NT PW Recovery "booting the kernel"

SephStorm

Anyone know how to get past this?

I have a new PC, Windows 8 and it suddenly decided my pw is wrong. So I downloaded PW recovery and installed to USB, changed the bios settings to legacy to allow me to boot from USB (apparently Dell's implementation of UFEI or something doesn't permit it...) anyway then I was able to boot from the USB but the program hangs at "booting the kernel" i've tried several of the options including "boot nodrivers" no luck. The USB works fine on my Windows 7 Toshiba laptop. Google shows other people with the issue, no answers.

Asif Dasl

Do you have something called "Secure Boot" in your UEFI bios? If the setting is set to "Windows" then change it to "Other OS" or "Linux". I had this problem with vSphere not booting on my computers because Secure Boot expects to see Windows everytime - so when you change it to "Other OS" then it works fine. It might be what is causing you problems.

SephStorm

Secure boot is currently disabled, I can't have it enabled when the system is set to legacy boot. When it is enabled I have to turn on UEFI, which has a USB Storage option (doesn't work). I'm guessing that is for a (UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows) UEFI bootable drive.

Asif Dasl

Can you disable Secure boot and also boot in to UEFI? Or does the bios not pickup the bootable USB at all in UEFI? Have you flashed the latest BIOS from Dell - maybe it's a known issue?

SephStorm

I can, but it basicly ignores the USB I assume because the only UEFI device is the HDD. No I haven't checked for BIOS updates, funny that in over 10 years of working on windows, I've never NEEDED one... until windows 8, no end of headaches.

Asif Dasl

I'm out of ideas, see if there is a BIOS update anyway... UEFI is the problem rather than Windows 8. UEFI stopped a lot of my bootable tools working. I've resorted to using a Windows 8-To-Go with all my tools installed there instead of using bootable USB tools. It's a pain in the rear end!

SephStorm

Do you think the NT PW CD would work?

Asif Dasl

Yeah it's worth a shot, in legacy mode it should boot it I would think. Booting from USB can be tricky with some of these tools on certain machines.

SephStorm

Crazy thing is it will boot from USB when UEFI is disabled, it just doesnt run, so IDK if CD will work any better...

Asif Dasl

Have you tried Konboot?

SephStorm

Doesn't look like the free version supports x64 W8.1 EDIT: The CD didn't work either, so i'm going to try to boot to an alternate OS and modify the system to let me change the PW: Windows 8 Password Recovery On Systems With Secure Boot - Kirk MillerIt looks like that does work, and it didn't take nearly as long as everything else.

Asif Dasl

Glad you got it sorted!

devils_haircut

The Windows password has always had a very easy workaround for anyone with a few minutes and a Windows install disc.

1. If you have any windows OS install disc, boot from that.

2. At the welcome screen, press SHIFT and F10 to bring up an administrative command prompt.

3. You are looking for two files: utilman.exe and cmd.exe. Utilman is the Ease of Access button that you see at the Windows login screen. What you want to do is create backup copies of both.

4. Now that you have backup copies of each, delete the original utilman.exe and rename the original cmd.exe to utilman.exe.

5. Reboot without the disc.

6. At the Windows login screen, click the Ease of Access button. Boom, it should open an Administrative command prompt.

7. You can use the "net user" command and all of the switches that go along with it to remove the password from your account or create a new admin account.


I had to do this at my last job a few times. I worked in a computer repair shop, and you wouldn't believe the number of people that brought in laptops with passwords locked out. Password crackers usually work, but if it's Windows 8 and it has a Live account tied to it, they don't. Either way, this takes all of 5 minutes and you're back in business, rather than dealing with all the UEFI boot nonsense.

wes allen

This works for server 2008R2 as well. You can also use a live linux USB to boot and change the files around. The CD/DVDs never seem to work for me the couple times I have tried them on servers due to missing RAID Drivers. This won't work on encrypted drives though.

SephStorm

devils_haircut wrote: »

The Windows password has always had a very easy workaround for anyone with a few minutes and a Windows install disc.

1. If you have any windows OS install disc, boot from that.

Less and less common these days.

wayne08

Nowadays there are still few password tools that support UEFI booting. The one works I know is PCUnlocker v3.8.

dikomix

devils_haircut wrote: »

The Windows password has always had a very easy workaround for anyone with a few minutes and a Windows install disc.

1. If you have any windows OS install disc, boot from that.

....

How you can access to the file? I try it, but cmd, and utilman is cannot access (windows 10)

zaleasy

Making a new bootable USB drive to try it again .
Or go the Recoverywindowspassword website for more info .