Windows 8 Reset Windows passwords in minutes without extra hardware or software

HiTecK

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The trick has been around for years and involves replacing the login screen's Ease of Access Center software with a command prompt. To pull it off, all you need is a bootable System Recovery media or a bootable Windows 8 installation media (Jamal Naji offers instructions on both approaches, though little changes).
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Once you've loaded into the System Recovery environment, you need to access the command prompt to get started. From there, you need to identify your Windows volume with DiskPart, navigate to the WindowsSystem32 directory, then delete utiliman.exe and rename cmd.exe as that file (backup both apps first).

After that's done, you can reboot and when you get to the Windows login screen, the Ease of Access Center icon should launch a command prompt. Now you can enter net user to get a list of Windows accounts, then net user USERNAME * to initiate a reset, which requires you to enter and confirm the new password.

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Naji notes that you'll probably want to reverse the changes you've made after the password is reset, which basically involves undoing the steps in paragraph three so utiliman.exe is restored. He offers a detailed breakdown of the entire procedure for Windows 8 if you need it, as well as specific instructions for Windows 7.

Credits:
Code:
http://www.techspot.com/news/51092-reset-windows-passwords-in-minutes-without-extra-hardware-or-software.html
 
have you actually tried that because i have and it doesnt work, all the first bit does allowing you to open cmd via ease of access right up until you try to change password and then it throws errors at you stating that you dont have the sufficient privileges to do that action thus back to square one. but there is a work around in cmd

type the following to add a new account

net user /add <username> - without the brackets pick a username
net user <username> /password <password> - choose a password, ignore the ambiguous thing
net user - shows list of users, confirm your new account is there

now you have made a new user with your user name and choice of password, only thing is its a standard user with limited access so what you want to do now is make that user admin. so type following

net localgroup administrators <username> /add - you now have a new admin account, reboot pc and log in with your new details.


took me hours to figure this out...
 
Not like the good old days before UEFI when you could use ORPHCRACK to brute force a password from a live CD. Those were the days...
 
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