Creating a bootable USB drive

Some computers are not designed to boot from a USB device. If your computer has a CD drive, please use the CD version.

Please follow these instructions exactly as shown. Skipping any steps can result in an improperly created USB thumb-drive.

Step #1 - Download and unzip the files

a. Using a working computer connected to the Internet, download the three files below and save them to your desktop. (you must be logged on as an administrator privleged user)

File #1 USB Format Utility
File #2 DOS Files
File #3 Password Reset Files

Saving them to your desktop will make it easier to find them later.

b. Unzip the DOS_files.zip & PWR_files.zip by double clicking on them and then extracting them to your desktop by clicking Extract all files.

c. You will then have 2 new files on your desktop.

Step #2 - Formatting the USB drive

a. Insert a USB drive into a USB slot on your computer. AutoPlay may ask you what to do with the device. Simply close that window if it appears.

b. Right-click on the usb_format.exe file you downloaded to you Desktop and choose Run as Administrator. Or just double click the icon if you don't have the Run as Administrator choice.

c. If this warning comes up, just click Run.

d. You should then get the following window.

e. Set the File system to FAT, check the Quik Format box, check the Create DOS Bootable Disk, Browse to the DOS_files folder on your Desktop, click OK & then Start .

f. Cick yes to the following warning.

g. Click OK on the following window and then Close the USB format tool. Your USB drive is formatted.

h. Now open the USB drive with My Computer and open the PWR_files folder next to it.

i. Copy the files from the PWR_files to the USB drive. 2 of the files may become hidden and you will not see them on the USB drive. This is okay, your USB drive is now complete.

Step #3 - Booting your USB drive & removing your password

a. You can now take your newly created USB drive and put it into the computer with the forgotten password and reboot.

b. When the drive boots, you will see Password-Reset initializing (see screen shot below). If so, you can continue to the next step. If the computer boots still boots into Windows, it's necessary to change your computer's setup to make it boot from the USB drive. You can find more info about this on our BIOS page HERE.

c. After Password-Reset detects all password (SAM) files in your FAT32 and NTFS partitions choose which one of them you want to work with by typing its number and pressing ENTER. The first file usually is the right one, if not, you can go back and try any others listed.

Note: Our disc MAY NOT assign your hard drive the letter C: as Windows does. This is normal.

d. After choosing the correct SAM file, the users that exist in the file are listed. Choose the user whose password you want to reset by typing it's number and pressing ENTER.

If you need to try a different SAM file from the previous list, hit Enter and you will be taken back to the list of SAM files.

e. Password Reset will then ask for an activation key to continue. Please leave your computer at this screen and continue below.

Congratulations! If you were able to reach this point, then Password Reset is fully compatible with your system and will remove your password. An activation key is required and can be purchased below.

Once you have purchased the activation key using the link above, you will be taken to the page containing your key. You will also receive a confirmation email. Be sure to check you junk/SPAM folder in case the email was misrouted. Please write down your key for further reference.

Now that you have your activation key, you should be at step f as shown below. If not, reboot the CD and follow the instructions until you reach step f.

f. Enter the activation key to reset the password for the account you have choosen and press Enter.

g. You will be asked to confirm your choice. Type y and hit Enter.

h. Your password has now been removed as shown by the screen below. Hit any key to continue.

i. You can now remove the CD and reboot your system. Press Esc once you've removed the CD from your system.

j. Hit any key to initiate the reboot.

k. You should now be able to log back into Windows without a password.

Help/Troubleshooting

Question: I'm resetting my password using Password-Reset but still can't login to Windows. What's wrong?
1) Make sure you leave the password field empty when logging in.
2) Make sure you are resetting the correct password. With Windows XP and Vista, Administrator is usually not the username you log in with.

Question: I'm sure I'm choosing the right user but still can't login to Windows...
1) If resetting the Administrator password for Windows XP, you need to log in via Safe Mode. The Administrator password is only available via Safe Mode in most XP installations. You can access Safe Mode by tapping the F8 key while booting into Windows.
2) Make sure you are logging onto the local machine and not trying to log into a domain. If you have a Log onto field below the password field, it must be set to the choice that has (this computer) next to it.
3) It's possible that you are selecting the wrong password file. If Password-Reset shows more than one SAM file for you to choose, try to browse all of them and reset the passwords of all users that have the name of the user you are trying to login with.

Question: Password-Reset asks me for an activation key, but I don't have one...
1) You must have an activation key to be able to use Password-Reset. Please visit http://www.password-reset.com to purchase your key. When the key is asked for, type it in and press ENTER to continue using the program.

Question: I've reset my password using your CD, but I keep getting a message saying "Unable to log you on because of an account restriction".
1) This is caused by some sort of virus that we've been seeing more and more often lately. It seems like a password issue, so we get a lot of people that come to us thinking that our software will fix it. Because of the frequent inquiries, we've done some research and have been able to come up with a solution that has worked to resolve this problem. It requires creating another boot CD that you can download from our site. This fix is free to our paying customers. Please contact us for further info.

Question: I've reset my password using your CD but when I log on, Windows begins to load and then returns to the login screen.
1) This situation is similar to the one above. We don't see it nearly as often but have been able to successfully fix it using the same process as above. Please contact us for further info.