Author Topic: Windows 8.1 - user locked out  (Read 1026 times)

Windows 8.1 - user locked out
« on: 07 August, 2018, 08:09:32 am »
My 79 year old mother's computer, Windows 8.1, has somehow managed to change the log in password and she now cannot get into it.
She's nearly two hours drive away, so popping down to sort it out is a problem.

I got a text from Microsoft on Saturday saying there had been an attempt to use her Hotmail account, so we changed the password on that.
Last night she phoned to say she couldn't get into her emails. This morning I phone her back and find it's not the emails which are the problem, it's the user login. She doesn't have a password recovery disk as far as I am aware (and wouldn't be able to find it anyway).

Does the panel have any suggestions?

"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Re: Windows 8.1 - user locked out
« Reply #1 on: 07 August, 2018, 08:39:28 am »
UBCD on site will allow you to reset password. You will need to boot from the CD and follow the menu prompts. Shout if you have a problem creating the CD from an iso, imgburn is an easy application to do it for you. Nothing to be done remotely. Should add the utility that handles it is Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, confirmed works up to Win 8.1, documentation is here http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

Re: Windows 8.1 - user locked out
« Reply #2 on: 08 August, 2018, 08:01:37 am »
Thanks, Ham. I will create one of those CDs and send it to Mother at some point.
However, largely due to it being early in the morning when I phoned her, having had a late night and expecting a long hard day at work with a five-hour customer meeting, I wasn't thinking straight.
The old 'turn it off and turn it back on again' routine worked this time. I suspect she had the caps-lock down or some such and hadn't noticed.
For 79 1/2 she's pretty good with computers but she does get flustered when things don't work out.
It's all working fine now.

"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Re: Windows 8.1 - user locked out
« Reply #3 on: 08 August, 2018, 08:30:06 am »
Don't forget the BIOS has to be altered to boot from CD first, that's the bit that would be difficult to do remotely. Then, the UBCD menu needs to be navigated, although you could do that on the end of a phone.

Re: Windows 8.1 - user locked out
« Reply #4 on: 08 August, 2018, 08:58:08 am »
If it gets to that and I really hope it won’t I will be calling on my very practical brother in law. He’s not into computers particularly but I know he would be able to cope with that.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."