Forgot password - help!

Hi, so I changed my password on my laptop so my family can access it easily since I'm getting a new laptop and I can't remember what it is! I'm sure I changed it to something really simple that my family would know but I haven't got a clue what I changed it to. I've tried all different combinations with numbers and letters and different phrases but no joy! Next I tried the forgot password rest link but that said I needed a rebootable usb drive which I didn't have so I googled some other solutions and I tried a few like iSumsoft, Ophcrack and Windows Password Key all of which people have said works for them and recovers their passwords but these don't work for me, since I have to buy them for it to work which I don't want to do. The Ophcrack software doesn't resolve my password issue but it does allow me access to my files which I need. Now I've come to the conclusion that I'm never going to be able to login to my laptop so I'm going to do a factory reset but first I need to get my files off it. I managed to create a test account but I still can't access my files without needing a password and it seems like everything I do to either access my files or reset my password always needs an administrator password to move forward! I know I'm an idiot I should have backed up/tansferred my files before changing my password but I really didn't think this would happen, I'm normally quite organised and would write down any new passwords incase I do forget them but I stupidly didn't.

Does anyone know how to get my files off my laptop that requires a password to access them? I as I said before I can access my files on Ophcrack without needing a password but I don't know how to transfer my files from my laptop onto either the Ophcrack disk or another laptop or usb, I'm sure there is a way I just need to be pointed in the right direction. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! :*

Reply 1

bomb2060

Consider installing Linux on a VM and access the files.

Reply 2

Dunnig Kruger

Do you have Bitlocker installed on your laptop? I'm assuming not.

As Bomb2060 quite rightly suggested, on another computer create a Linux bootable USB drive. Interupt your laptop boot sequence (google which button you have to spam press on powering up to select a boot drive Esc or F10 are commone ones) and select the linux boot drive.

Once you're in Linux, mount the internal hard drive and copy your data files onto the USB drive.

Reply 3

username5204820

Original post by Mysterygirl96

Does anyone know how to get my files off my laptop that requires a password to access them? I as I said before I can access my files on Ophcrack without needing a password but I don't know how to transfer my files from my laptop onto either the Ophcrack disk or another laptop or usb, I'm sure there is a way I just need to be pointed in the right direction. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! :*

You predominantly have two options here. Both assume you have another computer and that the files on your disk are not encrypted. Given you were able to use Ophcrack and could see your files, I'll assume both conditions are met. I'll also assume that the laptop wasn't set up with password recovery, linked to a Microsoft account or anything similar, because if you can go that route then ignore everything else and just do that.

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Option 1: Create a bootable Linux disk and access your files that way. This would involve downloading a live bootable Linux OS (Linux Mint for example), burning it to a spare USB with a tool like Rufus, booting into it (either by entering the boot menu or changing the boot order in the BIOS), mounting the drive and manually copying the files off. While not difficult, it's not the method I'd recommend. Furthermore, you ideally also want another USB or external drive to copy your files to, since the Linux live USB will be formatted in a way that Windows cannot natively understand. If you don't have 2 spare drives (one to turn into a live USB and one to put your files on), you'll simply end up with all your files on an ext4 formatted drive that Windows can't access. Even if you do have another drive, you need to go through the trouble of downloading and flashing Linux, working out how to boot to the drive, mounting the internal drive and the external USB and then copying all your files off. I'll reiterate that it isn't difficult, but it is finicky.

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Option 2: Take the drive out of your laptop, plug it into another computer and copy your files off. The USB Linux approach above involves introducing a new OS in order to access files from the old OS. I'd argue it's far simpler to just undo a couple of screws and plug the drive into another computer, bypassing the need for USB drives, burning Linux, mounting drives, etc. The tradeoff is that you will most likely need a cable to plug the drive in (either SATA to USB or M.2 to USB), but these can be found for £10 or less on Amazon. This is by far the more straightfoward method, as you're simply treating the hard drive of your laptop as a giant USB drive. The most complex thing you'd do here is undoing some screws, unplugging a hard drive and plugging in a cable. This would be my recommendation from an ease of use perspective.

Besides this, I'd like to note that Ophcrack being unable to find your password is a good thing. Password cracking tools are only as good as the dictionary/rainbow tables provided to them. While the rainbow tables that are bundled with Ophcrack aren't amazing, the fact your password wasn't found suggests you are doing something right when it comes to choosing a password.

Finally, and you mentioned this already, but make backups of your data. This should be a normal behaviour, not something you think about when changing passwords, etc. Luckily you're only dealing with a lost password, but imagine if the laptop got stolen or damaged. Recovering damaged data is far more difficult, and a stolen laptop might never be seen again. If you can't afford to lose it, back it up. How often and what method is up to you, an external hard drive, cloud, daily, weekly, monthly, you need to decide for yourself. But do something. This extends to other devices you may have, such as your phone.

Reply 4

username5383500

Original post by grake

I know this is too late, but there's a way you can change the password without logging on and it doesn't delete anything. It's a bit complicated but I've done it before with my old laptop

No offense, but why bump the thread? As you say it's quite an old thread so the problem is likely resolved by now. And you haven't actually added anything useful to someone that may find the thread in the future. Please avoid unnecessarily bump old, dead threads.