks or laptops, in order to access the Boot Menu you might need to press the ESC key or the "C" key as you boot.
2. Once you've booted into the PCUnlocker Live USB, you'll be presented with the screen of PCUnlocker. This program automatically locates the SAM database file for your installed Windows operating system, and shows you a list of local user accounts.
   
   
3. Choose your administrator account and click on "Reset Password" button. The program will remove your forgotten Windows 8 password quickly! If you're using a Microsoft account as your computer's login, make sure you choose the associated local account and the program will unlock your Microsoft account password locally.
4. When it's done, reboot your system and you can log back into your Windows 8 account. Besides bypassing Windows 8 password, you can also use PCUnlocker Live USB drive to reset Windows 7, Vista and XP passwords on your Toshiba Satellite laptops.

Lenovo Miix Windows 8 Tablet Password Recovery

Locked out of Lenovo Miix tablet because your Windows 8 admin password is lost? How can you change or reset it without needing to reinstall it?

Both Lenovo Miix 2 and IdeaTab Miix10 are using pure UEFI (32-bit) instead of traditional. To reset the password you have to use a Windows password recovery tool that supports UEFI booting. PCUnlocker Enterprise is the right one that you're looking for. In this tutorial I'll show you how to use it to reset forgotten Windows 8 password on Lenovo Miix tablet.

How to Reset Forgotten Windows 8 Password on Lenovo Miix Tablet?

Use an alternate PC to download the bootable ISO image of PCUnlocker Enterprise and extract it. Burn the pcunlocker.iso file to your USB flash drive with the freeware ISO2Disc. Remember that you choose the GPT partition style. This will create a PCUnlocker Live USB drive with UEFI bootloader.

Plug the USB drive into your Lenovo Miix tablet. When the tablet is off, press and hold the volume up button and then press the Power button, until the Novo Button Menu appears on the screen. Choose the Boot Menu option, and then select your USB flash drive and press Enter.

Once it boots to the PCUnlocker program, select your Windows account and click on Reset Password button to remove your forgotten password. If you use a Microsoft account as your tablet login, there should be a local account that is linked to your Microsoft account. Choose that local account to proceed and this will also unlock your Microsoft account password locally.

Restart your tablet and remove the USB drive. You can then log back into your Lenovo Miix Windows 8 tablet without a password! This method works with all Windows 8 tablets of Lenovo Miix series.

How to Reset Windows 8 Tablet to Factory Settings

If your Windows 8 tablet has been infected by a virus or has become slow to the point of being unusable, resetting the tablet to factory settings may be the best and quickest solution. Luckily, Windows 8 has built-in tool to reset your tablet to its original state. In this article I'll show you 2 options to reset Windows 8 tablet to factory settings.

WARNING: All your documents, pictures, settings, accounts and any other data on your Windows 8 tablet will be deleted while performing factory reset.

Method 1: Reset from within Windows:

1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings. If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings.
2. Tap or click Change PC settings.
3. Tap or click Update and recovery, and then tap or click Recovery.
4. Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows, tap or click Get started.

Method 2: Reset from Windows 8 Login Screen
If you've lost your password, you may not have to reset your tablet. See unlock Windows 8 password before performing these reset steps:

1. From the Windows sign-in screen, tap or click the Power icon in the lower right corner of the sign-in screen.
2. Press and hold the Shift key. (If you're using the on-screen keyboard, tap or click the Shift key.)
3. While the Shift key is still pressed, tap or click Restart. After the tablet restarts, the Choose an option screen will display.
4. Tap or click Troubleshoot.
5. Tap or click Reset your PC.

If you don't have a keyboard connected to Windows 8 tablet, you'll need to use the on-screen keyboard to do these reset steps. From the Windows 8 sign-in screen, tap or click the Ease of access icon in the lower-left corner of the screen, and then tap or click On-Screen Keyboard.

How to Unlock Lenovo IdeaPad If Forgot Windows 8 Password

Forgot Windows 8 login password for your Lenovo IdeaPad laptop? In this tutorial I'll walk you through the steps to unlock Lenovo IdeaPad if you forgot Windows 8 password.

How to Unlock Lenovo IdeaPad If Forgot Windows 8 Password?

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.
   
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.
   
5. Next, on the Boot tab, change the Boot Mode from UEFI to Legacy Support.
   
   
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 unlocked Lenovo IdeaPad, and you can log back into Windows 8 without a password! Enjoy it!

