Inexperience alert! Very slim programming knowledge and as green as I can get to Linux. I appreciate your patience

So, I have this PC in the office which some colleague (who has since quit) chose a password for and nobody remembers it. So I took this as a challenge to crack.

It runs on windows, and all we want to do is get past the login screen. It doesn’t matter if it gets wiped in the process. Problem is that it seems to be impossible to do this. Windows tells me that the hard drive is too full to format (what!?).

So I figured I´d give Knoppix a try. Tried mounting an image of it on a usb drive, which did not work. So I shifted my focus on ”System recovery cd”. I was able to run this and followed instructions to mount the hard drive. This is where another obstacle appeared which I haven’t gotten over and this is where I need your expertise.

The hard drive cannot be mounted because windows is hibernating. And to stop windows from hibernating I need to login in and turn ”fast startup” off, which I can’t. I think I need to be able to do everything from Linux, because it’s all that I can access.

Any ideas on how to get past this obstacle or any other ideas/altenate paths are highly appreciated!

This is a very gray area; while what you say may be true, it may ALSO be true that you're wanting to break into someone elses PC for some unknown reason. We just don't know.

To address your issue, Linux can't mount/access a Windows drive that has been hibernated, thanks (?) to how Windows operates...doesn't matter what version/distro you try. And there are a LOT of how-to guides on steps to take to reset a forgotten Windows password. You can either boot from a Windows install media, or boot to recovery mode (typically F11), and follow steps 3-forward here:
https://www.isumsoft.com/windows-10/...nd-prompt.html

You could purchases a copy of Kon Boot to bypass the login screen and reset the password.

There is also this link that shows how to remove the hibernate file using Linux:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...fused-to-mount

Ah, thanks, I see now how it might seem! I can assure you I am legit although I understand you don´t have very much to judge me on seing that this is my first post

I could in theory go and buy a windows copy or a copy of anything else and put it on a usb drive, but I won´t. This is a hobby "project" and would´nt get funding for that from the company. I´ts a kind of forgotten PC that was used for VR gaming and I want to get that going again.

Thank you for your suggestions! I´ve had already tried removing the hiber_file with no sucess. I´ve also tried entering failsafe mode but it doesnt open the windows setup screen as it says on the guide, so I´m not able to get to the command prompt.

It is Windows, so what if you left on overnight so it downloads updates then reboots. It should do a full reboot and not use the fastboot option to install updates.

Those instructions say specifically to create a Windows boot media, and use IT to boot from. And again, you need to look up other Windows related guides, because you're asking about Windows on a LINUX forum. Pressing the F8 key at boot time brings up the advanced boot options. Get the command prompt from there.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...8-1a1af602b617

A command such as this should allow mounting the hibernated ntfs device as rw so it can be accessed. Once mounted RW then knoppix should be able to access the file system. If the drive/filesystem has been encrypted then all bets are off.
I encountered a similar scenario on my own laptop which is dual boot when I updated win10 to version 21H1 and could not afterward mount the ntfs partition in any way but RO until I cleared out the win10 config that repeatedly rewrote the hiberfile.

The F8 key does not work in Win 10 unless you enable the feature first from within Windows. See! They made 10 better!

Here is a link with ways to get to repair mode, skip to method 2.
https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge...in-windows-10/

You should contact Microsoft. This is sure not the first time something like this has happened. It might take a couple of days; their security people will want to verify ownership and everything. But it is likely they can help.

1 members found this post helpful.

Sorry, no. How is Microsoft going to 'verify' that this person has legitimate access to one particular PC?? They don't know (or care) what a company does with their licenses, only that they HAVE one. They're not going to call some company and go through their data-security process to 'verify' anything, and even if they DID, how is it going to be 'verified'?? They'll ask some guy on the other end of the phone? Who could be the SAME PERSON who is trying to get access???

The OP has already been given several (of the MANY) ways available to get into a Windows PC without the admin password...it's not a closely guarded secret, and anyone can create a Windows boot media directly from Microsoft, boot from it and reset the password.

I hope Wennerholm will contact them. I am not speculating; I know from personal experience that Microsoft has security personnel that can verify things. They once had a bug in Windows that locked me out of my system. I called them. About three days later they called and said they determined that I am legitimate and they gave me access to my system. It costs nothing to try.

Again, no. They have no 'security personnel' who will 'verify' anything. You signed in with a Microsoft account...that is the only way they could 'verify' you, and unlock your account, because it was Microsoft's account to start with. Not the property of a private company. This is a data-security issue; the machine is up, functional, and working...they just don't have the password. How, exactly, do you expect Microsoft to magically unlock a local account on a PC? Or a domain/LDAP account on a company server which they don't have access too (and will NEVER GET)???

Or do you somehow think that Microsoft keeps track of all Windows PC's for every company, along with a list of their employees who have 'legitimate' access to which machines/servers/programs at every company?? Re-read the original question and think about what's being asked.

BTW, if yours was a home system they already had everything needed to 'verify' your identity. The data from your microsoft account as well as the machine's identifying data that is tied to your account and that is used for the updates.

Machines in a business are largely managed differently for updates and software installs (by the IT staff & servers) so MS does not have all the above data (as stated by TB0ne above).

1 members found this post helpful.

Why are you arguing? What is the problem with the person asking Microsoft? Why do you want them to not do that?

They can do whatever they want, including wasting their time calling Microsoft for something that Microsoft can't help them with.

Again: there are posts on Microsoft's own forum that tell a user how to download, burn, and boot from a Windows ISO image, and get into recovery mode to reset the password. Why on earth would anyone waste their time on a tech-support line for hours, when you can find that in less than a minute? And that information/knowledge has been given to the OP several times, along with links.

You are giving someone bad/incorrect advice; if they follow your advice, they will waste hours/days of their time for no reason. Anyone finding this thread may ALSO follow your advice, neither of which is good.

Again: this is a company-owned machine. It is NOT controlled by Microsoft...they cannot 'verify' anything. They cannot unlock anything. The only thing they care about is a valid Windows license. Having your Microsoft account 'verified' is a far cry from unlocking a local workstation, and if you don't know the difference, giving that advice can be a bad thing.