So i got a nice collection of "programs"/"apps carefully selected on
a USB stick ready to go.
After an hour or so, had the "new" Lenovo connected keyboard/mouse/VGA.

Nice splash screen.
What the hell do i do for the unknown password?
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Robert Baer wrote:

So i got a nice collection of "programs"/"apps carefully selected on a
USB stick ready to go.
After an hour or so, had the "new" Lenovo connected keyboard/mouse/VGA.

Nice splash screen.
What the hell do i do for the unknown password?

During the OutOfBoxExperience (OOBE, those dialogs that ask
about setting up the machine), did you define a password ???
Is the password blank ?

If you got this machine and it did not prompt for a new name
("baer") so you could have C:\users\baer , then the machine
may be used and maybe it had C:\users\wally and you did not
notice ?

*******

Step 1 : Around the login screen, there should be an icon
with various options in it and one of the options
should be a shutdown-type option.

That's to get you out of the prompt. Without just pushing
the power button, as I might do if I was upset or angry.

The second question is, whether your setup autologs at boot.
Some people have their machine set up, so it locks and prompts
for a password, if the machine is inactive for ten minutes.
Whereas, when the machine boots, they'd used "netplwiz" to remove
the need for a login password.

If this was the case, then

Step 2 : Now, boot up again, and if you have autolog, then
you'll be back into the screen, and you can use
Start : Run : control to get to control panels, then
use the Power control panel to disable the screen locker.

If you don't have autolog, you'll have to use a password
reset hack if the account is a local one. If you've been
using an MSA password, then that's going to be tougher
to fix, if you've lost the MSA password. You can do a password
reset, but this requires that the email account used to set up
the MSA, to still be available.

The only way this password is "unknown", is if
this machine is used. If you haven't set it up yet,
you can use the "reset" procedure in the Lenovo
manual, to reload C: . Then it should go through OOBE
again, and you can define the local account and
its local password. Do the local account first,
so you have an account with your preferred name.

If the Lenovo is so used, it has "Refurbisher Windows 10"
on it, then you would need the "Refurbisher Windows 10"
DVD to reinstall. The Refurb machines don't seem to have a
restore partition on them. A Refurb machine doesn't have
a Lenovo OS on it either. It's closer to a generic
copy of Windows that a retail DVD would make. If you wanted
a restore image, you have to make one (on a USB stick for example).
Windows has some procedure for preparing such. I made one
a few years ago as an experiment, and it took a couple
tries to complete.

If the machine has Refurbisher Windows 10 on it,
one of the first things you do is use Nirsoft Produkey
or MagicJellyBean, to record the 25 character license key
for later. As the key on a Refurb, might not be the same
as the license key the machine came with. (The refurbisher
scrapes the COA off the machine sometimes, before shipping,
leaving nothing for the qualifying OS.)

Are we having fun yet ? I've been through some of this,
I don't know if you can tell or not. One diff with me,
is I asked the seller (store downtown) for the installer
DVD and they had one. Mine is a Windows 7 Refurbisher.
Microsoft stopped shipping those hologram DVDs some
time ago. But no matter what media you use, you'll need
a key, and the key isn't necessarily in the BIOS as an
ACPI MSDM table either. That's why you need Produkey.

*******

Using the "windir" option here, you can carry the hard drive
from the Lenovo, over to your working technician machine,
and while booted with the C: of the technician machine,
check the E:\Windows of the Lenovo drive you installed
into the computer for maintenance.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

It is possible to capture the key off the Lenovo drive,
even if you can't see the screen. It just means plugging
the drive into another machine so ProduKey can get at it.

Windows Defender considers ProduKey to be "hackware" and
it will attempt to quarantine it. This is just harassment
from Microsoft. The software performs a necessary function
for maintenance purposes.

Paul
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

Paul wrote:

Robert Baer wrote:

  So i got a nice collection of "programs"/"apps carefully selected on
a USB stick ready to go.
  After an hour or so, had the "new" Lenovo connected keyboard/mouse/VGA. >>
  Nice splash screen.
  What the hell do i do for the unknown password?

During the OutOfBoxExperience (OOBE, those dialogs that ask
about setting up the machine), did you define a password ???
Is the password blank ?

If you got this machine and it did not prompt for a new name
("baer") so you could have C:\users\baer , then the machine
may be used and maybe it had C:\users\wally and you did not
notice ?

*******

Step 1 : Around the login screen, there should be an icon
         with various options in it and one of the options
         should be a shutdown-type option.