Reset Lost SA Password on SQL Server 2012 / 2014

Lost or forgot SA password on MS SQL Server 2012 or 2014 instance? Looking for a way to recover or reset the password? With SQL Server Password Changer you can easily reset lost SA password on all versions of  SQL Server instance, including SQL Server 2014 and 2012.

How to Reset Lost SA Password on SQL Server 2012 / 2014?

Before getting started, you need to stop your SQL Server instance so we can then reset your lost SA password offline, by following these steps:

1. Click here to download and install SQL Server Password Changer on your local computer.
2. Start the program and click the Open File button. Select the master database file (master.mdf) for your SQL Server instance. Typically it is located in the folder:
   C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA
3. The program will automatically decrypt the master database file and display all user accounts in your SQL Server database.
4. Select a user account whose password you want to change, click the Change Password button. Type a new password and click OK.
5. The old password will be replaced with your new password. Now start your SQL Server instance and you can then connect to your SQL Server database with your new password.

Besides resetting SQL Server 2012 / 2014 password, you can also use SQL Server Password Changer to change forgotten SA password on SQL Server 2008, 2005 and 2000.

Unlock Forgotten Windows 8 Local / Microsoft Account, PIN and Picture Password

Forgot your Windows 8 user password and can't log in with any sign-in option? Is there any Windows 8 password recovery software? Don't panic. This article will explain how to unlock forgotten Windows 8 local account, Microsoft account, PIN and Picture Password with ease.

1. Local Account

Local account password is stored in the SAM file using NT/LM hash. SAM is part of the Windows registry that is located in c:\windows\system32\config\. The SAM file is locked and cannot be accessed when the operating system is loaded. However, it is fully accessible if the computer is booted from a live recovery disk such as PCUnlocker.

PCUnlocker is a WinPE-based utility with simple graphical user interface. The program works offline and it creates its own boot environment. Once you boot into PCUnlocker Live CD, you can unlock / reset lost password of any user account on Windows 8.1 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP.

2. Microsoft Account

In Windows 8 / 8.1, you can link a local account to your Microsoft account or create a brand new Microsoft account. After forgetting the Microsoft account password, you can reset it online via the Microsoft Account Password Reset page. But what to do if your Microsoft account is compromised or hacked?
Just like the domain logons, Windows caches the Microsoft account password locally which makes it possible to login without Internet connection. If you're locked out of Windows 8, you can also reset the cached Microsoft account password with PCUnlocker, which allows you to log on to Windows 8 with a new password.

 

3. Picture Password and PIN

 

During Windows 8 installation, we must first create a local account or Microsoft account and then optionally set up a PIN or Picture Password. So if you've forgotten your PIN code or Picture Password, click Switch to password button on the picture logon screen and you can then use a local / Microsoft account to login.

Picture Password and PIN logon seem to be more secure than a local account. However, these two types of passwords are stored using reversible encryption, and you can decrypt and recover Windows 8 Picture Password and PIN easily as long as you can log into Windows with admin rights.

Unlock Windows 7 ASUS Laptop If Forgot the Admin Password?

Forgot the admin password on your Windows 7 Asus laptop and don't have a reset disk? If you've lost your Windows 7 password, you won't be able to log in. Here's how to unlock Windows 7 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.
   
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. However, if you need to bypass the password on a Windows 8 Asus PC 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.
   
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 administrator account with a blank password.

Reset Forgotten Windows 8 Password without Disk

Forgot your Windows 8 administrator password and don't have a CD or USB drive at hand? In this tutorial we'll show you a simple way to reset Windows 8 password without disk. Let's proceed.

Of course, if you do have a PCUnlocker Live CD, you can reset your password the easy way with a few mouse clicks. The following trick works with local account only. If you're using a Microsoft Account to login to your computer, you can also use PCUnlocker to reset lost Microsoft Account password.

How to Reset Forgotten Windows 8 Password without Disk?

