Forgotten login details

Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


--

Phil, London

In message , Philip Herlihy
writes
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


I'm confused because here one of my complaints is that the Welcome
screen fires up with the username (full Microsoft account address)
displayed.
It then wants the password.

I don't want my email address visible to the public.

--
Bill

"Philip Herlihy" escreveu na mensagem
.. .

Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


--

Phil, London

----------------

If you forget the administrator password and don't have a password reset
disk or another administrator account, you won't be able to reset the
password. If there are no other user accounts on the computer, you won't be
able to log on to Windows and will need to re-install Windows.

On Tue, 07 Oct 2014 10:25:08 -0400, Wolf K wrote:

On 2014-10-07 9:53 AM, Bill wrote:
In message , Philip Herlihy
writes
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


I'm confused because here one of my complaints is that the Welcome
screen fires up with the username (full Microsoft account address)
displayed.
It then wants the password.

I don't want my email address visible to the public.

So why use the one that's displayed? There's no law against having more
than one e-mail address. I have four.

Mine doesn't display any email address or user information during startup.
It simply displays a Password dialog, similar to previous Windows versions.
Not sure if I did anything to make it behave this way. Seems like it was the
default.

In article , says...

"Philip Herlihy" escreveu na mensagem
.. .

Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?

Thanks Bill, Wolf K, and Char Jackson for these illuminating comments.
It dawned on me that when I log on to my W8 machine (not the one in
everyday use yet, hence the 'latency' in thinking) that the various
email addresses are displayed on the login screen, so what's this chap's
problem? (haven't see the machine yet). But Char J says he only gets a
password dialogue. Maybe that's because there's only one account
configured (which is the situation my friend is in).

I have identified a utility called PCUnlocker:
http://www.top-password.com/reset-windows-password.html
.... which is used to create a bootable CD, which in turns displays the
accounts on the machine. That should do the trick!

With XP you used to be able to boot into safe mode, and the
Administrator account which became unhidden at that point usually didn't
have a password, which has saved a certain amount of bacon over the
years.

--

Phil, London

Philip Herlihy wrote on 10/7/2014 7:28 AM:
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


I have looked high and low but still haven't found the answer but a
friend of mine had Vista and lost all of his passwords except his
daughters non-admin login. (Some good that does).
But I found a utility that would wipe all or selected passwords out. It
was basically a linux boot disk and it booted right to the utility. It
did a great job, easy to use and then he could log in with no password
and go into control panel - users and set new passwords.

You might want to google in that direction.

If I find it, I WILL post the info. Not saying it will work on Windows
7+ or not but it did work on Vista. And you might search with Vista in
mind too. Can't harm!

On 2014-10-07, Philip Herlihy wrote:
In article , says...

"Philip Herlihy" escreveu na mensagem
.. .

Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?

Thanks Bill, Wolf K, and Char Jackson for these illuminating comments.
It dawned on me that when I log on to my W8 machine (not the one in
everyday use yet, hence the 'latency' in thinking) that the various
email addresses are displayed on the login screen, so what's this chap's
problem? (haven't see the machine yet). But Char J says he only gets a
password dialogue. Maybe that's because there's only one account
configured (which is the situation my friend is in).

I have identified a utility called PCUnlocker:
http://www.top-password.com/reset-windows-password.html
... which is used to create a bootable CD, which in turns displays the
accounts on the machine. That should do the trick!

With XP you used to be able to boot into safe mode, and the
Administrator account which became unhidden at that point usually didn't
have a password, which has saved a certain amount of bacon over the
years.


You can change/switch to a LOCAL user account at the administrator's
page for users. Just login and........

I went to the users' account & did a "switch"; had to use a different
name than the one used for the install which is associated with the
email-id (did some "muttering"). Anyway, used another user name
& password at the prompt. So now back using 8.1.1 as a local user
with a slightly different user name than what I wanted.

On 07/10/2014 12:28, Philip Herlihy wrote:
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?



We had an idiot here (about two weeks ago) by the name of "Joe User" who
said Windows 8 is not secure because he was able to get into it with a
hidden Administrator login. Now this is the time to prove if he was
really an idiot as most people here assumed or was he talking some
something credible.

You just have to wait for him to post a solution for you.

There are no known solutions for your predicament, I am afraid to say.
You can use cracks but this is not something I would recommend you to do.

Philip Herlihy wrote:
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?



They confirm here, that the "Ease Of Access" hack still
works on Windows 8. I haven't tested it or anything.

http://www.geek.com/news/windows-8-p...tware-1532242/

It basically requires replacing a certain executable, with
a copy of cmd.exe. You do that using some other OS.

Then, the next time you boot the Win8 where you don't know
the password, you use the Ease Of Access feature during
the password prompt phase. And that opens a command
prompt window instead. The name of the Ease Of Access
may differ from OS version to OS version, and that
article says the EOA program is named "utilman.exe".

