January 9, 2015, Milos Milosevic
Active@ Password Changer Professional is an easy to use application that lets you reset user account passwords. It does exactly what it says, maybe even a bit more with its additional features, but the price tag might be too high for some people. However, you can use it on three home computers so that maybe makes it a bit more attractive and to be honest there aren't many similar solutions on the market. If you or your family member forgets your/his user account password or a disgruntled ex-employee changes the Admin password on the company's computer, this piece of software just might save your day.
Active@ Password Changer Professional comes with bundled with two applications Active@ Boot Disk and Active@ Password Changer.
Boot Disk is required for creating bootable DVD/CD or flash drives in order to use the Password Changer in the first place. Naturally you will need to use a different computer for the creation of a bootable drive, please bear that in mind.
Besides making a bootable drive, Boot Disk comes with 150+ drivers, however if you feel like you need some in particular you can add it manually and if you want, load it when the drive boots.
Alternatively, you can use Opera browser that comes installed within the system to browse the internet in search for a particular driver.
Boot Disk UI is OK, but we need to mention that these features (Add Drivers, Files, etc.) you most likely won't need unless the situation is quite specific. So don't go banging your head and searching the internet for something you actually won't use.
After making a bootable drive, you will need to insert it into the computer whose password you have forgotten (or just don't know). When initializing the system, press Del or F2 when you see the BIOS loading screen. Find Boot Menu and in there choose the bootable drive that you created for this recovery.
Tip: Before booting from the drive make sure that you have unplugged all additional devices from your computer and leave only mouse and keyboard if you want to avoid any possible incompatibility issues. In our case, mouse refused to work and after some troubleshooting we realized that it was Xbox 360 controller who was making all the mess. We believe that this has nothing to do with Active@ Password Changer Professional and that it is a result of Windows PE 3.1 limitations. Once you are in Windows PE 3.1 will reveal itself it all of its glory:
It is worth noting that Password Changer comes accompanied by Active's Disk Editor, Partition Manager and Disk Monitor.
Further use is pretty simple; click Next and check on "Search all volumes…" if you are not sure where the locked OS is placed. Otherwise, you can do it manually.
Select the locked user account and once again click Next,
Check "Clear this User's Password" at the bottom, and "Password never expires", so you wouldn't have problems in the future with a new password.
If you have done everything accordingly, and there is no reason to think that you didn't, you have just reset your forgotten password.
June 4 2012, RobinZon
One beautiful morning I discovered my computer has been locked, and I cannot log in to the account I've been working for two years.
Important report needed to be submitted by the evening – stayed inside this "black box". Thanx to god, my neighbor heard my yelling and helped me to find you link to Password Changer and Boot Disk.
Thank god, my neighbor heard my yelling and helped me to find your link to Password Changer and Boot Disk.
With his help I created a salvatory CD-ROM and "voila!", I'm alive and back to be as the chief of my crazy machine.
By the way, not only did I finish my report in, but I also discovered that I could use this tool
to restrict my son's computer time (which he mostly spends on video games)!
Earlier he would get back from school, and get on the machine for the whole day and night.
After some manipulations with Password Changer I set up so that the log in time not earlier than 7pm and now he has time to do his homework before immersing himself in his video games.
Thank you for such a universal and "save my ass" tool! Coming with a Windows Boot Disk — this is "must have" for each and every Windows owner.
