Windows 7 Removing or resetting windows log password when don't know password

[Paula lee jones]

Hi

I purchased 2 all in one msi pcs from big w late 2014. My sons was used straight away in box no issues. My daughter was too young at the time and I stored at risk of not testing. It was the display. Since setting up had no power cord, company said too bad. I brought one.

However it has a log in already set "bigw" and a password. They don't have any idea what it is and don't know why it was on it and haven't offered any help.

I purchased a product that said it removed, reset login passwords for windows 7 however the bigw account it won't let you access.


I've tried the other threads and I don't understand. I found a video on here but it doesn't say if this free program can be burned to cd and used on a different PC.

Window 7 when starting in safe mode with command prompt still requires the log in password which I don't have. I have receipt of PC if anyone can help but needs verification this is legit.

I have access to my laptop which also runs window 7 if needed. I am going crazy here.. I'm not good with computers so simple instructions please.

The DVD/cd tray seems faulty as it's noises and then doesn't boot from it. However I do have somewhere an external DVD drive if this works without setting up. PC has USB drive also.

I understand there are many topics on this on here I just can't understand what to do. The tutorial on this site with a video to create a disc then burn and boot from it, can you create and burn from another PC then insert into different PC to boot and use??

Please help. My 7 year old daughter needs PC for DVD game for autism to run, so when I finally get up and running I'll then deal with the DVD drive issue or just use the external one I have. The school wants her to practice also. Time sensitive.

Thanks Paula

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear you are having problems with your new PC. Due to policies on this forum (as well as most other Tech forums on the web these days), we cannot assist you with cracking the password on your computer.

You have 3 courses of action to fix the problem:
(1.) Return the computer to the place of purchase (Bigw?), and demand replacement of computer or full refund cash or credit card. I suggest you go right to the Store Manager and bypass all other employees including Customer Service. They are instructed to stonewall you for the most part. I know I worked in retail computer stores for 5 years.

(2.) Call the manufacturer, I believe you said MSI, you can check their website on another working computer and get their phone number from the "About Us" or "Contact" link. Not sure what country you are in, but if you are in UK or Europe they have offices and support phone numbers there. They are not the easiest company to work with, and will direct you back to the retailer. You'll have to be very specific about the name and location of the retailer that you tried to get help from, and make SURE you have the Store Manager's name and number written down when you call MSI. This is very important, as they will not want to help you unless you have convinced them 100% that you've exhausted things with the retailer you bought the laptop from.

(3.) If you get no love from either of these places, you most likely have been ripped off and there's not a whole lot you can do about it. At this point, you can take the laptop to your local repair shop--make certain they are licensed, and that the Tech working on your laptop holds an A+ or equivalent license; if he/she does not-stop and go somewhere else!! Ask to SEE their license, or get their license #. If they refuse to show you their license or won't give you their number, chances are they are unlicensed and you don't want to use them. I can't stress how important this is. A licensed Tech will either have a badge or ID card and will be happy to show it to you, and even explain what their licensing process involved. Usually years of tech schooling, university or both along with a bunch of money to pay for and pass the licensing examinations. This is much like using a General Contractor to add a bathroom onto your house versus using some guy with a truck and an ad on a community bulleting board with a magnetic sign on his truck. Bottom line: No License--Don't use!!

A professionally licensed computer Tech or Engineer can fix this problem for you for a small fee. Usually $25-$50 in the U.S. is typical and that's what I usually charge. Big retail stores like Best Buy, Staples, or Frys Electronics charge $60-$125 or more for this, so I'd suggest finding a local independent shop or Tech to keep the price down. 9/10 times they should be able to get you going.

Should all of the above fail, you can go online and try to find your local Better Business Bureau office and file a report online or over the phone about your bad experience with this laptop. You can also go to ripoffreport.com and file a report there. Even if you can't get satisfaction, you may be able to keep other people from doing business with either of these 2 companies and get raked over the coals like you did. Yelp is another good option. Companies get very upset when you threaten them with negative online views. That affects their Sales and online revenues directly! I suggest you use that approach too with methods #1 & #2 above if the people you are dealing with get snippy with you.