"replace... utilman.exe with ... copy of cmd.exe"
"trusty old 'net' command will wipe Windows 8 password"

Or, they mention

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

This article is an example of using 'net'

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/149427

net user user_name new_password

HTH,
Paul

On 10/07/2014 10:25 AM, Wolf K wrote:
On 2014-10-07 9:53 AM, Bill wrote:
In message , Philip Herlihy
writes
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


I'm confused because here one of my complaints is that the Welcome
screen fires up with the username (full Microsoft account address)
displayed.
It then wants the password.

I don't want my email address visible to the public.

So why use the one that's displayed? There's no law against having more
than one e-mail address. I have four.

Have a good day,


Not good.
Doesn't with 8.1. At least not on our machine.

--
Caver1

On 10/07/2014 11:10 AM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Tue, 07 Oct 2014 10:25:08 -0400, Wolf K wrote:

On 2014-10-07 9:53 AM, Bill wrote:
In message , Philip Herlihy
writes
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


I'm confused because here one of my complaints is that the Welcome
screen fires up with the username (full Microsoft account address)
displayed.
It then wants the password.

I don't want my email address visible to the public.

So why use the one that's displayed? There's no law against having more
than one e-mail address. I have four.

Mine doesn't display any email address or user information during startup.
It simply displays a Password dialog, similar to previous Windows versions.
Not sure if I did anything to make it behave this way. Seems like it was the
default.


I would restore it if that behaviour just started. If it's always done
that a reset to factory should do it if not.

--
Caver1

Big Al wrote on 10/7/2014 11:47 AM:
Philip Herlihy wrote on 10/7/2014 7:28 AM:
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


I have looked high and low but still haven't found the answer but a
friend of mine had Vista and lost all of his passwords except his
daughters non-admin login. (Some good that does).
But I found a utility that would wipe all or selected passwords out. It
was basically a linux boot disk and it booted right to the utility. It
did a great job, easy to use and then he could log in with no password
and go into control panel - users and set new passwords.

You might want to google in that direction.

If I find it, I WILL post the info. Not saying it will work on Windows
7+ or not but it did work on Vista. And you might search with Vista in
mind too. Can't harm!


http://www.howtogeek.com/96805/how-t...an-install-cd/
This worked for me.
But I take no responsibility for lost data, in other words, try at your
own risk.

Big Al wrote on 10/7/2014 11:47 AM:
Philip Herlihy wrote on 10/7/2014 7:28 AM:
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


I have looked high and low but still haven't found the answer but a
friend of mine had Vista and lost all of his passwords except his
daughters non-admin login. (Some good that does).
But I found a utility that would wipe all or selected passwords out. It
was basically a linux boot disk and it booted right to the utility. It
did a great job, easy to use and then he could log in with no password
and go into control panel - users and set new passwords.

You might want to google in that direction.

If I find it, I WILL post the info. Not saying it will work on Windows
7+ or not but it did work on Vista. And you might search with Vista in
mind too. Can't harm!

Also found this:
http://www.howtogeek.com/96630/how-t...pai gn=011111

On Tue, 07 Oct 2014 15:36:20 -0400, Caver1 wrote:

On 10/07/2014 11:10 AM, Char Jackson wrote:

Mine doesn't display any email address or user information during startup.
It simply displays a Password dialog, similar to previous Windows versions.
Not sure if I did anything to make it behave this way. Seems like it was the
default.


I would restore it if that behaviour just started. If it's always done
that a reset to factory should do it if not.

Why would I want to change from a desired behavior to an undesired behavior?

Philip Herlihy wrote:
Someone's just asked for my help getting into their new W8 laptop.
Apparently it was set up with a new Microsoft account as the only user
account, and he's lost the bit of paper with that (new!) email address
on it, although he can remember the password. I've solved similar
problems on earlier versions of Windows, but not Windows 8 before.
Apparently if necessary the machine can be restored as there's no user
data on it yet. Any pointers?


Hi Phillip,
Quite a few responses and some not apparently using Win8x with a MSFT
account logon or multiple logon accounts (one MSFT and one Local)

On Win8x..
The Welcome screen will show the configured account picture and the
logon name with a clickable icon for all accounts.

Once the icon is clicked:
- A Microsoft account will show the MSFT account email address **and**
the respective logon name and a dialog box to enter the password
- A local account will only show the logon name (no email address or
MSFT account is associated) and a dialog box to enter the password


Thus your friend should only have to enter the password for the MSFT
account after selecting that same MSFT account on the Welcome screen.

Are you absolutely certain the friend did not forget the password (i.e.
not the MSFT account email address)????

If the friend forgot the password for the MSFT account then they would
have to use another pc or another account to access the web UI to reset
the password. Once reset in the web UI, the Win8x MSFT account sign on
will require the newly reset password (when the pc is connected to
internet - cable or wifi).


--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps