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I installed Windows 8 on my mother's notebook, she typed a new password for her and she lost it, she can't remember what she typed and no notes about it were made(my fault), now her Windows 8 installation just keep locked on logon/password screen.

How can I change the Windows 8 password for her account, reset the password or recovery the password without needing to reinstall entire Windows 8?

Could I just create another new account on the same computer from the safe mode or something like this?

PS: No live account was related to her Windows 8 account as far no account was registered on Windows 8 Store.

Ramhound
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Diogo
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  • Unless you created a recovery password disk then your at the mercy of third-party solutions. You should be able to log into the built-in Administrator account and change the password to the local account that way. You at the very least will have more options. Sadly I forget if the Administrator account is enabled or disabled by default. The answer from week in this question seems like the best solution: http://superuser.com/questions/515023/resetting-windows-8-password?rq=1 – Ramhound Dec 07 '12 at 18:05
  • You could log into the computer with your windows live account I think. Not sure though. This is an awesome tool http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/ but I've only tested it upto windows 7. Take a crack at it. All the best. – nikhil Dec 07 '12 at 18:13
  • @nikhil - The author clearly indicates that a Microsoft Account was NOT setup. Furthermore that would only allow the user to log into their Microsoft Account account not the local account. I have not fully tested if the profiles are seperate or not been meaning to do that. – Ramhound Dec 07 '12 at 18:25
  • Ok I said I wasn't sure and I stand corrected. Thanks, he/she can try the other solution. – nikhil Dec 07 '12 at 18:27
  • I followed the instructions in this video. It is simplier and cleaner ;-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2-NK3EyigU – user1974470 Jan 21 '13 at 09:13

3 Answers3

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Checkout Hirens bootdisk. http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

I've made several custom bootdisks for various troubleshooting situations. There are a variety of password reset utilities you can use along with a plethora of other useful utilities.

joel
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Boot to a live cd, navigate to c:\windows\system32\, rename osk.exe to osk1.exe, rename cmd.exe to osk.exe, boot to windows and use utility manager menu in the lower left to launch on screen keyboard, this actually gives you a command prompt. Type compmgmt.msc at the prompt and then in users and groups make any changes you wish. Do not forget to rename the files back

Kevin
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-1

Windows 8 cannot be booted in safe mode in this scenario unless you had legacy boot enabled.

I.e. run bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy in elevated command prompt. What can be tried is resetting the password online if in case of a Microsoft account; else, booting into recovery environment and then replacing osk.exe with cmd.exe can be helpful after booting from Windows 8 disc.

Further details about resetting the password for Windows 8 can be found at Reset Windows 8 password.

Renan
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TweakFix
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  • Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, [it would be preferable](http://meta.stackexchange.com/q/8259) to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. – Canadian Luke Dec 07 '12 at 20:24
  • You are right, I'm sorry. – TweakFix Dec 07 '12 at 20:29