Resetting Windows 8 password

Question

How can we remove or reset Windows passwords in Windows 8, without logging in to windows first?

In Windows 7, I used Hirens but it is not working for Windows 8.

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I am talking about local user account password not Microsoft online accounts like @hotmail.com or domain accounts those can be reset.

The scenario is a computer running Windows 8 with a local only user and the client forgot the password to the only active account. Is there a way to remove or reset that password?

Solution

My Windows XP/7 method still works in Windows 8:

http://blog.williamhilsum.com/2011/10/how-to-reset-windows-password-without.html

Basically to sum up the blog post...

1. Boot in to any Windows CD able to access the hard drive.

2. Take a backup of any accessibility tool such as on screen keyboard.

3. Copy CMD.exe to the name of the tool above

4. Restart and run the tool at login.. You will have launched a command prompt under the System user.

5. run net user <user> <password> and the password will be changed

6. re run steps 1-3 to delete the program and restore the real tool.

Done!

Comments

[Ramhound]

It seems you will have to wait for a tool like Hirens to be updated. of course its my understanding its already been updated. The process should be exactly the same. Are we talking about Windows 8 Professional or Windows 8

[Jonathan]

windows 8 pro why?

[Ramhound]

It can make a difference depending on certain factors.

[Java Girl]

Try ntoffline. A crafty little utility you can use to reset any account password on the system as well as enable the local admin account

[WikiWitz]

what William is actually saying is the accessibility tool that popups when you click that that icon on the bottom left of the login screen is called "utilman.exe". By renaming cmd.exe to "utilman.exe", when that icon is clicked, command prompt will appear instead and from there you can do 'net user someone *'. The most important part is that the Windows 8 filesystem be read. A windows installer will likely recognize the filesystem. For best results use Windows 8 installer. Stop looking for other 3rd party tools.