Reset/Change/"Hack" password (windows10)

[Fredrikmikael]

I just wanted to make this post in response to LinusTechTips newest video Hack any Windows PC in 2 minutes.

 

I used to work as IT/Tech support in a consumer electronics retail store, and every so often somebody manages to add a password to the account or attach it to their Microsoft live account, after having to perform several formats i stumbled upon a great way to simply change the password, or create a new admin account.

The reason i'm making this post is to help people trying to recover their account or user files without having to go out and buy one of those "keys" featured in the video.

works on every version of windows all the way back to windows NT

 

METHOD

1. Insert a windows 10 installation media (USB or DVD) and change the boot order in the BIOS. Confirm that UEFI and Secure boot are disabled.

2. After booting to the initial screen of the windows 10 installation menu press SHIFT+F10.

3. Now run these commands to replace utilman.exe(the icon on the lower left corner of the login screen) with cmd.exe. Before the replacement, make a copy of utilman.exe so you can restore it later.

move c:\windows\system32\utilman.eze c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe

4. Remove the installation media and reboot the machine, an easy way to do this would be typing this in the cmd.

wpeutil reboot

5. When you are at the login screen, click the Utility Manager icon at the bottom left corner.

6. CMD should now have launched and you can type the following commands to create a new user account and add it to Windows 10 local administrators group. If the CMD did not launch, you should go trough step 1-5 again.

net user <username> /add
net localgroup administrators<username> /add

7. Click the Windows screen to make the sign-in page appear again. New created account would show up with other user accounts, and you can sign in Windows 10 with it, without password.

 

You can also reset the windows 10 local user password with this command

net user <username><password>

 

 

It is not possible to change the password of a microsoft live account, but you can create a new admin user and retrieve the user files on the microsoft account, and disable the user account so it won't be visable at the login screen.

 

 

This is pretty much a blatant copy of the OC.

SOURCE:

http://www.isunshare.com/windows-password/how-to-reset-windows-10-forgotten-password.html

[DisconnectedYT]

Or you could just shuv the USB in and let it do its thing....

[Fredrikmikael]

Just now, DisconnectedYT said:

Or you could just shuv the USB in and let it do its thing....

Ofcourse, the USB is a great tool, but this serves as a free alternative without having to wait for shipping.

[jello77]

Linus did mention that you didn't need the key to do the same thing. He was just showcasing the key and wasn't going to go into detail of other methods.

 

Good post though Fredrikmikael. I'm sure this will com in hand for some.

[Curious Pineapple]

I thought they would have learned after the Windows 2000 hack, replace logon.scr with cmd.exe. You got a command prompt with administrator privileges.

[AndyM]

I think that trick is originated from the sticky keys backdoor:

http://www.top-password.com/blog/reset-windows-10-password-with-sticky-keys/

https://digitfreak.com/security/computer/654-hacking-administrator-password-in-windows-the-sticky-key-method

 

The sticky keys backdoor works since Windows XP.

[Tsuki]

On 10/6/2016 at 5:05 PM, Fredrikmikael said:

**ONLY WORKS ON WINDOWS 10**
 

This has worked on every version of windows all the way back to windows NT.

[Fredrikmikael]

On 10/27/2016 at 2:34 AM, Tsuki said:

This has worked on every version of windows all the way back to windows NT.

Fixed, thanks for the info.