1. Turn on your computer. While the computer is coming up and you can see it saying "Starting Windows". Hold down the Power button for at least 5 seconds to force power off your computer.
2. When a sudden power loss is detected, the next time you turn on your computer and it will ask you if you want to launch startup repair or start normally. Choose the Launch Startup Repair (recommended) menu.
3. Startup Repair will boot up and take a little while. When it asks you if you want to restore your computer to an earlier point, click Cancel.
4. The Startup Repair Tool begins analyzing startup log files for clues as to the source of the problem and then launches a series of diagnostic tests to determine the cause of the startup failure. After a long time, you will get a dialog saying that Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically! Click on View problem details.
5. Now scroll down to the end of the Detail Report. Click on the last link to read Microsoft's offline privacy statement.
6. Notepad will come up with the privacy statement in it. Click on the File menu and then Open.
7. In the File Open dialog box, change the Files of type option to All Files. Browse to the Sticky Keys application – C:\windows\system32\sethc.exe. Rename this file as a backup file: I named it "sethc-copy".
8. Now find the cmd.exe file in the same folder. This is your Command Prompt. rename it to sethc.exe. Then close out of all the dialog boxes and Finish, so that the computer restarts.
9. Once you get to the Windows login screen, hit the Shift key 5 times and it will open the Command Prompt window instead of the Sticky Keys application.
10. Now to reset the password – just type the following command, replacing the username and password with the combination you want:
    reset user top-password.com 123456
11. Close the Command Prompt and you should be able to log on to Windows with your new password.

That's it! You've successfully reset Windows 8 password without a CD or USB drive.

Offline Enable A Disabled Local Administrator Account on Windows

Did you mistakenly disable the local administrator account whiles logged in? If you are locked out of your computer, for example you forgot your password and can't log in using any user account,  you need to enable the administrator account offline. With PCUnlocker Live CD you can enable a disable local administrator account in Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP. This tool can also reset Windows administrator password if you have forgotten it.

How to Enable A Disabled Local Administrator Account Offline in Windows?

All you need is to make a Live CD using another computer that you have full access to, then boot your locked machine from the CD and it allows you to enable a disabled Windows administrator account easily! Here are step-by-step instructions:

Step 1: Create A PCUnlocker Live CD/USB Drive

1. Start the ISO2Disc program. Click the Browse button to locate your ISO image file, then click the Start Burn button to make a PCUnlocker Live CD or USB drive.
   
2. Click here to download and save the PCUnlocker self-extracting Zip file to a folder on your hard drive, then extract the ISO image file: pcunlocker.iso from it.
3. Insert a blank CD or USB flash drive into your computer. Download and install the freeware ISO2Disc.

Step 2: Boot Your Locked PC from CD/USB Drive

1. Use the arrow keys to select the BOOT tab, then change the Boot Device Priority: Set 1st Boot Device to CDROM if you just created a bootable CD or DVD, or set 1st Boot Device to Removable Device if a bootable USB flash drive was created.
2. Connect the burned CD or USB drive to your locked computer. When it is powered on, check the boot-screen for setup key (i.e. DELETE key, F8 key, F2 key) to enter BIOS Setup Utility.
3. Press F10 to save your changes. Now your computer will restart and then boot from PCUnlocker Live CD/USB drive. If you still can't get your computer to boot from the CD/USB drive, please refer to this boot up troubleshooting guide.

Step 3: Enable A Disabled Local Administrator Account

1. After the computer boots up from the CD or USB drive, it will start the PCUnlocker program which displays a list of local accounts that are stored in Windows SAM registry hive. Select the disabled local administrator account and click on Reset Password button.
2. Click Yes to confirm your operation. The program will enable the local administrator account and also remove its password if it is protected with a password.
3. Click Restart to reboot the computer and remove the CD or USB drive. You can then log into Windows local administrator account without a password.

Forgot Administrator Password on Windows Small Business Server (SBS)

Forgot Windows Small Business Server password? If you can't log on with other administrator-level account, you're unable to change or reset the password. So if you're confronted with this situation where you essentially have no control over your server. What do you do at this point?



In this tutorial we'll show you how to reset Windows SBS 2011 / 2008 / 2003 password when you lost or forgot the administrator password. Because we could not log into SBS as admin, so it's impossible to install any software on your computer to hack into the Security Account Manager (SAM). Fortunately, with the PCUnlocker boot CD you can circumvent Windows security restrictions and reset SBS administrator password directly.

How to Reset Forgotten Administrator Password on Windows Small Business Server (SBS)?