That's to get you out of the prompt. Without just pushing
the power button, as I might do if I was upset or angry.

The second question is, whether your setup autologs at boot.
Some people have their machine set up, so it locks and prompts
for a password, if the machine is inactive for ten minutes.
Whereas, when the machine boots, they'd used "netplwiz" to remove
the need for a login password.

If this was the case, then

Step 2 : Now, boot up again, and if you have autolog, then
         you'll be back into the screen, and you can use
         Start : Run : control to get to control panels, then
         use the Power control panel to disable the screen locker.

         If you don't have autolog, you'll have to use a password
         reset hack if the account is a local one. If you've been
         using an MSA password, then that's going to be tougher
         to fix, if you've lost the MSA password. You can do a password
         reset, but this requires that the email account used to set up
         the MSA, to still be available.

The only way this password is "unknown", is if
this machine is used. If you haven't set it up yet,
you can use the "reset" procedure in the Lenovo
manual, to reload C: . Then it should go through OOBE
again, and you can define the local account and
its local password. Do the local account first,
so you have an account with your preferred name.

If the Lenovo is so used, it has "Refurbisher Windows 10"
on it, then you would need the "Refurbisher Windows 10"
DVD to reinstall. The Refurb machines don't seem to have a
restore partition on them. A Refurb machine doesn't have
a Lenovo OS on it either. It's closer to a generic
copy of Windows that a retail DVD would make. If you wanted
a restore image, you have to make one (on a USB stick for example).
Windows has some procedure for preparing such. I made one
a few years ago as an experiment, and it took a couple
tries to complete.

If the machine has Refurbisher Windows 10 on it,
one of the first things you do is use Nirsoft Produkey
or MagicJellyBean, to record the 25 character license key
for later. As the key on a Refurb, might not be the same
as the license key the machine came with. (The refurbisher
scrapes the COA off the machine sometimes, before shipping,
leaving nothing for the qualifying OS.)

Are we having fun yet ? I've been through some of this,
I don't know if you can tell or not. One diff with me,
is I asked the seller (store downtown) for the installer
DVD and they had one. Mine is a Windows 7 Refurbisher.
Microsoft stopped shipping those hologram DVDs some
time ago. But no matter what media you use, you'll need
a key, and the key isn't necessarily in the BIOS as an
ACPI MSDM table either. That's why you need Produkey.

*******

Using the "windir" option here, you can carry the hard drive
from the Lenovo, over to your working technician machine,
and while booted with the C: of the technician machine,
check the E:\Windows of the Lenovo drive you installed
into the computer for maintenance.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

It is possible to capture the key off the Lenovo drive,
even if you can't see the screen. It just means plugging
the drive into another machine so ProduKey can get at it.

Windows Defender considers ProduKey to be "hackware" and
it will attempt to quarantine it. This is just harassment
from Microsoft. The software performs a necessary function
for maintenance purposes.

   Paul

Thanks.
With only 2 SATA ports, i will BAERly make it possible.
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Robert Baer wrote:

Thanks.
With only 2 SATA ports, i will BAERly make it possible.

It seems since the last time I used the hacks, Windows 10
is hardened a lot more than it used to be.

Some of it is semi-accidental, such as Microsoft using

compact.exe /compactos:query

compact.exe /compactos:never <=== user fights back by removing compression

compact.exe /compactos:always <=== places new-style compression reparse
points on system32 files or similar areas

This matters when you need to hack some files from Linux.

*******

For an example, this "official" page offers local resetting
of password based on your security questions. Which of course,
you didn't set. Someone else did. You won't know which security
questions and what the answers are.

The second option is a "Reset" of the PC to start over again.
If done from the hard drive, this is likely to need a recovery
partition (on Refurbisher, that is not there).

You can also make a USB stick in advance. I did
that once, and you need a working reagentc /info for the making
of the stick to succeed. On several occasions, my reagentc wasn't
enabled or wasn't pointed at the right place, so a person could be
forgiven if they said this was "too hard to prepare". This is a
corny way of restoring C: , and I presume it requests account
setup when finished. That's when you get to define a password.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reset-your-windows-local-account-password-86912508-e584-37cc-86eb-6e9b0542b5ba

*******

There used to be some hacks involving sethc.exe (sticky keys),
osk.exe (onscreen keyboard for entering password), and utilman.exe.
You select these functions, and cmd.exe pops up instead.

