Help please, locked out of laptop...[Windows 8]

[Marvzl1357]

Hullo,

[Windows 8]

One of my asshat "friends" decided that it would be funny to spam my lockscreen with random pins in an attempt to unlock my laptop.

So now it's forcing me to use my 'password' to unlock my laptop. Funnily though, I don't remember ever setting up a password, only ever a pin, and if I did set up a password, it would be one of my generic passwords that I use for everything. Apparently it's not because I'm still not able to access my laptop and am currently using one of the school computers. 

So I suppose there are two ways of fixing this problem, one is to get the ability to type in my pin again, and another would be to completely bypass the login screen. 

I'm using it locally, so no windows live etc. ways to log in, I should be the administrator as well.

I'm also searching online to find ways to get access, but if you could help me here, I would be extremely grateful. 

[DoubleY]

First things first, a "friend" wouldn't do that. 

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/reset-password-windows-8.htm

 

 

Here.

 

This has worked since Windows Vista.

 

If you cant get into a command prompt through the advanced launch thing, then boot a Linux live CD and mount your windows disks and copy the file through that.

 

 

Hullo,

[Windows 8]

One of my asshat "friends" decided that it would be funny to spam my lockscreen with random pins in an attempt to unlock my laptop.

So now it's forcing me to use my 'password' to unlock my laptop. Funnily though, I don't remember ever setting up a password, only ever a pin, and if I did set up a password, it would be one of my generic passwords that I use for everything. Apparently it's not because I'm still not able to access my laptop and am currently using one of the school computers. 

So I suppose there are two ways of fixing this problem, one is to get the ability to type in my pin again, and another would be to completely bypass the login screen. 

I'm using it locally, so no windows live etc. ways to log in, I should be the administrator as well.

I'm also searching online to find ways to get access, but if you could help me here, I would be extremely grateful. 

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

I wouldn't waste the energy and to a wipe and reinstall. Unless you have some stuff you really can't live without.

It can be recovered in about 5 minutes using the guide I linked above.

[willielikesmonkeys]

Reboot? That should reset the login attempts.

[DoubleY]

EDIT: @TheDoubleYGamer as a prank I undercocked my friends 3570k to 1.0Ghz on his birthday. Took him 2 days to notice it. Temps were great though.

See, that's funny. What the OP's friend did wasn't. 

[Marvzl1357]

Reboot? That should reset the login attempts.

Yeah, unfortunately that isn't working

 

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/reset-password-windows-8.htm

 

I've been trying this, but many of the ways seem to need a recovery disc (don't have it here, stupid me)

And the ASO needs me to enter an administrator password before I could get into command prompt. 

Haven't tried the linux thing yet.

 

First things first, a "friend" wouldn't do that. 

Yeah, hence why I said he was an Asshat and "friend" in quotation marks

 

I wouldn't waste the energy and to a wipe and reinstall. Unless you have some stuff you really can't live without.

EDIT: @TheDoubleYGamer as a prank I undercocked my friends 3570k to 1.0Ghz on his birthday. Took him 2 days to notice it. Temps were great though.

Unfortunately I can't just wipe everything.

And that is really the way to troll. One thought I had, if you go into disc manager and shrink a drive right down to exactly how much is being used, but don't format the spare partition. Then he would be running into some serious drive space issues very soon

 

Edit: Do any of you know how to just enable the pin number login again?

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

Yeah, unfortunately that isn't working

 

I've been trying this, but many of the ways seem to need a recovery disc (don't have it here, stupid me)

And the ASO needs me to enter an administrator password before I could get into command prompt. 

Haven't tried the linux thing yet.

 

Yeah, hence why I said he was an Asshat and "friend" in quotation marks

 

Unfortunately I can't just wipe everything.

And that is really the way to troll. One thought I had, if you go into disc manager and shrink a drive right down to exactly how much is being used, but don't format the spare partition. Then he would be running into some serious drive space issues very soon

If you do it correctly then it wont need a recovery disk OR a administrator password. you are following it wrongly. You copy cmd.exe to replace a utility that will launch with the uid of the administrator account. You should be able to recover it if you follow it properly.