I also welcome your feedback and any questions you have along the way. This should be a 2-3 day fix using any of the methods above, but may take longer if you are outside the U.S. MSI has not a good rep on getting things fixed; and from what we've seen with other customers in Europe and Africa, if they ask you to send the laptop back to them for repair, it's going to be weeks or months plus they will make you pay shipping at least 1 way.

Best of luck,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[Neemobeer]

You can reset the password with Hiren which includes the following NT Offline password reset tool as this Resetting Windows Password

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

@Nemo: In a perfect world, using the NT Offline password reset tool would work 100% of the time. However, if the OP's hard drive or Motherboard has failed, that tool will fail to reset the password in Win7 and most other versions of windows back to XP. Have seen this happen numerous times. Also, that particular tool is not really suited to home computer users, it's more of an expert type tool used by Technicians. (However, glad you mentioned it--other forums won't let us even talk about that tool!). Since the OP hopefully comes back to this thread if the tool fails to work in her case and reads this, they should explore the possibility of having a licensed Tech repair the PC or return to place of purchase for exchange or credit, or send back to the manufacturer (MSI). I cover these options for her in my Post #2. It's worth mentioning.

<<<BBJ>>>

 

[Neemobeer]

I would agree that the tool is for the more technically minded, I have not personally had it fail when you blank out the password versus changing the password and I have also completed the reset on transplanted drives to my drive caddy.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

When I was teaching A+ computer repair classes at the local Junior College a few years back, we performed lots and lots of recovery using that tool in my PC & Network Security Class (used for A+ and NET+ certifications). That's where we *I* encountered this several times, as we had a variety of donated hardware in our lab, both PCs, servers, and laptops. Students brought in their own computers as well. Over the years, I still run into it now and then, but I tend to use some other tools such as OPHcrack which do a comparable job but use a much friendly GUI interface. Gettin' lazy in my old age I think. When OPHcrack fails, I sometimes will try the NTORRT (NT Offline Registry Repair Tool) just for the heak of it. Usually, when one won't work, neither seems to work, and I'm left with doing the usual: SYSTEM RESTORE, FACTORY WINDOWS RESET, FACTORY WINDOWS RECOVERY, or MANUAL REBUILD FROM WINDOWS OS MEDIA (ISO or HoloDisc). My favorite deal is when I go through all the above, and nothing works, and I swap the hard drive out (boot drive) and it works, the Light-bulb finally comes on and I realize the drive is bad, so that's why none of the repairs work. Uggh! I should've tested the drive prior to doing all this--but, at 3am in the morning, clarity of thought is often compromised... This is one of the situations where the NTORRT fails to work. And just for fun, I keep a few bad drives laying around that fail to work with NTORRT or OPHcrack and give them to my computer repair friends and let them have fun...(isn't that just too mischievous?? )

<<<BBJ>>>

 

[holdum333]

Hi I have been a member on several help forums. This is a first time; for me, I have seen this allowed.
To be totally truthful, I was banned on one help forum for mentioning Hirens. Well there may have been other reasons.
Some great information guys. I learned a lot. I'm loving this forum more every day!
Thanks! Mike! Great forum! Some smart geeks are hanging out here. Maybe one day I can say I'm Geeky! I think I forget more then I learn however, but I hang in there.

 

[Neemobeer]

You can grab the password hashes manually too. You would need psexec from sysinternals.

• Open an elevated command prompt
• Type psexec -s -h -i regedit.exe this will open regedit as the SYSTEM user
• Drill down to HKLM\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users
• Look under Names for the target account name and look at the hex value under the Default key this will tell you which key under Users is for that specific user.
• Open the V value and look at offset 0x9C and read 4 bytes little endian (first number is the lower number)
• This offset tells you where the hash is
• Dump the hash and crack

 

[holdum333]

Doesn't work for me!!

 

[Neemobeer]

You need to download psexec

 

[holdum333]

OK ! Thanks @Neemobeer I'll give that a shot! Knowing how to do this may come in handy with my senior citizens.
I guess I missed that part!