Some of these have been covered by Windows Defender. If Windows
Defender was disabled, they might still works, but what are the
odds you run that way.

https://www.trustedsec.com/blog/playing-with-old-hacks/

Now, you're saying "he has some that work!". Yes, but the
thing is, we need to do some rename commands and that
stuff is owned by trustedinstaller or something. This means,
if booting using an installer DVD, using "Troubleshooting",
then Command Prompt, we still might not be allowed to rename
files and mess around from the Win side of the pond.

Anyway, I've had to do a restore of my Win10 while messing
around, and it's going to be a while before I can try some
things. It looks like the CHKDSK on C: is going to take *Hours*.

Paul
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

Paul wrote:

Robert Baer wrote:

Thanks.
With only 2 SATA ports, i will BAERly make it possible.

https://www.trustedsec.com/blog/playing-with-old-hacks/

OK, working.

Can fix from a Win10 DVD and the Repair : Troubleshooting : Command Prompt.

https://i.postimg.cc/tJfZq30X/edit-OS-from-DVD-troubleshooter-cmd.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/LsXJ1QHH/login-trick.jpg

In the window that opens, use

net user administrator /active:yes

https://i.postimg.cc/nrd5CLTV/edit-account-password-using-administrator.gif

Using the Windows 10 DVD and the Command Prompt window
to rename the files, there was no problem from a
permissions perspective. The "rename" or "ren" command
is being used, to cause the least upset.

After resetting the Bullwinkle password to a known
value, then I can "sign out", then sign back in as
Bullwinkle, and since Bullwinkle belongs to the
Administrator group, I can

net user administrator /active:no

and that part of the hack is undone.

I also have to rename the two files involved,
so that everything is put back where it belongs.

"Rename" for me, causes the least disruption once
everything is put back. It's likely still owned
by TrustedInstaller.

I have not mentioned the two files in this text, as the
first picture shows which ones I selected for the job.
I don't want to get Microsoft too excited about this.

For my Win10 boot material (not that it matters), I
have a Win10 ISO file, I used rufus.ie tool to put
the ISO onto a USB stick. And I booted from the USB
stick. I made my setup UEFI/GPT rather than MBR,
which is OK on a newer computer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_%28software%29

HTH,
Paul
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

Robert Baer wrote:

So i got a nice collection of "programs"/"apps carefully selected on a
USB stick ready to go.
After an hour or so, had the "new" Lenovo connected keyboard/mouse/VGA.

Nice splash screen.
What the hell do i do for the unknown password?

And don't forget, once you're back into the machine, to

Record the OS license key, while you still can!

Write the key on something robust, store inside
the chassis to prevent loss of the paper.

Scroll to 70% on this page, for an example. Note that
Windows Defender realtime should be disabled while
you do this, since it defines that program as "hackware".

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

Another example. Or Belarc Advisor if you have a copy
on disk already.

https://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/showkeyplus.html

You need that key, for the day a reinstall is required.
If the key ends in 3V66T, that's a bogus key, and the
real key is... elsewhere. On a Refurb machine, that
should be a legit key, not one of the bogus keys.

Examples of bogus keys that exist, if you upgrade
a Win7 with free Win10 over top. Note the 3V66T on
the end of the first one.

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T (Windows 10 Professional) <--- Test Machine YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 (Windows 10 Home - multi language) <--- laptop!
BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT (Windows 10 Home - single language)

My laptop had the multi-language key, since the laptop
is English/FrenchCanadian by design. That's what they
do for the Canadian market.

Paul
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

Paul wrote:

Robert Baer wrote:

  So i got a nice collection of "programs"/"apps carefully selected on
a USB stick ready to go.
  After an hour or so, had the "new" Lenovo connected keyboard/mouse/VGA. >>
  Nice splash screen.
  What the hell do i do for the unknown password?

And don't forget, once you're back into the machine, to

   Record the OS license key, while you still can!

   Write the key on something robust, store inside
   the chassis to prevent loss of the paper.

Scroll to 70% on this page, for an example. Note that
Windows Defender realtime should be disabled while
you do this, since it defines that program as "hackware".

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

Another example. Or Belarc Advisor if you have a copy
on disk already.

https://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/showkeyplus.html

You need that key, for the day a reinstall is required.
If the key ends in 3V66T, that's a bogus key, and the
real key is... elsewhere. On a Refurb machine, that
should be a legit key, not one of the bogus keys.