[Marvzl1357]

If you do it correctly then it wont need a recovery disk OR a administrator password. you are following it wrongly. You copy cmd.exe to replace a utility that will launch with the uid of the administrator account. You should be able to recover it if you follow it properly.

Yeah, unfortunately It's asking for a password upon logging into command prompt. SO....That might mean I'm not actually an administrator, despite being the only account on the laptop. I'm not to sure if I actually set my account to be an administrator account. 

Believe me, I've read through that whole guide as well as all the links and it needs either a password or a recovery disc

 

Quote from site: "There are six ways to access the ASO menu, but some (Methods 1, 2, & 3) are only available if you can already get in to Windows 8 and/or know your password. I recommend following Method 4, which requires that you have a Windows 8 setup disc or flash drive, or Method 5, which requires that you have, or create, a Windows 8 Recovery Drive. Method 6 works too, if your computer supports it." (Method 6 doesn't work for me)

 

Not trying to be rude, but have you tried this guide yourself?

[qwertywarrior]

use this software ( i use it all the time) there is a detailed guide on youtube

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/gr/offlinentpwed.htm

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

Yeah, unfortunately It's asking for a password upon logging into command prompt. SO....That might mean I'm not actually an administrator, despite being the only account on the laptop. I'm not to sure if I actually set my account to be an administrator account. 

Believe me, I've read through that whole guide as well as all the links and it needs either a password or a recovery disc

 

Quote from site: "There are six ways to access the ASO menu, but some (Methods 1, 2, & 3) are only available if you can already get in to Windows 8 and/or know your password. I recommend following Method 4, which requires that you have a Windows 8 setup disc or flash drive, or Method 5, which requires that you have, or create, a Windows 8 Recovery Drive. Method 6 works too, if your computer supports it." (Method 6 doesn't work for me)

 

Not trying to be rude, but have you tried this guide yourself?

Yes ive used it multiple times on earlier versions of Windows.

 

You can use a Ubuntu live CD to copy the file like I said earlier if you are unable to get to an admin command prompt

[Marvzl1357]

Yes ive used it multiple times on earlier versions of Windows.

 

You can use a Ubuntu live CD to copy the file like I said earlier if you are unable to get to an admin command prompt

I'll give ubuntu a shot later, I'm currently trying with offline nt software, but it's not working. Apparently my external hard drive is "not a removable drive" <use -f to override>. I think I have to use a usb, as my hdd doesn't work with my printer either

Just fyi, this is what I've been getting (just ignore the second line)

I'm not actually sure how to input these extra options

[Marvzl1357]

...help...?

[Toxic Tom]

I would hazard a guess that the password it is looking for is the same as your microsoft account password. Do you know that?

[Marvzl1357]

I would hazard a guess that the password it is looking for is the same as your microsoft account password. Do you know that?

yes i've tried, I use variants of the same password for pretty much everything, so it has to be one of ~4 variants, still doesn't work, offline nt also doesn't work for some reason, I've tried booting in legacy and uefi uefi. Uefi doesn't even recognise the boot usb, and legacy boots it, but stops loading at some point afterwards

[Marvzl1357]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all of you who responded, in the end I used a program called Lazesoft, it worked and I found it on a video tutorial on youtube (fist place I should have looked).

It just nuked whatever passwords I had from orbit, and now all my saved passwords for Chrome, Outlook, Steam etc. have to be retyped but since I actually DID use a fairly standardized password for everything else, I was able to keep everything.

I legitimately considered ripping the hard drive out, copying all my work and games, and re-imaging windows. Of all things, why did it have to be my daily driver that I knew the pin but not the password to...?

Anyway, it was a good learning experience and now I've reset password, written a suitable hint, and will make a login key/usb/drive (someone help me here) so that I'll have something to unlock it if all else fails.

Stupidity pays its price eh?

[Marvzl1357]

On a side note, what is a security usb called, the one you can create through windows and plug in in case you lose your password again somehow?