I've bought a new Thinkpad with Windows 10 pre-installed. I used Windows for a short time, with no connection to the Internet and set up my Windows login password. This Windows may have had a manufacturer's license, but as I didn't connect it to the Internet, I may have never activated the license. I reformatted the hard disk to install Ubuntu in dual boot, and then used Ubuntu for a prolonged period of time (months) without logging into Windows.<p>Then there was an occasion when I needed to use Windows, and upon dual booting into Windows on this laptop and entering my password, Windows doesn't let me in i.e. I can't get further than the login screen on the damn Windows. It refuses to accept the password which I used previously for a couple of weeks.<p>On the Internet there are recommendations to create and use Windows password reset usb stick. But for creating it you must be logged in, as you need to access the Windows Settings. I created the usb stick on a different PC with Windows, but it turned out that this usb stick with the pass reset was associated with that Windows PC user only and didn't work on my laptop (as the usernames are different).<p>In the 90's I remember using some Windows repair software from torrents on a CD, where you do not need to boot up into Windows, and instead you're booting up from the CD and it enters some virtual Windows OS with various repair software pre-installed and you also can access your Windows files from there.<p>Is there a way, similar to using such a CD or another one, to bypass the Windows login screen, which doesn't accept the password?
I used the chntpw tool in the past, but I think it was before Windows 10. You needed to boot into Linux, mount the Windows filesystem, then you'd overwrite the password in the SAM file. <a href="https://kalilinuxtutorials.com/chntpw/" rel="nofollow">https://kalilinuxtutorials.com/chntpw/</a>
Do you have anything critical on the Windows partition? If not, just wipe it from Linux and reinstall Windows from scratch? But before you do that, if the partition isn't encrypted, you might want to look for a key extractor to pull the old product key from. Sometimes it's also on a sticker on your computer, but if memory serves, that might not be a real one that you can actually activate with (Google it, I can't remember the details, sorry).<p>Hopefully after a reinstall, the old key + your hardware signature should let you activate it for real. Otherwise, maybe you can use a temporary activation key (Google one from the piracy sites) but then activate by phone using the old product key you pulled. You have a legitimate install from your OEM, you just have to convince Microsoft of it, and phone activation is usually the way to do that...<p>Otherwise you can always buy another Windows license (either legitimately or from one of many shady places...). It's probably easier than trying to disable the password, IMO. Costs more though =/
<a href="https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/113295/location-of-password-hashes-on-a-windows-local-machine" rel="nofollow">https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/113295/location...</a><p>Access the windows file system with another computer. For example mount that hard disk on any other computer. Navigate to the SAM file. Modify the hash values stored in that file to some new password hash.
<a href="https://github.com/SagaOfAGuy/Win10-Reset">https://github.com/SagaOfAGuy/Win10-Reset</a> used it yesterday or do it by hand <a href="https://github.com/EvolvingSysadmin/Reset-Windows-Local-Admin">https://github.com/EvolvingSysadmin/Reset-Windows-Local-Admi...</a>
NT Password Cracker[1] is a USB bootable that will let you reset or disable passwords. I believe it still works on Windows 10.<p>1. <a href="https://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/" rel="nofollow">https://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/</a>