Examples of bogus keys that exist, if you upgrade
a Win7 with free Win10 over top. Note the 3V66T on
the end of the first one.

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T (Windows 10 Professional) <--- Test Machine YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 (Windows 10 Home - multi language)    <--- laptop!
BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT (Windows 10 Home - single language)

My laptop had the multi-language key, since the laptop
is English/FrenchCanadian by design. That's what they
do for the Canadian market.

   Paul

I am a penny-pinching Scrooge at best.
The software is worthless; only the full version works, making the
key unavailable.
Why should i $pend so much money for one key?

Did a LOT of searching.

Was VERY lucky and found the password.

There is a long string of numbers in the splash screen:
19174209416

Seems useless - what is it for?

Thanks.
--
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--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

Robert Baer wrote:

Paul wrote:

Robert Baer wrote:

So i got a nice collection of "programs"/"apps carefully selected
on a USB stick ready to go.
After an hour or so, had the "new" Lenovo connected
keyboard/mouse/VGA.

Nice splash screen.
What the hell do i do for the unknown password?

And don't forget, once you're back into the machine, to

Record the OS license key, while you still can!

Write the key on something robust, store inside
the chassis to prevent loss of the paper.

Scroll to 70% on this page, for an example. Note that
Windows Defender realtime should be disabled while
you do this, since it defines that program as "hackware".

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

Another example. Or Belarc Advisor if you have a copy
on disk already.

https://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/showkeyplus.html

You need that key, for the day a reinstall is required.
If the key ends in 3V66T, that's a bogus key, and the
real key is... elsewhere. On a Refurb machine, that
should be a legit key, not one of the bogus keys.

Examples of bogus keys that exist, if you upgrade
a Win7 with free Win10 over top. Note the 3V66T on
the end of the first one.

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T (Windows 10 Professional) <--- Test Machine
YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 (Windows 10 Home - multi language)
<--- laptop!
BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT (Windows 10 Home - single language)

My laptop had the multi-language key, since the laptop
is English/FrenchCanadian by design. That's what they
do for the Canadian market.

Paul

I am a penny-pinching Scrooge at best.
The software is worthless; only the full version works, making the key unavailable.
Why should i $pend so much money for one key?

Did a LOT of searching.

Was VERY lucky and found the password.

There is a long string of numbers in the splash screen:
19174209416

Seems useless - what is it for?

Thanks.

A mobile (cell phone) number ???

+19174209416

New York ? It is hard to tell from the
Google result, what is real and what is SEO spam.

Paul
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

Paul wrote:

Robert Baer wrote:

Paul wrote:

Robert Baer wrote:

  So i got a nice collection of "programs"/"apps carefully selected
on a USB stick ready to go.
  After an hour or so, had the "new" Lenovo connected
keyboard/mouse/VGA.

  Nice splash screen.
  What the hell do i do for the unknown password?

And don't forget, once you're back into the machine, to

    Record the OS license key, while you still can!

    Write the key on something robust, store inside
    the chassis to prevent loss of the paper.

Scroll to 70% on this page, for an example. Note that
Windows Defender realtime should be disabled while
you do this, since it defines that program as "hackware".

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

Another example. Or Belarc Advisor if you have a copy
on disk already.

https://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/showkeyplus.html

You need that key, for the day a reinstall is required.
If the key ends in 3V66T, that's a bogus key, and the
real key is... elsewhere. On a Refurb machine, that
should be a legit key, not one of the bogus keys.

Examples of bogus keys that exist, if you upgrade
a Win7 with free Win10 over top. Note the 3V66T on
the end of the first one.

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T (Windows 10 Professional) <--- Test
Machine
YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 (Windows 10 Home - multi language) <---
laptop!
BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT (Windows 10 Home - single language)

My laptop had the multi-language key, since the laptop
is English/FrenchCanadian by design. That's what they
do for the Canadian market.

    Paul

  I am a penny-pinching Scrooge at best.
  The software is worthless; only the full version works, making the
key unavailable.
  Why should i $pend so much money for one key?

  Did a LOT of searching.

  Was VERY lucky and found the password.

  There is a long string of numbers in the splash screen:
19174209416

  Seems useless - what is it for?

Thanks.

A mobile (cell phone) number ???

* Bingo. Oregon. Mine.
I know i did a lot during setup, where no password was needed.

+19174209416

New York ? It is hard to tell from the
Google result, what is real and what is SEO spam.

   Paul

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