Before you can reset SBS password, you need to make a PCUnlocker boot CD using another computer with internet connection. Next boot Windows Small Business Server from the CD and it enables you to reset a lost local admin / domain admin password easily. Here are detailed instructions:

1. Download the PCUnlocker program from http://www.top-password.com. The download file is a zipped ISO image file. Double-click the zip file and the system will display all the contents in a new window. Just drag the pcunlocker.iso file from that window to your desktop or another location you can find easily.
2. Burn the ISO image to an empty CD (or USB flash drive) using the freeware ISO2Disc, BurnCDCC or ImgBurn program.
3. Connect the CD you've burned to your locked computer that you want to reset Windows SBS password on. Turn on the computer and change the boot order in BIOS. Make sure the CD/DVD drive is the first boot device.
4. After booting from the CD, you'll see the WinPE operating system start. Just about half a minute later, you'll see the PCUnlocker program. It displays all your Windows user accounts. If you need to reset domain user password, please click on the "Reset Active Directory Password" option.
5. Choose a user account and click on "Reset Password" button. The program will unlock / reset your forgotten user password immediately.
6. Click on Restart. Take out the CD from the computer. Now you can log back into your Windows Small Business Server (SBS) using a blank/empty password.

Recover Internet Explorer 11 Stored Password from Windows Vault

How to recover the stored passwords from Internet Explorer 11? In versions 7, 8 and 9 of Internet Explorer, passwords are protected using DPAPI and the login URL as entropy before being saved in the registry. Since Internet Explorer 10, it no longer stores encrypted passwords in the registry, and they're stored in the Windows Vault, which is the default storage vault for the credential manager information.



In this article we'll show you how to recover Internet Explorer 11 stored passwords from Windows Vault. With the Internet Explorer Password Recovery program you can retrieve all autocomplete passwords that are stored in the Credential Manager. This can be useful if a user forgot the password before reinstalling Windows.

How to Recover Internet Explorer 11 Stored Passwords?

1. Download and install the Internet Explorer Password Recovery program on your computer.
2. After you've installed it, start the program.
3. Click on the Start Recovery button, and then select the Recover IE Password option from the drop-down menu.
4. The program will decrypt your website passwords saved in Windows Vault, and display the login information (including website URL, username and password) immediately.

Besides recovering Internet Explorer 10/11 passwords, Internet Explorer Password Recovery program can also extract the saved passwords from Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9.

Lost Admin Rights on Windows 8/7/Vista/XP User Account

Lost admin rights / privileges on the only user account on your computer? If you can't access the administrator account, or your administrator account was demoted to a guest or limited account, you will be restricted from performing any administrative tasks.

In this tutorial we'll explain how to regain your PC's administrator rights with PCUnlocker. PCUnlocker is a bootable utility that could be used to promote a limited / standard user account to administrator, or unlock / reset your forgotten administrator password on Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP.

 

Part 1: Create A PCUnlocker Live CD/USB Drive

1. Click here to download and save the PCUnlocker self-extracting Zip file to a folder on your hard drive, then extract the ISO image file: pcunlocker.iso from it.
2. Insert a blank CD or USB flash drive into your computer. Download and install the freeware ISO2Disc.
3. Start the ISO2Disc program. Click the Browse button to locate your ISO image file, then click the Start Burn button to burn the ISO image to your CD or USB flash drive.
   

Part 2: Boot Your Locked PC from CD/USB Drive

1. Connect the burned CD or USB drive to the computer that you're trying to gain admin rights on. When it is powered on, check the boot-screen for setup key (i.e. DELETE key, F8 key, F2 key) to enter BIOS Setup Utility.
2. Use the arrow keys to select the BOOT tab, then change the Boot Device Priority: Set 1st Boot Device to CDROM if you just created a bootable CD or DVD, or set 1st Boot Device to Removable Device if a bootable USB flash drive was created.
   
3. Press F10 to save your changes. Now your computer will restart and then boot from PCUnlocker Live CD/USB drive. If you still can't get your computer to boot from the CD/USB drive, please refer to this boot up troubleshooting guide.

Part 3: Gain Admin Rights on Windows Account

1. After the computer boots up from the CD or USB drive, it will start the PCUnlocker program which shows you a list of local accounts that are stored in Windows SAM registry hive. Select your user account and click on Reset Password button.
   
   
2. Click Yes to confirm your operation. The program will remove your user password, promote your account to an administrator if it's a standard or limited account, and enable / unlock it when necessary.
3. Click Restart to reboot the computer and remove the CD or USB drive. You can then log into your administrator-level user account without a password.

It's so easy to get admin rights back on your Windows account and regain full control of your computer. PCUnlocker has definitely saved me from so many headaches and I hope this will also help you in case you lost admin rights on Windows 8, 7, Vista or XP.