Windows 8 PW circumvention

do you have a local account to the PC you can use, as the 'live' accounts probably don't work in safemode.

Use the password reset disk from Mr. Nordahl. You have to blank the local administrator's password and then also unlock the account.

totallytonto:
How can I tell if a local account has been setup?

McKnife:
Whats the link to Mr. Nordahl?

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

McKnife:
I have used this tool before. Do you know  if it will work if the computer has been setup with a Windows Live account (Win8)?

I thought so, please don't prove me wrong... :)

McKnife:
Ill give it a whirl this evening and advise.

i also use that tool answer Y (or Enter) to most questions  -  it normally proposes the correct answers

 - i run it from the bootable UBCD -  which holds all diags too :
Hardware diagnostic CD    UBCD

go to the download page, scroll down to the mirror section, and  click on a mirror to start the download
Download the UBCD and make the cd   <<==on a WORKING PC, and boot the problem PC from it
Here 2 links, one to the general site, and a direct link to the download

since the downloaded file is an ISO file, eg ubcd527.iso - so you need to use an ISO burning tool
if you don't have that software, install cdburnerXP : http://cdburnerxp.se/

If you want also the Ram tested - run memtest86+ at least 1 full pass,  - you should have NO errors!
 
For disk Diagnostics run the disk diag for your disk brand (eg seagate diag for seagate drive)  from the HDD section -  long or advanced diag !  (runs at least for30 minutes)

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/                        ultimate boot cd
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html             download page

McKnife & Nobus:
I run the password reset tool but it doesn't recognize the partition (i have used this tool before and it provides option 1, 2, 3, etc at this step.
Any suggestions?

It shows two partitions, 32 Gb and 750 GB. Are you saying that none of these two sizes corresponds to your windows partition?

The 750GB is the partition with Windows 8 installation, but there is no 1 in front of it like when I used the tool in the past.  I have entered all the options listed and even '1' but it comes back to 'Please select partition by number...

Ah, no I understand.
Hmm, did you try entering 2?

yea. no dice

I would connect the drive to another hard drive controller or to another computer, now. Maybe the nordahl disk has problems accessing the partition because of some odd hardware problem.

Ill give that a whirl later today and update you

if your windows 8 is using UEFI bios or bitlocker, boot cd tools like the one pictured wont work.

if you do not have a local account already setup you may struggle.

you can try the recovery options that came with your PC, but if you have installed windows yourself or removed the recovery tools you'll struggle without a windows 8 dvd to boot from.

the windows 8 tools will help fix your bot, but they may also require a local account.

it seeems your partition is corrupt then - since it does not recognise it as a windows one.
run a startup repair : http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html      
and if this does not help, try a system restore also

nothing else worked